6800GT on a 2.4B / AGP4x, performance?

B

btf

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
427
For those running a 6800GT on a p4 2.4b/533 with agp 4x what type of performance are you getting in the lastest games (Far Cry / Doom 3)?

I've read through the Doom 3 Hardware guide and all the tests were conducted on p4's were p4c/800 or prescott with agp 8x so I'm wondering Is AGP 4x going to be a huge bottleneck? And is there much of a difference between 533 and 800mhz bus.

So if you have a similar system post your benchmarks please :)


Specs:

P4 2.4B
Asus P4T533-C
1GB RDRAM PC1066
 
My Neighbor has the same setup except he has an Asus P4S533 with ddr ram in it and he was like, "HOLY SH!T". It was a world of difference to him. So I say go for it. He will pony up 500+ dollars for video card but won't buy new hardware. Not a bad thing though.

Good luck on your Endevour!
 
First off, I have a setup similar to what you describe. I have a P4 2.26GHz 533MHz FSB 512MB PC2100 and 4x AGP. The card I'm using a PNY GeForce 6800 GT. Let me first start off with the easiest... AGP 4x will make NO difference at all. This graphics card will not be requiring bandwidth higher then what the 4x AGP can handle. So that isn't a worry at all. I actually read that someone used a 6800 GT in both a 8x AGP machine and 4x AGP machine to compare in 3dmark, and the points difference was like 50 points (which is nothing). But back to the rest of the system. You'll definitely be limited with a system like mine. Doom 3 runs smooth, but there will be some minor slow downs. With a card of this degree, it should perform much better, but it will perform good none the less. I run Doom 3 at 1280x1024 at high detail, and with 4x AA (the highest my 19" LCD can support). Frame rates are usually around 30 to 60. It ocassionaly and briefly will dip to the high 20's, but it's not that noticeable of a slow down, and is only at certain times. Timedemo will give me a report of 44fps.

So there you have it... it's either good news or bad news to you. it depends on what you expect out of it. It's a fantastic card, and will run great, but will definitely see slow downs that will be gone from a processor upgrade, or a motherboard upgrade.. I see it as an excellent card that will show good performance now, and hold its value when you upgrade, and show even greater performance as time goes on.
 
Just wanted to add, just to be fair, it's mainly just Doom 3 that is really putting my system to test. Other games such as Unreal Tourmanet 2004, run EXCELLENT. I have EVERY setting turned up, and run it at the same resolution, with 4x AA, 4x AF, and get an almost solid 60+fps. (Even in onslaught mode)
 
is that playing online? I dont even get close to that. and i have a 2.4 processor. I think somethins wrong here.
 
2.4B isn't enough to push the GT, get a Radeon 9700 Pro used for 125 shipped somewhere(people who are upgrading to GTs) its the best match for the 2.4B and you save another 300 bux for future upgrades.

300 bux can buy a lot of hardware now a days...like
Abit KV8 Pro about 110
Athlon64 3000+ and overclock the heck out of it....etc...
 
tshen_83 said:
2.4B isn't enough to push the GT, get a Radeon 9700 Pro used for 125 shipped somewhere(people who are upgrading to GTs) its the best match for the 2.4B and you save another 300 bux for future upgrades.

300 bux can buy a lot of hardware now a days...like
Abit KV8 Pro about 110
Athlon64 3000+ and overclock the heck out of it....etc...
Click to expand...

nope he can OC it to 2.8-3.0 (mine is 2.0 P4 OCed to 2.7 on air)

It will run perfect with GT and Ultra ;)
 
tshen_83 said:
2.4B isn't enough to push the GT, get a Radeon 9700 Pro used for 125 shipped somewhere(people who are upgrading to GTs) its the best match for the 2.4B and you save another 300 bux for future upgrades.

300 bux can buy a lot of hardware now a days...like
Abit KV8 Pro about 110
Athlon64 3000+ and overclock the heck out of it....etc...
Click to expand...

Best match my ass.....you'll still get superior performance with the GT. Then upgrade processor later. You don't have to have each component "in sync" all the time. Sure your processor will be a bottleneck in some situations for a while, but so what?
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

I currently have a GF4 4600. I had seen bechmarks when AGP 8x came out and there was no difference between 4x and 8x. I thought the 6800GT would make a difference. But I'm glad it doesn't.

9700 pro doesn't seem like much on an upgrade. I basically want to be able to run D3 in high quality in 1024x768 or 1280x1024. Currently I can barely run it in 800x600 medium. And it looks damn ugly in that resolution.

Unforetuneatly overclocking my mobo is not much of an option. RDRAM doesn't overclock well. There is no PCI/AGP ratio eithier. I can run it at 2.5 stable with ram at 1120mhz but that's pretty much it. Unless I decide to do a voltage mod on the ram and a turbo PLL but I would have no clue where to start to get that done.

