Anyone playing games with a high-end video card on a low-end system?

[DRS]

On 1/30/2008 5:08 AM PT, Sir-Les-MP typed:
[...]

You may find your memory is also part of the problem
i looked at your system specs and noticied you are running 2 x 512
sticks and 1 x 1024 stick
Running the memory in this config means you are not making use of the
double data rate you get when running them in pair's
you would get better performance if you were to run 2 x 1024Mb
sticks or even 4 x 512Mb sticks

How much speed loss did I have? 50%? Are you saying my games would be
two times faster than this memory setup? Non-gaming seems OK to me
(fast enough for me).

The performance difference between single-channel and dual-channel is
frequently over-stated. Expect a 5% to 10% improvement in memory
performance on an AMD system when switching to dual-channel. IOW, nice if
you've got it but not worth killing yourself over. You'll get bigger gains
more easily by upgrading or overclocking your CPU, then your GPU.

 

[Ant]

On 1/30/2008 5:08 AM PT, Sir-Les-MP typed:

[...]

You may find your memory is also part of the problem
i looked at your system specs and noticied you are running 2 x 512
sticks and 1 x 1024 stick
Running the memory in this config means you are not making use of the
double data rate you get when running them in pair's
you would get better performance if you were to run 2 x 1024Mb
sticks or even 4 x 512Mb sticks

How much speed loss did I have? 50%? Are you saying my games would be
two times faster than this memory setup? Non-gaming seems OK to me
(fast enough for me).

The performance difference between single-channel and dual-channel is
frequently over-stated. Expect a 5% to 10% improvement in memory
performance on an AMD system when switching to dual-channel. IOW, nice if
you've got it but not worth killing yourself over. You'll get bigger gains
more easily by upgrading or overclocking your CPU, then your GPU.

I don't really like OC'ing and I have a hard time keeping my system
stable during the heat waves (almost 90 degrees(F) in my room).
--
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tractors small enough to fit it." --Steven Wright
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[Jez]

It is a new thread! (I'm not sure what a 'new newsgroup thread is - do I
need to create one?)

Your using 'Outlook Express', so to start a new thread use the 'Write new
message' icon, by default it's at the top left, next to the 'Reply to group'
icon....

HTH.

 

[Michael]

I think your system would benefit from a 8800GT. Of course, it probably
can't benefit 100% from it. Please read this article about older CPUs (3800)
running a newer video card (ATI X1950). The setups are different, but I
think the theory and conclusions are still valid for your setup.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/01/agp-platform-analysis/

Alternatively, have you looked into if you could reflash your mb bios and
maybe upgrade the CPU?

 

[Ant]

I think your system would benefit from a 8800GT. Of course, it probably
can't benefit 100% from it. Please read this article about older CPUs (3800)
running a newer video card (ATI X1950). The setups are different, but I
think the theory and conclusions are still valid for your setup.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/01/agp-platform-analysis/

Dude, these are OLD games and hardwares. I want to see links on newer
video cards (e.g., 8800 GT) on a slow CPU setup (e.g., Athlon 64 X2
4600+) with newer games (e.g., Crysis and World in Conflict). All those
games listed in the article run fine or almost fine, even Oblivion!

Alternatively, have you looked into if you could reflash your mb bios and
maybe upgrade the CPU?

Um, why would I want to reflash my memory? What's wrong with my curent
BIOS? I am using the latest BIOS too! How much faster do I get for just
upgrading the 939 CPU on my current motherboard? Remember, this is
mainly for gaming.

Hello!

I cannot seem to find benchmarks, articles, stories, etc. on how high-end
video cards (e.g., NVIDIA 8800 GT with 512 or so MB of memory) run on
low-end systems like an Athlon 4600+ X2 system (nothing is overclocked)
with Windows XP Pro. SP2 (IE6.0 SP2 and all updates).

