Graphics X2900XTX

In your opinion (I know noone knows for sure yet but I was hoping someone would have a reasoned idea) will my Hiper Type-R 580W (True wattage) Modular run an X2900XTX. I dont have much else in my PC to consume alot. Sound Blaster Live 5.1 AMD 3200+ 2 Gig of Corsair XMS3200PT 1 Hdd 1 DVD Drive.

I dont really want to have to go out and buy a new PSU. Also Do you know of anywhere that I can get a 2x4 Power connector that the card looks like it will need to unlock its legit overclocking? Im looking for either a Hiper Modular cable or a Molex Adapter.

 

I would assume you'd be fine. I heard that the minimum power required is 500 watts from somewhere (possibly wikipedia, look up R600). Furthermore, according to my common sense intuition, like most PCIe cards these days, it should include an adapter to dual PCIe version 1 connectors.

 

Well supposedly the card is going to draw 200W at peak so you would be fine with that hardware. Honestly though there is no point in having your GPU/CPU combination because the 3200 is going to bottleneck the crap out of that setup.

 

Absolutely, esp if it's an AthlonXP3200+ as opposed to the faster Athlon64_3200+.

 

If he can get PCI-E it can't be socket A as the first PCI-E chipsets were only s754 and above for AMD. I would also say that it would bottleneck, and an 8800 and a dual core CPU would be a better performance bet. As for the PSU, should work fine.

 

Good point although he doesn't mention PCIe and apparently AmdTI will release the X2000 series in AGP form as well as PCIe.

 

what does bottlenecking really mean anyways though?

Assume the r600 pulls 120fps in a given game and costs $600 to upgrade
The 8800GTX pulls 125FPS with a dualcore and costs $700 to upgrade

What's the difference? Bottlenecking is a bad term. Nothing is bottlenecked it just means that the cpu performance could be increased.

If you ran SLI 8800GTX's with a 3200+ 939 I GARUNTEE you will max out ANY game at ANY resolution. Go ahead and get the R600 and dont worry about bottlenecking. Are you going to get top FPS out of your card? No. Will you notice when you have the faster graphics card available in your system with 2gb's of ram? No

 

I still think putting an R600 GFX card with a 3200+ CPU is like strapping a V8 to a Reliant Robin...

 

Plus the R600 is now said to be said to draw 300watts peak.

 

Bottlenecking in this case refers to the gfx card being held back by the CPU, as in it won't yield significantly higher perf than if you'd chosen a slower gfx card. The perf differential between a 7600GT and 7900GT is significant but if you use a relatively slow CPU (like a Celeron or AthlonXP) then the perf differential will be much smaller and in some cases perf will be pretty much equal. For this reason you will most likely find a C2D @3.0ghz with 7900GT is faster in most games than a A64_3200+ with 8800GTX; the 8800GTX can't perform anywhere near its potential while the 7900GT can stretch its legs. If your gfx card is being held back by your CPU you often find there's little penalty for upping res, details and AA+AF, average fps will stay about the same.

If you're laying out for a top-end card be sure to couple it with a high-end CPU otherwise you'd be better off opting for a mid-range gfx card with a faster CPU (and this will also enhance other things you do with your PC too). Think of it like strapping 256MB of DDR2-1333 to your C2D PC (total RAM) and expecting it to outperform the same PC with 2GB of DDR400.

 

The latter would be infinitely more fun

 

To be honest, if you are wanting to play the sort of games that the 2900 will let you play then you really shouldnt be using a 3200+. In my opinion upgrade you mboard and CPU and then sve up again for a Graphics card.

Austin performance difference and performance differential mean two completely different things. /*******

 

http://www.freesearch.co.uk/dictionary/differential

Seems to fit fine to me. Either way hopefully the important parts of that post are kosher.

 

You don't have to get a whole new mobo and CPU combo. You could always get a s939 X2 or dual core Opteron for not too much. It may drop you down from the X2900XTX to the X2900XL or something, but the bottlenecking wouldn't be as bad, and if its and Opty you should be able to clock it and get much better overall performance.

 

Single-core is all that's needed for gaming and are available for any existing A64 mobo. Either £35 for 1.8-2.0ghz and o/c or £60 for 2.4ghz stock meaning you'd only have to drop one card down to a £300 X2900XT (8800GTS_640) and still have £40-65 left for extra RAM, HD etc.

