Windows AMD 3000+ venice enough for games??

Hi,

Is the AMD 3000+ venice a good enough CPU to play games on in high resolutions?

I am deciding between a 6800GT or 7800GTX and have heard alot about CPUs causing bottlenecking.

I know the 3000+ is hardly state of the art however it is also only 80 pound!!

Mickey

Edited to make better sense

 

Don't see why not, just overclock it a little

 

Hi Buzz,

I was just concerned about the bottle neck you can get IE where no matter how fast your GFX set up it is ancored by the CPU (hence why I can't see the point in SLI)

the 3000+ is £85 and the 3500+ is £150

think I may go for the 3500+

what you think

 

alot of people are getting high clocks with those 3000 mate, it might be worth the gamble.
whats the rest of your spec? as a mate of mine has got a 3000 with a x800xl and hes happy enough with it.

 

Hi Chemo,

I havent bought it yet (2 weeks to pay day but im looking at a

SN25p shuttle
1GB ram
3000+ or 3500+ CPU

6800GT (or 7800GTX if they really are worth the extra)

Im the sort of bloke who will buy a 3 year old car as oposed to a new one. In other words I like to balance perfomance with cash as opposed to pay a million pound for a few GHz more.

So what you think fella?


Mickey

 

yeah, ive got the same approach as you, but come on be honest we're just cheap skates

ok, seeing as youre going for the shuttle, i dont think theyre really good overclockers due to heat limitations etc. if i were you and i could foot the difference in price, go for the 3500 as i look at it this way, if you pay for a 3500 youre gonna get that speed/performance rather than buying a lower end cpu and risking it not doing as well. but maybe someone with a overclocked shuttle could let you know for sure mate.
also, what resolutions are you going to be running at, is it going to be over 1280x1024 as thats the biggest benefit of getting a 7800, they really come into their own once youre over that resolution, so if youve got a huge tft you will deffo want the 7800. but if you run at 1280 or below, give the 6800 some serious though as its 150 quid cheaper. and if you do go that route, maybe take a look at 2gb of ram instead of one which will help in the upcoming games also.

 

Yeah cheepskates thats us

Phase one of my PC upgrade was a 24" dell monitor. I thought its the only bit you actually look at after all.

From what you say I think the 7800GTX may be the way to go. I think even the 7800 will struggle with 1900x1080 however.

What I plan to do in phases.....

Phase 1(last month)= was my monitor and
Phase 2(this month)= is to be the shuttle
Phase 3Next month)= is the GFX

so theres plenty time for me to think.

Im just going to buy a 6200 Turbo to get me by until the payday after this one and then I can get whatever GFX the month after

I was originally looking at the 4000+ AMD64 but think it too new and your paying for the newness and there not much in the old GHz range to almost double the price.

Well thanks allot Chemo - Until I talked to you I was going to spend a couple of hundred less

Mickey

 

lol sorry mate!


sounds like its going to be a beeffy system though buddy

 

I hope so fella.

Its bloody costing enough, but we both work and no kids = lots of PC

Iv sat here long enough with Earth 2160 on my desk and a PC that can't even load it up never mind play with no eyecandy

I think your right about overclocking and shuttles IE theres not much you can do with them. I think its the heat thats the prob and lack of room.
I much prefere the size though and so can live without overclock - a price Im prepered to pay.

Ill let you know how I get on mate.

Mickey

 

Exactly, Why spend the extra money on the chip when you can overclock it.
To be honest some things i've read even the FX chips limit some games. My advice just go with what you can afford. Might be worth holding off the 7800 for the mo as prices i'm sure will come done a little soon. Also ATI will be releasing their next boards in the next couple of months or so. If you are going the shuttle route the ATI cards tend to be a bit smaller and sometimes quieter (don't know how loud the 7800's are) so if a Shuttle environment thjis might help.

 

Hi buzz, thanks for you input fella.

I don't think shuttles overclock very easy at all. I think it makes them unstable (from what Ive researched) so getting a 3000 may not be so easy

The 3500 is around £150 where as the 4000 is nearly £300. Like I say, the 4000's not worth double money for only 5 GHz more now is it??

I think Ill go for the 3500 as its inbetween the two.

As for ATI, I think they have put all there resorces into the Xbox 360's GFX and what a superb job they have done.
However, you can only spred yourself so thin and as a result are just say keeping alive within the PC sence compared to Nvidia.
I would imagine the Xbox contract is worth double what they would make on PCs and they can always go back to making quality PC cards after the 360 is in the bag and the money is rolling in gaurenteed
Now ive said it, stand by for the ATI vs Nvidia war

Mickey

 

also, the new ATi cards have been reported to be the same size as the 7800's, something to do with the manufacturing process has made the cards larger than the older series and the high end ati cards will be dual slot coolers too. i wouldnt get any really high hopes of getting an ati card anytime soon mickey as they are going to be in really high demand so it could be a while befor theyre available widespread amtey

 

Arrrrrg - Chemo again,The man that cost me hundreds

I think my heart is set on the nvidia side at the moment. ATI will have to do soemthing spectacular to sway me and I hope to be buying my GFX in 6 weeks.

Mickey

 

hehe, well i do try.

6 weeks eh, i dont think the ati will be out by then tbh.
the 7800 is an awesome card anyways so youll be happy with it matey.
im sorry to do this again, but have you thought about getting 2gb of memory? it will benefit you with the newer games and it compliment the 7800 big style

 

I know battle front uses over a gig for best perfomance.

Im not sure about two gig.

I hear its best to get two matched pairs IE 2x 512MB or 2 x 1GB as opposes to 1x1GB or 1x 2GB

Is this true? Im not sure how many slots the shuttle has

 

the shuttle should have 2 slots, and yes its best to get 2 matched sticks to take advantage of dual channel mode

 

so its either 2x 512 or 2 x 1gb.

could I get 1gb and then another later? or will 1 gb not work alone?

Mickey

 

1gb would work as far as i know, although ive never ran 1 stick on its own - ive only ever had matched pairs running, but you wouldnt have dual channel obviously.

 

I was just thinking re upgrading. Better to buy 1gb stick and then another later on

 

that shoudl be ok as far as i know, but maybe just double check in the hardware bit of the forum to see if 1 stick will work, ive got some cock eyed feeling about some motherboards/chipsets being funny with only running 1 stick of ram.