Will SLI improve TF2 with my processor?

GilmourD

GilmourD

[H]F Junkie
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As you can see from my sig, I have an eVGA 9800 GT SC and an OC'd Opteron 165. Am I better off going SLI or upgrading my board and getting a new proc and more RAM?
 
at that res with that card, I'd guess the 9800 is not even trying hard & that processor is maxed out.

But a good test would be to overclock one, then the other, and see what effect on frame rates it has.
 
GilmourD said:
As you can see from my sig, I have an eVGA 9800 GT SC and an OC'd Opteron 165. Am I better off going SLI or upgrading my board and getting a new proc and more RAM?
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adding any more gpu power with that cpu will not improve your minimum framerates at all. also it says 9800 GS in your sig... :p
 
cannondale06 said:
adding any more gpu power with that cpu will not improve your minimum framerates at all. also it says 9800 GS in your sig... :p
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Ooops... Fixed that. LOL

My framerates at my current settings are good. Will more GPU power allow me to raise my settings?
 
DrStrangeBrew said:
at that res with that card, I'd guess the 9800 is not even trying hard & that processor is maxed out.

But a good test would be to overclock one, then the other, and see what effect on frame rates it has.
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The processor's already OC'd 50%.
 
I think people overestimate the effect of CPU bottlenecking. I would guess it will improve performance.
 
TF2 is not a challenging game for either card or processor. What kind of frame rates are you getting with your current setup?
 
Dogboy714 said:
TF2 is not a challenging game for either card or processor. What kind of frame rates are you getting with your current setup?
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RamonGTP said:
Actually, it is... For the processor anyway.
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It sits at 60 when nothing's going on (Vsync enabled) but dips to around 30 with heavy action. It doesn't affect play at all, really. It's just what settings I'm using.

The main thing, here, is that I want to up my settings, like use the highest quality textures and whatnot. When I set TF2 to use those settings, the frames drop.

Having read that TF2 doesn't use more than two cores currently, I'm wondering if I should get a faster dual core (obviously I'd have to go to AM2+) or if I should jump all the way to quad.
 
bholstege said:
I think people overestimate the effect of CPU bottlenecking. I would guess it will improve performance.
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With the source engine is it always the CPU bottlenecking. I'm probably going to get a core2 soon just so I can play TF2 with decent frame rates.
 
man I wish I had your rigs... (see sig :( )

I get 60fps or near when there are 4 people on the screen and 25 to 45 or below 25 if a lot of stuff is happening.

This is in 1024x768 with everything turned off and LOW everything...
 
bholstege said:
I think people overestimate the effect of CPU bottlenecking. I would guess it will improve performance.
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nope. if anything most people underestimate the effect a cpu can have on performance. even with his single 9800gt his current cpu is holding his performance back at least when it comes to minimum framerates. the stronger the video card the more you realize that your cpu cant keep it fed. sure your highest framerates and usually your averages will go up but if your minimums stay the same then in most cases your overall experience doesnt improve.

I had a 5000 X2 and overclocked 8600gt. I tried various cards like 4670, 9600gt, and 8800gt in my system and none of those cards could increase the minimum framerates in newer games. I could not get anywhere near the framerates I saw in benchmarks on the web for those cards until I upgraded to a faster cpu. even the 4670 had a 25-35% increase in performance for newer games by using a decent Core 2 cpu over the 5000 X2 so just imagine how bad 2 9800gt cards would be getting held back with a slow cpu.
 
Destonomos said:
man I wish I had your rigs... (see sig :( )

I get 60fps or near when there are 4 people on the screen and 25 to 45 or below 25 if a lot of stuff is happening.

This is in 1024x768 with everything turned off and LOW everything...
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Something's wrong with your setup because I was getting better than that with a 3200+ single core and a 6600GT at 1680x1050.
 
That is kinda strage, my Toledo has the same amount of L2 cache and is only 400mhz faster. With one 8800GT 512mb I was able to get 16AF and 2xAA with supersampling enabled. Why do you hace vsync enabled if your trying to improve framerates? I've always taken a huger performance hit when its enabled.

