call of duty 4, and a bottle necked 8800 gts

I

Iantheone

Geek Trainee
im going to buy a nvidia geforce 8800gts 640 mb. i have enought power, RAM, and and extra pci-e x 16 slot. the only problem that i have is that i have an amd athlon 64 and everyone that i talk to says that it will bottleneck.

for call of duty 4 the nvidia geforce 8800 gts 640 gets around 64 fps at 1280x1024, Maximum Quality. how much slower will it be going with my amd athlon 64?
 
My P4 at 3.00 GHz slows down my 7800GS. At 3.39GHz it's very good. Since the 7800GS is slower than the 8800GTS, several times probably I would assume that an 8800GTS in your configuration would be a waste of money. I would recommend at least a 4600+ X2 before upgrading.
 
It really depends on exactly which Athlon 64 you've got. Let us know exactly which it is and we will be able to answer better.

Also, a 3.39GHz proc should not be able to bottleneck these video cards. Unless they patched the game, COD4 is still not coded as a multi-thread app and will still run off a single core. That means that as long as you're not running too many apps in the background (especially if you're usign a 64-bit OS) you should be just fine. If you have got alot of background processes then a dual/tri/quad core would be the way to go. Unless of course you're running a Pent 600 series or Pent D series proc (horrible clock cycles.)
 
Hmm.. I think there was several different types of cores for that. I think there was like Venice, New Orleans, and another.. But I believe they were 2.0GHz stock. Something of that speed may bottleneck something like an 8800. Have you got that running at stock speeds? That core was created on a 90 nm core and can run at 2.8 GHz on stock air cooling easily. Anything above that you will need an after-market HSF and to raise the voltage I'm sure. Either way I would recommend you overclock that proc. That will definately at least help stop the bottlenecking. If you need help with overclocking that, let us know.

Another thing I would recommend would be you looking into getting an 8800GT 256MB instead of the 8800GTS. It's cheaper and more up to your speed.
 
some people were suggesting that i get the 512 gts instead. apparently its faster than a gtx and cheaper than the 640 or 320. and price isnt that much of an issue, but the 8800 gts is sota thae top of my price range. i want to get something that will last me for a while

and yes i would like to know about over clocking :D im sorta new at all of this computer stuff cause i only recently cared about whats in my comp. so:
1. whats overclocking?
2. how do i do it?
3. if i cant do it can i hust bring it into a computer store?
 
Iantheone said:
some people were suggesting that i get the 512 gts instead. apparently its faster than a gtx and cheaper than the 640 or 320. and price isnt that much of an issue, but the 8800 gts is sota thae top of my price range. i want to get something that will last me for a while

and yes i would like to know about over clocking :D im sorta new at all of this computer stuff cause i only recently cared about whats in my comp. so:
1. whats overclocking?
2. how do i do it?
3. if i cant do it can i hust bring it into a computer store?
Click to expand...

The reason I suggested the 8800GT 256 is because that is all you will need for your processor. It is obviously up to you if you want to get the 512GTS, but you probably won't use it to it's potential till you upgrade your mobo/proc.

As far as overclocking goes, it's something that takes LOAD of patience and care. If you don't know about it either research it and your components or just don't do it. As far as a computer store doing it; I doubt it. It voids alot of warranties and most major computer stores wouldnt be willing to do that, but you may find a hole in the wall shop that might.
 
thats the good thing about where we live. we dont have any of the big computer stores. just the small family owned ones. so i think id be bale to find one to help me. will there be any much difference between the gts that i suggested and the gt that you did? the way that i see it is that if i get the 512 i can just put it into a new computer when i get one other than getting the gt AND the 512 for 2 computers. when you say i wont be able to use it at its best what will it run like instead? will it still be the same but with slower frame rats?

are there any negatives to overclocking? like will it destroy my computer?
thanks for all the help :D
 
Overclocking is safe, IF, and I repeat IF you pay attention. You do play around with voltages, and setting these too high can damage your parts.
The only real negative to overclocking is the time it takes to figure out how far the chip will go. If you're taking it slowly, it could be awhile before you find out.

I ran across an fairly recent article on overclocking for n00bs over at Tech Report that is pretty good at explaining the basics in more detail.
 
Why wouldn't you be able to put the 8800GT into a new computer should you get one? It will perform almost exactly the same as the new stepping GTS, with only a 6-10% decrease in performance (which is anywhere to 4-6 fps.) If 4 fps is worth spending extra money to you then by all means go ahead, but in alot of people's opinions it isn't.
 
i dont care about the 4-6 fps or whatever you said it was. i was thinking it over and i think you are right. ill just go and get a cheaper 8800 or 8600 or lower.the most i want it to do is play the orange box at high or med. the most ill be using my computer for is source based games. the only reason that i want to update is because i want to start and try making a HL2 mod. thanks for the help any way guys! :D
 
Oh really call of duty 4 release already ... good news i love that game , i play with my frn online , i have played all three previous parts of this game ...
 
Don't get a 8600 card. They are crap. Grab yourself either a 8800GT 256MB or a 8800GT 512MB. Either are pretty comparable (especially at lower resolutions) but the 512 is obviously better for high texture games. I don't believe that the Orange box is TOO demanding (I think Portals might be the most complex game in the bunch) so the 256 would probably work juse fine for you.

Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P3-N791-AR GeForce 8800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail It's only $200 now, just gotta be fast enough to get one lol.
 
Old thread I know but I have an Athlon XP3200 (unsure which core) with 1GIG DDR and a 320MB 8800GTS. COD4 runs fine at 1280x1024, high detail and 4xAA. There are a few occasions where I get some SLIGHT slowdown (Black Hawk flybys over a busy scene) but it doesn't affect the game at all.

Hope that helps :)
 
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