I could always upgrade the processor to a 3.0B /HT but I find them overpriced.
 
btf said:
Thanks for the replies guys.

I currently have a GF4 4600. I had seen bechmarks when AGP 8x came out and there was no difference between 4x and 8x. I thought the 6800GT would make a difference. But I'm glad it doesn't.

9700 pro doesn't seem like much on an upgrade. I basically want to be able to run D3 in high quality in 1024x768 or 1280x1024. Currently I can barely run it in 800x600 medium. And it looks damn ugly in that resolution.

Unforetuneatly overclocking my mobo is not much of an option. RDRAM doesn't overclock well. There is no PCI/AGP ratio eithier. I can run it at 2.5 stable with ram at 1120mhz but that's pretty much it. Unless I decide to do a voltage mod on the ram and a turbo PLL but I would have no clue where to start to get that done.

I could always upgrade the processor to a 3.0B /HT but I find them overpriced.
Click to expand...

The 9700 pro isn't much of an upgrade. The GT is far better, even with your processor. Getting the GT will allow you to play the game at high quality, and the resolutions you want. Overclocking the processor isn't really necessary to do that either, since I can't overclock mine due to the OEM motherboard I have.
 
SoLiD_MasteR said:
nope he can OC it to 2.8-3.0 (mine is 2.0 P4 OCed to 2.7 on air)

It will run perfect with GT and Ultra ;)
Click to expand...

How do you overclock yours? Higher FSB or higher multiplier? I wanted to overclock mine, but I can't figure out how to adjust any of the advanced clock settings since there's nothing in the BIOS setup. It's an MSI motherboard, specifically made for OEM. I also heard that the P4's were locked. Was yours easy to overclock? Sorry to go off topic, but I figured I'd ask here... thanks!
 
OEM boards like dell and such usualy have no overclocking options.

I can change it via the bios or through jumpers on the motherboard. Check in your motherboard manual if you have it or download it online.
 
btf said:
OEM boards like dell and such usualy have no overclocking options.

I can change it via the bios or through jumpers on the motherboard. Check in your motherboard manual if you have it or download it online.
Click to expand...

It's a MS-6579, an MSI brand board. Unfortunately MSI has nothing about this board on their site, because it's especially made for HP. I have the manual on pdf, absolutely nothing useful. And no jumpers on the board, and the BIOS is very basic. :( However, it might be possible to adjust the clock and the multiplier from something software driven, but I have no idea what setup I'd have to use.
 
Matrox462 said:
How do you overclock yours? Higher FSB or higher multiplier? I wanted to overclock mine, but I can't figure out how to adjust any of the advanced clock settings since there's nothing in the BIOS setup. It's an MSI motherboard, specifically made for OEM. I also heard that the P4's were locked. Was yours easy to overclock? Sorry to go off topic, but I figured I'd ask here... thanks!
Click to expand...

Just set the FSB to higher value , and it very simple and easy with me.

My motherboard is MSI also but not OEM.

I think you should try to find some OCing programs (why not take alook at the OCing section in this forum?)
 
SoLiD_MasteR said:
Just set the FSB to higher value , and it very simple and easy with me.

My motherboard is MSI also but not OEM.

I think you should try to find some OCing programs (why not take alook at the OCing section in this forum?)
Click to expand...

Well, I thought you had to know exactly how each motherboard is setup. Like my speedfan program allows clock changes for MSI boards, but you have to tell it which "Clock" to use (and theres a bunch of different ones, I think they are the names of the chip on the board or something).

Also, I think with my 533MHz FSB, 133MHz is the fastest clock it can be at, which is what I'm at now. I think I just need to be able to change the multiplier...
 
Multiplier on p4's are locked. Your outta luck for overclocking.
 
btf said:
Multiplier on p4's are locked. Your outta luck for overclocking.
Click to expand...

Thanks for saving me some time. I knew someone would be able to tell me straight up if I could or couldn't be able to do it.
 
i run d3 at 1024 hq at around 40fps without tweaks on my Radeon 9700 pro.. All I am saying is that if you are putting down 450 bux for an upgrade, the GT will give you 40fps on 1600 hq on your system (60fps at 1280 due to the FPS cap) and a Radeon 9700/9800Pro will give you 40fps on 1024 hq. Decide if the increased res is worth it to you. Another note is your monitor. Is it 21 in or 19in CRT minimum??? Otherwise, you can't even run 1600 on there(AA sucks, 800x600 4xFSAA doesn't even look close to 1600x1200, even though, the graphics card is having the same work load).. Especially LCDs, they only run their native res decently. Also, it depends on how much time you are going to be gaming. I just finished D3, and now my Radeon 9700 Pro is just running my desktop.

All I am saying is this: 450 bux can be spent more wisely, especially on a older generation system that still runs Rambus.
A much better deal is this: a new Abit/A64 3000+ system with Radeon 9700pro and 1GB DDR ram all for 500. Or wait till Nvidia's supply of GTs increase and the retailers arent charging 100 bux over MSRP.
 