I do think that adding another video card will allow for better quality settings but only to a point. The scaling is pretty noticable on my rig but because of my CPU there are only a few games that I can go above 4xAA in. Devil May Cry 4 runs perfect nearly holding 117fps constant with C16xQ CSAA and 16xAF enabled. And CoD4 gets twice the amount of FPS 90 vs. 45-50 I was getting before. Same here with the Anti Aliasing, I can raise it to 4x vs. 2x(I usually leave it off for multiplayer though).

Personally I think that the vSync is making your framerates chug so hard. Try disabling that.

*edit*
Destonomos said:
man I wish I had your rigs... (see sig :( )

I get 60fps or near when there are 4 people on the screen and 25 to 45 or below 25 if a lot of stuff is happening.

This is in 1024x768 with everything turned off and LOW everything...
Click to expand...

If you don't mind the trouble, you might be interested that I just RMA'd a evga 7600GT for a friend and got a 8600GT back in return. Lifetime baby! Of coarse the fan had died and the card decided to take a dirtnap. I'm not encouraging you to do anything bad... muahahaha! :D
 
8800GTX maxed out TF2 on my system at 19x12 save for AA which I ran at 4x.

It's the CPU. I can't picture a 9800 series card being that much weaker than a 8800GTX at 16x10.
 
GilmourD said:
I'm wondering if I should get a faster dual core (obviously I'd have to go to AM2+) or if I should jump all the way to quad.
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Curious, why do you have to go AM2+? (why not a Core 2 Duo?)

And you really should turn off V-sync if you don't want fps dips.
 
ihira said:
Curious, why do you have to go AM2+? (why not a Core 2 Duo?)

And you really should turn off V-sync if you don't want fps dips.
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Even without Vsync on, it was dipping just as low. I just had a slightly higher peak fps but some tearing.
 
cannondale06 said:
nope. if anything most people underestimate the effect a cpu can have on performance. even with his single 9800gt his current cpu is holding his performance back at least when it comes to minimum framerates. the stronger the video card the more you realize that your cpu cant keep it fed. sure your highest framerates and usually your averages will go up but if your minimums stay the same then in most cases your overall experience doesnt improve.

I had a 5000 X2 and overclocked 8600gt. I tried various cards like 4670, 9600gt, and 8800gt in my system and none of those cards could increase the minimum framerates in newer games. I could not get anywhere near the framerates I saw in benchmarks on the web for those cards until I upgraded to a faster cpu. even the 4670 had a 25-35% increase in performance for newer games by using a decent Core 2 cpu over the 5000 X2 so just imagine how bad 2 9800gt cards would be getting held back with a slow cpu.
Click to expand...



Dido, i originally had a e4400 @ 3Ghz with a 76600GT, thats a 4400 NOT an 8400!, it was based on allendale some of he first c2 series were.

i had bad fps playing at 1680 x 1050 with most any settings, once i tossed in my q6600 @ 3ghz, the game was more then playable.



VSync does make the drops seems greater, but sometimes the tearing / lines on screen is just unbearable, why people use it.
So from personal experience, his CPU is the bottleneck.
 
cannondale06 said:
nope. if anything most people underestimate the effect a cpu can have on performance. even with his single 9800gt his current cpu is holding his performance back at least when it comes to minimum framerates. the stronger the video card the more you realize that your cpu cant keep it fed. sure your highest framerates and usually your averages will go up but if your minimums stay the same then in most cases your overall experience doesnt improve.

I had a 5000 X2 and overclocked 8600gt. I tried various cards like 4670, 9600gt, and 8800gt in my system and none of those cards could increase the minimum framerates in newer games. I could not get anywhere near the framerates I saw in benchmarks on the web for those cards until I upgraded to a faster cpu. even the 4670 had a 25-35% increase in performance for newer games by using a decent Core 2 cpu over the 5000 X2 so just imagine how bad 2 9800gt cards would be getting held back with a slow cpu.
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Very sensible post.

However I think it's mainly people on these type of video card forums who underestimate the effect of the CPU and overestimate what a new GPU will bring when paired with a terrible computer (i.e. cpu).

Most average people will tend to think that a crap computer will lead to crap performance and getting a better computer will lead to better performance. (And the average person is actually more correct in many cases than people who read GPU forums too much.)

p.s. to the OP, yes, I suggest you upgrade your computer first then worry about your graphics card.
 
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