I am currently using a EVGA eForce 7950 GT KO (512 MB; PCIe) with
1280x1024 native resolution (hate going lower due to stretching option
that look like crap on LCD monitors via VGA connections), no FSAA (0X),
and eveything at the maximum (details, features, 16X anisotropic, etc.).
It does almost fine for older games like Oblivion, C&C3, Orange
Box/Half-Life 2, Call of Duty 4, etc. However, not so well with
current/newest games like Crysis (see http://pastebin.ca/884075 for Crysis
v1.1's island GPU benchmarks), World in Conflict (I think 11 FPS average),
etc.

Is it still OK for me to get a faster video card (one of the newer ATI or
NVIDIA cards [8800 GT?]) on my old system? I don't know if the bottleneck
is my CPU, video card (GPU), or both for the newer games. My detailed
computer specifications can be found here:
http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt (primary
computer).

Thank you in advance.

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the video of Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes" Pop Up Video
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[Richard P]

Dude, these are OLD games and hardwares. I want to see links on newer
video cards (e.g., 8800 GT) on a slow CPU setup (e.g., Athlon 64 X2
4600+) with newer games (e.g., Crysis and World in Conflict). All those
games listed in the article run fine or almost fine, even Oblivion!

I've just dropped my 3870 into my x2 4200+ system and Crysis runs fine.
I have most of the gfx o[ptions on high, with only shadows and post proc
on medium. At 1024x768 and 1280x1024 it perfectly playable. I've also
tested UT3 and to be honest cant really feel any difference between my
gaming rig and my old x2 4200+. I'll see if I can borrow a mattes 8800
to run the same tests on.

Alternatively, have you looked into if you could reflash your mb bios
and maybe upgrade the CPU?

Um, why would I want to reflash my memory? What's wrong with my curent
BIOS? I am using the latest BIOS too! How much faster do I get for just
upgrading the 939 CPU on my current motherboard? Remember, this is
mainly for gaming.

Hello!

I cannot seem to find benchmarks, articles, stories, etc. on how
high-end video cards (e.g., NVIDIA 8800 GT with 512 or so MB of
memory) run on low-end systems like an Athlon 4600+ X2 system
(nothing is overclocked) with Windows XP Pro. SP2 (IE6.0 SP2 and all
updates).

I am currently using a EVGA eForce 7950 GT KO (512 MB; PCIe) with
1280x1024 native resolution (hate going lower due to stretching
option that look like crap on LCD monitors via VGA connections), no
FSAA (0X), and eveything at the maximum (details, features, 16X
anisotropic, etc.). It does almost fine for older games like
Oblivion, C&C3, Orange Box/Half-Life 2, Call of Duty 4, etc. However,
not so well with current/newest games like Crysis (see
http://pastebin.ca/884075 for Crysis v1.1's island GPU benchmarks),
World in Conflict (I think 11 FPS average), etc.

Is it still OK for me to get a faster video card (one of the newer
ATI or NVIDIA cards [8800 GT?]) on my old system? I don't know if the
bottleneck is my CPU, video card (GPU), or both for the newer games.
My detailed computer specifications can be found here:
http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt (primary
computer).

Thank you in advance.

 

[Ant]

I've just dropped my 3870 into my x2 4200+ system and Crysis runs fine.
I have most of the gfx o[ptions on high, with only shadows and post proc
on medium. At 1024x768 and 1280x1024 it perfectly playable. I've also

How about when you crank those up high for 1280x1024? Is it still
playable and smooth? I assume you have DirectX 9.0c in XP?

tested UT3 and to be honest cant really feel any difference between my
gaming rig and my old x2 4200+. I'll see if I can borrow a mattes 8800
to run the same tests on.

Yeah, UT3 is smooth for me but I don't play UT series.
--
"If I want to be a robber, I rob the king's treasury. If I want to be a
hunter, I hunt the rhino. What is the use of robbing beggars and hunting
ants? So if you want to love, love God." --Swami Vivekananda
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| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
( ) or (e-mail address removed)
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.