A lot depends upon what you already have in terms of socket and RAM. Given parts 1GB is the minimum but you'd ideally want more. If you go for AMD's latest AM2 socket you need DDR2 while almost all C2D compatible mobos are DDR2, esp if you want maximum perf and to o/c. If you have 939 (and as such DDR1) it should be able to take a 939 dual-core although these are getting rare you're only looking around £90 if you want to o/c or £140 for 2.4ghz stock. This would enable you to get the £300 X2900XT (8800GTS_640) or if not o/c'ing the £250 X2900XL (between 8800GTS_320 and 640).

If you need a new mobo decent ones start from £40 (AMD) and £70 (Intel). If you do need a new mobo consider Intel Core2Duo (C2D) which is the perf King. C2D dual-core come out at £100 if you're o/c'ing, £140 for good stock perf or £190 for great stock perf. AMD's latest AM2 CPUs are cheaper than 939 but always DDR2 just like practically all C2D mobos. If you do need DDR2 it's around £70 for 1GB (2x512MB) or £140 for 2GB. This can all seriously eat into your budget so you'll have to weigh up what's best but there's no doubt a stock 3200+ would mean a total waste of an X2900XTX so you'd at least want to o/c or upgrade the CPU neither of which impact budget much if at all. The main thing is to just get the CPU speed up enough to allow the X2900 to distance itself from the crowd and give you the perf you're paying for.

Do you have a strict £400 budget? What are you already running, 939 A64_3200+ with 1GB DDR1 and PCI-E?

 

Im currently running a 754 3200+ (It really needs an upgrade but tbh my x700 256 needs an upgrade far more). I do have a pretty much strict 400 budget. I may be able to go over about 50-70 but I wasnt really looking to upgrade the whole thing at this point.

I will have more money in a few months or so, so I could go with the R600 now, and then go with a better CPU and mobo combo later. I was planning on going with a relatively cheap AM2 Processor with a Mobo, but the thing thats really going to set me back is the ram. I have 2 gig of Corsair XMS3200PT, how would that match up to say 1 gig of PC2-5300 with 4-4-4-12 timings?

 

The Athlon64 don't really need the memory bandwidth offered by DDR2, it's more about future-proofing your memory rather than any remotely significant perf gain. The fact that AM2 and almost all C2D mobos are DDR2 is the main reason people go for it. BTW DDR3 is looming although AMD have said their DDR3 CPUs will work in DDR2 mobos with DDR2 RAM. Anyway if you exceed 1GB with any regularity then it's going to seem much slower when 'upgrading' 2GB of DDR1 to 1GB of DDR2.

Does your mobo support o/c'ing? Getting your CPU speed up to at least 2.4ghz would allow R600 some breathing room. If you want more you could either upgrade to 939 for dual-core (ideally in an o/c'ing mobo) or else choose something like an Asrock VSTA mobo which can combine your existing DDR1 and C2D (the perf King). The C2D E4300 is especially nice at clocking extremely well in virtually any C2D mobo thanks to the default FSB. I'd suggest seeing what your existing CPU can do (mobo permitting) otherwise seriously consider going for a VSTA which allows DDR1 and clocking an E4300, costs only around £140 and gets you right up there with the top of the range. I wouldn't suggest investing in DDR2 nor AM2, perhaps to maximise gfx budget you could consider a good 939 mobo which would enable your DDR1, single-core CPUs are very cheap now or you could nab a dual-core (and ideally o/c). Even if you have to drop down a notch on the gfx card over all perf will still be super smooth, even outside of gaming. There just doesn't seem any point coupling the fastest R600 with an A64_3200+ even if it's only for a few months. Sorry for rambling ...

 

i was in the same sort of situation, i wanted to upgrade my graphics card but knew i needed to update my cpu the problem was i did'nt want to rip the guts out of my pc just yet as it was only a year old, so found a 939 soket 4800x2 for just under £200 and started saving for a gpu again, i think i made the right choice because instead of buying a 8800gts im now waiting for a 8900gts if the stories of them are true

 

Thanks for your input. I think ill wait a while and then upgrade the whole shabang. Although one other point, will my 580w Hiper run all the new stuff and my r600? Id of thought not, which adds another expense. How much power do C2D's consume anyway?

 

defo not ijakings

They say the HX620 can run SLI G80's, but the R600 reportedly draws 300 watts EACH. that is only a little less than a pair of G80's. If you want to crossfire the R600's you are going to need over 800 watts, and that is probably with a low end C2D and only one hdd + opitcal.

you've seen the news on the new OCZ 1010watt beast? think that