Upgrade time, maybe. CPU and RAM vs Video, what to choose?

I personally would choose the second rig. I think it's a lot better.

Well heres how I look at it.

With rig one, youve got a kickass video card, but a POSSIBLE, maybe slight, bottleneck. Also, Nvidias DX10 cards are soon to become outdated themselves, atis cards are sick looking. and there is nothing to use DX10 yet. So with me, I would probably go with the second one, as the X1950PRO is an amazing card, and then in about next january, jsut upgrade the video card after saving some cash, get the best bang for buck DX10 card. by then there should be use for dx10.

Thats just what i would do though. In the end its up to you, and deciding would you rather have the DX10 now, and get a newer proc mobo later, or get the proc mobo now, and a newer DX10 card later.

I'm just wondering if the Opty 165 at 2.6ghz and 2 gigs of DDR400 would make a decent platform to run the games coming out later this year when coupled with an 8800GTX. I've always placed more importance on the video card when it comes to games, because my experience has been that it has a more dramatic effect on FPS than the CPU and RAM combined.

Here's my example to show, using the CS:Source stress test and a pair of modest gaming rigs.

Rig 1:
Pentium 4 socket 478 @ 2.8ghz
1 GB DDR
6800 GT 256MB GDDR3
Stress test score: 54 fps at 1280x1024

Rig 2:
Athlon 3500+ socket 939 @ 2.2ghz
1 GB DDR
6800 vanilla 256MB DDR
Stress test score: 52 fps at 1280x1024

Now, I'm sure it's clear to all that an Athlon 3500+ whips the shit out of a Pentium 4 2.8ghz, however the results were contradictory. Because the video card in rig 1 was superior, it made all the difference in FPS, coming out on top of rig 2 despite being paired with a P4.

Not sure how important this study was, but it's shaped my opinions about video cards and CPU's.

A C2D at 3.2ghz will remove any bottle neck in the 8800gts. So the opteron will definately be holding the GPU back. And when you want ti upgrade the GPU, then a new CPU and also maybe new ram is needed, so grab the second, but change it a bit...


YOUR Rig 2:
C2D e6300 2.8ghz OC'd
2GB DDR PC6400
X1950 PRO 256MB GDDR3


MY IDEA Rig 2:
C2D e6320 2.8ghz OC'd (e6320 are the same price as the e6300 and have double the cache [price should be the same as off about now AKA after the price drop])
2GB DDR PC6400
ho hum... GPU (either grab a 8600GTS [maybe not such a good idea], or seeing as the new ATi cards are out end of the month or so, i'd use an old card, or a cheap card and spend more on something flashy)

Just to settle it...The 165 WILL for sure, without a doubt, bottleneck the 8800. Mine bottlenecks 7800gt's in SLI, and an 8800 dominates over my GPU set-up.

The second card only added a few thousand points(roughly a 25%-30% increase) in all of the visual benches I ran, when it should have increased at least by 40%-50%. Sure, games are smoother but all-in-all, it was only worth it because of the massive discount I got on the second card. A C2D would not have done that...at least not as much...when coupled with the newest gen of GPU's.

there have been many rumors saying that the 8800gts 640mb is no longer being made as of end of april. This is because of a new 8800 coming out and the 8600 and 8500 which are out now, and 8300 and 8100 which are coming out soon along with the 8900 and 8950. and also the G90 cards which are due out mid Q3 2007.

so i would grab the 8800gts 640mb if you can now, or if not, you'll probably have to grab something with a bit more oomph..



AND DON"T GET RIG2... GET RIG 2'... note the dash.. the e6320 cost the same as the e6300 according to intel.. so it should be within about 20 bucks of each other if not the same.

SO RIG2' is
including the e6320 over the e6300.. the e6320 has the same ocing ability and such, it just has the extra cache, and this wont give more heat or anything because the e6300 has also had it all the time, it's just been blocked..