GeForce 4 Ti-4200 with an Athlon 900Mhz - worth doing?

[Ono]

I am almost resigned to giving up on finding an Athlon 1.4 GHz 100FSB for my system (see this Thread) but would an upgrade to a GeForce 4 Ti-4200 over my current GeForce 2 GTS be worth it on my current Athlon TB 900MHz?

Would my Athlon really be a bottleneck?


Once again, I just want to play games.






PS. Anyone know of sites where they compare GFX cards with different processors?

 

[Summo]

Hello again! I have a 900MHz Athlon and recently made the jump from GeForce2MX to Ti4400 and I'm a little underwhelmed.

True, I can now run my games at higher resolutions, and full-screen anti-aliasing smooths out those lines as you'd expect...

In fact I don't know what I was expecting. :/ I remember when I first upgraded from a Matrox Mystic to a Voodoo Banshee my games suddenly looked and performed incredibly! Breathtaking. I reinstalled everything just to see what it should look like.

This latest upgrade didn't do that. Maybe it's because I'm mostly playing GTA3 which performs badly even on the highest-spec PCs. Maybe that's not a good test. Operation Flashpoint runs considerably better and I've been able to bump up everything to (almost) max settings. JKII looks marginally better at higher resolutions and performs slightly faster...

Although I don't know how, I'd recommend trying it out before you parted with the cash. At least get one from somewhere you know you can take it back if you're not happy with the 'bang for buck' factor.

Today I bought a 1.4GHz CPU in the hope that it is the processor that's limiting what the card can do. Just waiting for delivery now.

Eh, Xav? Eh?

 

[FuZor]

Strange!!! I've only got a Gf3 Ti200 and GTA3 plays VERY smooth! Maybe its a game that needs more CPU power???

 

[PR.]

Originally posted by SomeGuy
Hello again! I have a 900MHz Athlon and recently made the jump from GeForce2MX to Ti4400 and I'm a little underwhelmed.

Ti4600, didn't I tells ya!!!

 

[Ono]

Originally posted by SomeGuy


Today I bought a 1.4GHz CPU in the hope that it is the processor that's limiting what the card can do.

Thanks Summo.

Hey! Is that new CPU you bought 100MHz FSB or 266MHz FSB or doesn't it matter for you?


Your views on the GFX card upgrade are interesting. If you felt underwhelmed by the leap from GF2mx to GF4 Ti then it will likely be even less noticable from GF2GTS to GF4Ti. Let me know if the upgrade in CPU gives your GF4 a kick up the ass.

God! Now I am upset. I may just save my money until I **definitely** know that my system is shats with the next lot of FPSs.

 

[Summo]

Not sure, but my mobo copes with 100 and 266 and I'll let you know what sort of difference the new CPU makes.

Quicksolv - what CPU do you have?

 

[FuZor]

XP1600, thats the only area my PC excels compared to yours someguy

btw your actual clock rate is 133MHz or 100Mhz its just that Data is being moved on the rising and falling edge of the clock, making 266 or 200 FSB!!! The clock rate is still going at 100 or 133 Mhz

at least thats how I understand it! Could be wrong!

 

[Xavier]

Heh quicksolv, its the other way around actually.

The system operates on either a 100Mhz or 133Mhz FSB. That clock is manipulated by the boards dividers into the AGP (66Mhz) and PCI (33Mhz):

133Mhz FSB = AGP Divider 1/2 & PCI Divider 1/4
100Mhz FSB = AGP Divider 2/3 & PCI Divider 1/3

The fabled '200Mhz or 266Mhz BUS' that AMD refer to in their PR bumf isn't all that accurate - its not the FSB at all that they're referring to. The system and memory buses both operate in a similar way to DDR in that data is read on both edges of the signal.

Regardless of which of the two buses your board uses you'll still only have a 66Mhz AGP clock (more than adequate tho)

As to bottlenecks I'd say the major bottleneck in summos rig will be the memory - SDRAM although more than respectable for normal desktop apps doesn't have the bandwidth to compete with DDR or RAMBUS by a long shot. The 500Mhz gain will account for considerable FPS but that's about it.

As to making jaw-dropping differences DX8 is only really DX7+ in some senses, if you want to be knocked on your a$$ get your rigs up to DDR/Athlon XP stylee and put £400 aside for november

Xav

 

[Xavier]

oh, and Ono - I think you'll find the best site to get real world comparisons of different CPU/GFX combos would be madonion.com

just stick in the specs you're interested in and see what difference it makes to the scores/specific tests.

