CPU bottlenecks me with new Videocard?

[GTGear]

I've been reading how some CPUs can hold you back from the true potential of your videocard. So I was wondering am I being held back.

Computer Specs:

Athlon XP 2800+
512MB DDR-SDRAM PC2100 (133 MHz) (I just ordered another stick of RAM)
Sapphire X800GTO (16 pipelines unlocked and overclocked at 420/540)
Maxtor 160GB HDD and a Seagate 120GB HDD
Thermaltake 450W Power Supply

 

[bcracer220]

it would be quite helpful if u could tell us some of ur benchmark scores. so that we can compare with other ppl who have the same video card and different (newer) proc. post 3dmark01,03,05 scores with CPU scores as well.

 

[{JNT}Raptor]

Whats the Motherboard In question?

Your memory Is the Biggest bottleneck I see In your listed specs.....upgrading It depends on your Motherboard.

 

[GTGear]

Whats the Motherboard In question?

Your memory Is the Biggest bottleneck I see In your listed specs.....upgrading It depends on your Motherboard.

My motherboard is VIA KM400-8235

 

[Azn Tr14dZ]

What scores do you get in benchmarks like 3DMark 05 and such?

 

[GTGear]

I just ran 3DMark 05 and here is my score.

Main Test Results
3DMark Score 4911 3DMarks
CPU Score 1785 CPUMarks

 

[Deleted member 26726]

I just ran 3DMark 05 and here is my score.

Main Test Results
3DMark Score 4911 3DMarks
CPU Score 1785 CPUMarks

ok which 3d mark because there is NO WAY you can get that on 05!

you main bottleneck is your ram mate there is no point in ordering another stick you are much better off investing the money you spend on that stick into a better and faster stick of ram you can get 2 on ebay for like £20 inc p&p these are the 400mhz and not the 133mhz!

if you do buy new ram make it dual channel you will get MUCH better performance

so give it a look!

 

[{JNT}Raptor]

My motherboard is VIA KM400-8235

Your Motherboard Is limited to a topend 333Mhz FSB....your using PC2100 ram now running at 133Mhz..Double that for DDR and you have 266Mhz......YOu can go with either PC2700(166Mhz DDR rate=333Mhz) or with PC3200(200Mhz DDR rate=400Mhz)....the PC3200 won't give you any more performance than the PC2700 with that Mobo.

The XP2800 has a FSB of 166...and a locked Multi of 12.5......so getting the PC2700(166Mhz) will give you an Insync CPU/FSB ratio....meaning the best performance you can get for your setup.....you could try the PC3200 and bump up your FSB past 166Mhz...but then you run the risk of smoking It because the board Isn't rated to go over 166FSB....and I wouldn't think of doing that either Unless you have some good active cooling on your Northbridge.....and some courage.

I had one running on an Abit NF7-S Revision 2.0 at 208x12.5 for 2600Mhz...1.75-1.8 volts were needed....but ran very cool at those volts....coolest temp CPU I ever ran.

Nice 3d 05 scores....which are quite possible on an Unlocked X800GTO.

 

[Deleted member 26726]

Your Motherboard Is limited to a topend 333Mhz FSB....your using PC2100 ram now running at 133Mhz..Double that for DDR and you have 266Mhz......YOu can go with either PC2700(166Mhz DDR rate=333Mhz) or with PC3200(200Mhz DDR rate=400Mhz)....the PC3200 won't give you any more performance than the PC2700 with that Mobo.

The XP2800 has a FSB of 166...and a locked Multi of 12.5......so getting the PC2700(166Mhz) will give you an Insync CPU/FSB ratio....meaning the best performance you can get for your setup.....you could try the PC3200 and bump up your FSB past 166Mhz...but then you run the risk of smoking It because the board Isn't rated to go over 166FSB....and I wouldn't think of doing that either Unless you have some good active cooling on your Northbridge.....and some courage.

