The New 280GTX cards

Question, I have a duel core 2.66 computer with a bfg 8800 video card. I was
thinking about upgrading to one of the new 280GTX cards--The reviews has
been awesome---Will this upgrade be worth it. Is my cpu to slow to handle
the increase in speed or will it be a bottleneck?

Jeff

In article <OM0gk.33359$ZE5.11926@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com>, jeffm68
@att.net says...
> Question, I have a duel core 2.66 computer with a bfg 8800

8800 what? GS, GT, GTS, Ultra. Details matter. Nobody in this
newsgroup ownes a working crystal ball.

> video card. I was
> thinking about upgrading to one of the new 280GTX cards--The reviews has
> been awesome---Will this upgrade be worth it.

For who's definition of 'worth'? For what reason do you need to
upgrade?

> Is my cpu to slow to handle
> the increase in speed or will it be a bottleneck?

IMO, your cpu is already a bottleneck for the most demanding games,
even with your present card.

But you did fail to mention just what you wanted to do with your
video card, didn't you?

>
> Jeff
>
>

Bill

Jeff Moore wrote:
> Question, I have a duel core 2.66 computer with a bfg 8800 video card. I
> was thinking about upgrading to one of the new 280GTX cards--The reviews
> has been awesome---Will this upgrade be worth it. Is my cpu to slow to
> handle the increase in speed or will it be a bottleneck?
>
> Jeff

Bottlenecks in general are only seen when you're absolutely maxing out a
system and comparing hardware; in everyday use even a crap PC will
benefit some from a high end card. If you're into benchmarking and
impressing folks with LAN rigs, then it's different.

Yes plopping in a GTX 280 would be a good deal faster than your current
8800. Considering that even an 8800GT is size ably faster than an 8800
GTS 320, you know you've got room to grow.

Since you'll be spending upwards of 400 USD, you might consider maxing
out your RAM at the same time. DDR2 is very cheap now and 4GB is
completely normal. 8GB is not unreasonable either.

Even if you're still using a 32-bit OS, and depending on your
motherboard's resource allocation, you can get a useful 3.00 to 3.50GB
from a 4GB set and stay in a dual channel config that otherwise could
not exist as 3 x 1GB. Once you go to a 64-bit OS and have that much
RAM, everything is in a different league. Crysis with 4GB is actually
playable online, whereas 2GB has so much stuttering and loading that
it's no fun at all.

"deimos" <deimos@localhost> wrote in message
news:g5tb6c0aht@news5.newsguy.com...
> Jeff Moore wrote:
>> Question, I have a duel core 2.66 computer with a bfg 8800 video card. I
>> was thinking about upgrading to one of the new 280GTX cards--The reviews
>> has been awesome---Will this upgrade be worth it. Is my cpu to slow to
>> handle the increase in speed or will it be a bottleneck?
>>
>> Jeff
>
> Bottlenecks in general are only seen when you're absolutely maxing out a
> system and comparing hardware; in everyday use even a crap PC will benefit
> some from a high end card. If you're into benchmarking and impressing
> folks with LAN rigs, then it's different.
>
> Yes plopping in a GTX 280 would be a good deal faster than your current
> 8800. Considering that even an 8800GT is size ably faster than an 8800
> GTS 320, you know you've got room to grow.
>
> Since you'll be spending upwards of 400 USD, you might consider maxing out
> your RAM at the same time. DDR2 is very cheap now and 4GB is completely
> normal. 8GB is not unreasonable either.
>
> Even if you're still using a 32-bit OS, and depending on your
> motherboard's resource allocation, you can get a useful 3.00 to 3.50GB
> from a 4GB set and stay in a dual channel config that otherwise could not
> exist as 3 x 1GB. Once you go to a 64-bit OS and have that much RAM,
> everything is in a different league. Crysis with 4GB is actually playable
> online, whereas 2GB has so much stuttering and loading that it's no fun at
> all.

I agree, I run Vista Ultimate 64 bit with 4gb of ram, it is a different
league.



--
Don