Video Card > Processor. Need advice, please.

[TMoS]

Hi ,

I came across this forum while Googling for some information. From what I can tell this forum is very friendly and provides positive and helpful feedback. I was hoping someone could offer some advice for my problem.

I recently received a X850 XT PE AGP, as well as an extra GB of DDR400 RAM as a gift, making my system's total 2GB. I am very happy with the upgrades however, my processor cannot keep up with my video card. I am playing Counter Strike: Source and my frames per second still dips to around 20-40 when there are many players on screen. I am currently running a P4 2.4C GHz on a Socket 478 motherboard.

For financial reasons, I am not ready to upgrade to a PCIe motherboard as that would cost me a great deal considering I would have to get DDR2 RAM, and perhaps a socket LGA775 processor along with it.

What I am considering is buying an "P4 3.2E GHz Socket 478 1MB L2 Cache 800MHz FSB w/ HT (Retail Box)" to match my video card (this would save me much money until I am ready for a new computer - in 2 years perhaps?). Now, my question is this; will this processor suffice? Or will the fact that it is a Socket 478 still make it lag behind my video card? I do not know too much about processors.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.




My specs:
P4 2.4C GHz
Radeon X850 XT PE
2GB DDR400 RAM
Audigy 2

[Midknyte]

what motherboard do you have? do you plan to overclock or not? did you try overclocking your 2.4C?

3.4 is the highest on socket 478, so you'd only be one step down at 3.2.

[TMoS]

Hi there,

I have an Asus P4P800 mb. I've thought about it but unfortunately, I know absolutely nothing about overclocking.

Perhaps I should consider a 3.4GHz then. I'm still not sure if such a processor would be a waste on socket 478. I heard Intel has stopped making these and that they are not as good as the newer one, naturally.

[Midknyte]

You would have to buy a new mb, ram, video card (PCIe) and cpu to go with the 775 cpus. That would be a waste since the 850xts ain't cheap.

3.2 or 3.4 should be enough for the 850xt in general. Some games are more cpu intensive than others.

if you are interested in overclocking, look at the "Best of CPUs" sticky. There are risks involved and you could damage your system, so take some time to research it before you try anything.

Each forum section has a "Best of" and other "Sticky" threads at the top. Please check those out before posting questions.