I had one running on an Abit NF7-S Revision 2.0 at 208x12.5 for 2600Mhz...1.75-1.8 volts were needed....but ran very cool at those volts....coolest temp CPU I ever ran.

Nice 3d 05 scores....which are quite possible on an Unlocked X800GTO.

but do you not think he should upgrade better because he can get a set for VERY vheal plus he can use these in his new mobo if he does upgrade

but anyway mate i leave it to you ti decide becuase even if you do buy 3200's they wont be any faster because the mobo wil amke it run at the maximum speed possible makeing the 2700's cheaper to buy

but think of it this way if you do upgrade your mobo you can use these on there with competitive performance!

 

[error_f0rce]

I just ran 3DMark 05 and here is my score.

Main Test Results
3DMark Score 4911 3DMarks
CPU Score 1785 CPUMarks

Yeah, I would think it's unlikely that you would be able to get that score with the system you have, but if you did than more power to you.

I have an R430 Sapphire X800 GTO with 16 pipes and my 3DMark05 score on my old system (2.7GHz Celeron w/ 1GB 266 pc2100 DDR) was ~3100. Since then I've upgraded to a Pentium D 930 3.0GHz w/ 1GB 667 pc5300 DDR2 and my score is 5138 (stock everything).

Are you overclocking your X800 GTO? If not, and somehow, someway you are actually getting over 4900, I wouldn't upgrade at all... your score wouldn't improve much even if you did. I still don't know how you could score 4900 with that RAM though..........

 

[Deleted member 26726]

Yeah, I would think it's unlikely that you would be able to get that score with the system you have, but if you did than more power to you.

I have an R430 Sapphire X800 GTO with 16 pipes and my 3DMark05 score on my old system (2.7GHz Celeron w/ 1GB 266 pc2100 DDR) was ~3100. Since then I've upgraded to a Pentium D 930 3.0GHz w/ 1GB 667 pc5300 DDR2 and my score is 5138 (stock everything).

Are you overclocking your X800 GTO? If not, and somehow, someway you are actually getting over 4900, I wouldn't upgrade at all... your score wouldn't improve much even if you did. I still don't know how you could score 4900 with that RAM though..........

i'd say that he is using 3Dmark03 which would explain it!

I mean i am currently running P4 HT 3.6 Ghz, 1GB = 4 x 256mb 533mhz dual channel (paired), PLUS i oc'd my card to 545/655 (core/mem) and i got marks of ~4500 (not too sure will run today and post)

 

[giorgos th.]

as i see your card is a X800GT not a GTO.
the scores you have are pretty much normal for your setup.

 

[GTGear]

If you guys want proof of that score, I could take a screenshot

 

[error_f0rce]

If you guys want proof of that score, I could take a screenshot

Out of curiousity (not disbelief), if you could post your results online using 3DMark05 and send us a link, that would be great. That way we can view the details of your project and see all your components, etc, to give a better idea of why your score is so high when compared to your system.

 

[GTGear]

Your Motherboard Is limited to a topend 333Mhz FSB....your using PC2100 ram now running at 133Mhz..Double that for DDR and you have 266Mhz......YOu can go with either PC2700(166Mhz DDR rate=333Mhz) or with PC3200(200Mhz DDR rate=400Mhz)....the PC3200 won't give you any more performance than the PC2700 with that Mobo.

The XP2800 has a FSB of 166...and a locked Multi of 12.5......so getting the PC2700(166Mhz) will give you an Insync CPU/FSB ratio....meaning the best performance you can get for your setup.....you could try the PC3200 and bump up your FSB past 166Mhz...but then you run the risk of smoking It because the board Isn't rated to go over 166FSB....and I wouldn't think of doing that either Unless you have some good active cooling on your Northbridge.....and some courage.

I had one running on an Abit NF7-S Revision 2.0 at 208x12.5 for 2600Mhz...1.75-1.8 volts were needed....but ran very cool at those volts....coolest temp CPU I ever ran.

Nice 3d 05 scores....which are quite possible on an Unlocked X800GTO.