Xav

 

[FuZor]

Originally posted by Xavier
Heh quicksolv, its the other way around actually.

The system operates on either a 100Mhz or 133Mhz FSB. That clock is manipulated by the boards dividers into the AGP (66Mhz) and PCI (33Mhz):

133Mhz FSB = AGP Divider 1/2 & PCI Divider 1/4
100Mhz FSB = AGP Divider 2/3 & PCI Divider 1/3

The fabled '200Mhz or 266Mhz BUS' that AMD refer to in their PR bumf isn't all that accurate - its not the FSB at all that they're referring to. The system and memory buses both operate in a similar way to DDR in that data is read on both edges of the signal.

Regardless of which of the two buses your board uses you'll still only have a 66Mhz AGP clock (more than adequate tho)

As to bottlenecks I'd say the major bottleneck in summos rig will be the memory - SDRAM although more than respectable for normal desktop apps doesn't have the bandwidth to compete with DDR or RAMBUS by a long shot. The 500Mhz gain will account for considerable FPS but that's about it.

As to making jaw-dropping differences DX8 is only really DX7+ in some senses, if you want to be knocked on your a$$ get your rigs up to DDR/Athlon XP stylee and put £400 aside for november

Xav

Cheers! know I fully understand btw I do have DDR at the mo

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by Xavier
I'd say the major bottleneck in summos rig will be the memory - SDRAM although more than respectable for normal desktop apps doesn't have the bandwidth to compete with DDR or RAMBUS by a long shot.

Awwww, NUTS! Can't do anything about that until I get a new mobo.

 

[throdgrain]

So long as you have a reasonable amount of memory I am convinced that the cpu will be the bottleneck. Im not saying the new cpu will make it look much better, to be honest even if it did you'd be used to it within 5 minutes anyway
But, it will make games run a lot smoother, as it has more power to push it along. Simple really

 

[Summo]

I like that, Throd. Having just forked out too much money for a Ti4400 and more for a 1.4GHz CPU (yet to arrive), that's exactly what I wanted to hear. I shall subscribe to your newletter.

What the hell does Xav know, anyway?

 

[Ono]

Originally posted by SomeGuy

What the hell does Xav know, anyway?

He knows how to get a good price on a used Athlon 1.4 Gig.

 

[throdgrain]

Lol thanks Summo
I guess really its down to what you want from the PC. Have you (and Ono) done 3dmark2001 benchmarks ? If you have what are the scores ?
To give an idea, my last pc, the P3 1000mhz/380 sdram/gf3 ti200 managed about 5000 on that test at 1027-768 -32.
I would agree for that test its not all cpu, on my desk at work I have a P4 1.7 with a tnt32 video card. (Yukarama!) For a grin I put 3dmark on it , and it made 800 points or something, it was really bloody dismal. However a decent Video card with a half-decent processor, you must surely get better results.

 

[Summo]

I ran that test a little while ago on 1024x768, pure harware T&L and x4 anti-aliasing and got around 4500. I'll run again when new CPU arrives, though tbh what the fuck do these numbers mean? Sod all. I want to see how my games are effected.

Originally posted by Ono
He knows how to get a good price on a used Athlon 1.4 Gig.

Who's been talking? What do you know? :uhoh:

 

[throdgrain]

Agreed m8, they only mean something when compared to something else
As a comparison they are quite useful though. When I was buying a new pc earlier I was in the shop and ran the 3d test, but my attention was diverted and I never saw the final score as it were. Anyway, i left the shop as it was a bit more than I wanted to spend, and i thought Id have a look around.
On the way home my son said to me "blimy that computer was good wasnt it? "
"yeah I guess so " says me.
"It did 9000 on that test , that better than yours innit ? "
Brakes squeal as my car comes to a halt. "9000????"
Suffice to say i went back the next day and bought it

 

[Summo]

Heh. I imagine you as Doc Brown then.

"9000?! 9000?! Great Scott!"

 

[Ono]

Originally posted by Xavier
oh, and Ono - I think you'll find the best site to get real world comparisons of different CPU/GFX combos would be madonion.com

just stick in the specs you're interested in and see what difference it makes to the scores/specific tests.

Xav

Hmmm, the Nvidia Perfomance Analyser says that is my GF2 GTS is say, 100, a GF3 would give 151 and a GF4-4600 would give 193.

Working on that principle, a GF4-4200 would give a mark of 180.


I say again, hmmm. May go for it after all.