To: SoLiD_MasteR:
are you on crack? 2.8-3.0 on that 2.4B??? the max he can do is probably 2.7(on 150FSB) thats only if that Rambus ram can handle it and with a decent air cooling setup. Also, the current benchmarks you see are all using p4C or E with dual channel 800Mhz DDR ram or more. Memory bandwidth on those systems are thru the roof(5GB/sec) His memory subsystem is probably maxing out at 3GB/sec overclocked. And doom3 is a very very memory intensive game.

Of course the GT is a better card. The question is: is it so good that it's worth 450? I just showed how one can build a A64 system using that much money and probably later on get a 6600GT or something when it comes out and have a much better system performance and still very decent doom3 experience
 
My monitor can take those resolutions it's a Sony 21" PS-500.

I'll be upgrading my system in 6 months. So I don't really want to buy a 9700/9800 and change it 6 months down the road.

Anyhow a 9800 pro 128mb sells for $250 in canada right now. It's way overpriced in my opinion. I decided to go with the 6800GT and ordered one. There not easy to find here but I got one for $585 canadian which is definetly a good price. x800xt is selling for $600-650.

I got the leadtek 6800GT from here:

http://www.bigfootcomputers.com/Mer...reen=PROD&Product_Code=9628&Category_Code=950
 
Stock PC1066 does about 3400mb/s which isn't too bad. Sure it doesn't compare to the 5GB/s of dual ddr 533 but for 2 year old ram that's not too bad...
 
yes 3GB with a higher latency than DDR.. that's the whole issue with Rambus when it came out....doom3 is a memory bandwidth/Latency killer. Look at the CPU benchmarks at anandtech, you will see that the A64 with ondie single channel memory controller(at 3GB/sec also) dominated even the p4C and p4E processors. Even anandtech recommend a 3000+ processor(175 bux on newegg!)
 
I should get the 6800GT by mid-week at the latest. I'll come back and post benchmarks.

Even anandtech compares the 2.4c. I really wished the would of compared the 2.4b or hell even the a :)
 
I couldn't get my hands on a 6800GT. No one had them in stock. So I bought a BFG 6800 Ultra OC :cool:

All I have to say is WOW what an upgrade from a GF4 4600. I was afraid my cpu would be too much of a bottleneck for the card but it turns out it does quite good. Sure an Ultra is overkill for my system, but I'm upgrading in the near future.

Here comes the interesting part, some benchmarks:
(Keep in mind these could be higher, I did 0 tweaking and some apps were running in the background)

System:
P4 2.4B
P4T533-C
1GB PC1066
430 Antec True Power


3dmark01
15557 (Definetly CPU limited here, I would get 11500 with my GF4. 13000 overclocked)

3dmark03
11460 (Much better than I had thought. Got 1960 with my GF4)

Doom 3

All on high quality:

53.4 fps in 1024x768
53.4 fps in 1280x1024
51.8 fps in 1600x1200
48.2 fps in 1600x1200 (2xAA)
39.3 fps in 1600x1200 (4xAA)

1600x1200 on high with 2X AA is definetly playable. It will dip to 30 in very intense action.

Quake 3

Highest quality possible I got 264fps in all these resolutions 1024/1280/1600. Definetly CPU limited here.

Far Cry

Didn't have time to benchmark it but 1600x1200 with 2xAA was playable in intense action it could dip to high 20's. So I might run it in 1280x1024 with 4xAA for now.


Heat doesn't look like an issue on this card. Idle's at 56C and 76C at full load max. Can't wait to see what it will overclock to. Didn't have a chance to overclock it yet.
 
Finally got a chance to overclock the 6800 Ultra OC and I'm getting a stable overclock at 464/1220.

Played doom 3 for an hour at this setting. Coolbits won't detect a higher cpu/ram settings. It fails the test. Now I'm sure it can do more. On my 1st overclocking try it does 464/1220 :p

Temperature never went above 69C with D3 windowed in 1024. The stock cooler is deintely very good on this card.
 
Hm, your D3 scores are low. I get higher on my GT [44 at 16x12 4xAA]. What drivers/settings are you using? Make sure you enable the opts. No IQ loss for a decent performence gain.
 
That's cause of my cpu p4 2.4 with 533 bus

Your 3200+ 64 is a lot faster. That's what I'm upgrading to in a few weeks though. With a good overclock I'll be fine.
 
btf said:
That's cause of my cpu p4 2.4 with 533 bus

Your 3200+ 64 is a lot faster. That's what I'm upgrading to in a few weeks though. With a good overclock I'll be fine.
Click to expand...

*smacks forehead*

Heh, it totally didn't register that you had 2.4C. I'm spoiled, I just go about assuming everyone has an A64. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top