Can you recommend me some good PC2700 RAM?

 

[GTGear]

How would I go about posting the link so you guys can view my results? I see my results online but I dont see a link to post it..

 

[GTGear]

I dont see a link to post my results, so I took a screen of them.

 

[{JNT}Raptor]

Can you recommend me some good PC2700 RAM?

I was using the Kingston HyperX PC3200 1gig Dual Channel kit back when I was on that platform......good memory....and can come for the ride when upgrading the Mobo.

But....If you wanna knock It out....then grab the PQI Turbo 2gig kit.

Both sets of memory will run on your platform and be able to be moved up when you decide to upgrade the Mobo or entire platform.

Happy shopping.

 

[{JNT}Raptor]

I dont see a link to post my results, so I took a screen of them.

In this Image...middle of screen...."Compare URL"....right click and choose to "Copy Link Location"....then past It In your post here.

 

[GTGear]

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=2080023

 

[GTGear]

I was using the Kingston HyperX PC3200 1gig Dual Channel kit back when I was on that platform......good memory....and can come for the ride when upgrading the Mobo.

But....If you wanna knock It out....then grab the PQI Turbo 2gig kit.

Both sets of memory will run on your platform and be able to be moved up when you decide to upgrade the Mobo or entire platform.

Happy shopping.

Thanks for the help.

 

[error_f0rce]

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=2080023

Wow... that's all I can say. Here's mine: http://service.futuremark.com/orb/projectdetails.jsp?projectType=12&projectId=2079857

You even scored slightly better than me on one of the tests because your card was OC'd. The only thing holding you back now is your CPU; look at the difference between our CPU results. You have a decent gaming system for all the components in it... I wouldn't expect it to perform that well, but it does. You should be very happy

I don't know why I wasn't able to get a better score with my old system:
http://service.futuremark.com/orb/projectdetails.jsp?projectType=12&projectId=2024533
Our CPU scores look about the same, but your slightly OC'd card way out performed mine. After unlocking all 16 pipes I still only got 3116 on the old system.

After I install my ZalmanVF900 tonight, we'll see how much a bit of the old OC will help my score

 

[b1lk1]

ok which 3d mark because there is NO WAY you can get that on 05!

you main bottleneck is your ram mate there is no point in ordering another stick you are much better off investing the money you spend on that stick into a better and faster stick of ram you can get 2 on ebay for like £20 inc p&p these are the 400mhz and not the 133mhz!

if you do buy new ram make it dual channel you will get MUCH better performance

so give it a look!

Now this guy could not have been more wrong on so many levels. Besides, the mobo has to support dual channel for it tp run that way.

Get some decent PC3200 Value ram and you'll be super happy. It will sure boost your 24/7 use.

 

[error_f0rce]

Side question here.... As I understand it, Pentiums FSB transmits data 4 times per cycles, so the FSB for my old system, listed in 3DMark05 as 100MHz, translates to 400MHz. While GTGear has an Athlon, which as far as I know, only transmits 2 times per cycle, bringing his FSB listed in 3DMark05 as 166MHz, to 333MHz?? Is that right?

Man... I can't get over that score, with only 512MB of RAM, a 4x AGP slot, i mean our systems were almost identical performance wise, and yet I got smoked. take a look:

So what gives???​

 

[b1lk1]

Forget the 4X AGP as the difference between 4X and 8X AGP is almost nil. I have run many tests and the performance loss is beyond insignificant. And as always, AMD processors are much much faster at lower MHz speeds because they use a more realistic scale for MHz. And do not forget, the Celeron has a terrible 128kb L2 cache so that kills your CPU speed as the CPU can only store half the info his AMD can, plus if I read it right he is using an AMD Mobile so that too makes it a faster CPU all around. If you have say a 3GHz P4, you'd be close to his score, but still I doubt you'd beat it. Celerons are for workstations, not gaming and 3D. It is all about how fast your CPU can feed the GPU. This is a great example of CPU bottlenecking a GPU.