Hey all, so im finally going to put some money down for a new GPU, a Geforce 465, to replace my venerable 9600. My only worry is that my current CPU might bottleneck its performance. The cpu in question is a Athlon 64 x2 3800+, OC’d to 2.5 GHz. Will be running things in resolutions upwards of 1080p. Should I have anything to worry about?
Get a Phenom II x4 965
Very good performance for the price.
That will definitely hold you back, I agree with Maxey - if your board supports it, get the Phenom II X4. And while you may be settled in your choice (no fanboy stuff here) I’d recommend the 5870 over the 465.
thanks for the tip, will look into the processor. and I completely agree that ATI currently has the upper hand in GPU’s with the 5870, and I did look at one for a while. but I have had 3 cards from nvidia before and they all performed amazingly and flawlessly. I guess its a familiarity thing ^_^. plus I hear nvidia’s drivers are better.
Nvidia’s drivers are better because ATi has a nasty habit of releasing beta drivers. However, ATi cards are usually much cheaper for the same, or better speed. A 5870 is ~$250. A 465 is ~$280.
Do you mean a 5850? Because if you DO mean a 5870 please tell me were your getting your prices.
Next week the GTX460 is coming out…it should show some decent performance at a significantly lower price level than the 465.
Never go for dual-GPU if you’re in the low-mid range. Why? Microstuttering.
Unless your computer has the power to pump out more frames per second than your monitors refresh rate you should stay away from dual-GPU’s. Many people including myself have had experience with microstuttering and it makes playing with 50 fps worse than 25 fps on a single-GPU videocard.
And yes, the problem still exists with the newer line of ATI and NVIDIA cards.
thats pretty cool, got a source for that bit of news?
I’ve bounced back and forth over the years. I had a nVidia FX-5200, then a Radeon 9800, currently a nVidia 8800GT, and I’m looking to get a Radeon 5870. I go for price/performance and power draw. The current ATI’s excel for both accounts, so that’s what I’m getting 
As for drivers, that’s why there’s OldApp.com.
Something like this:
Yeah, sorry, I meant the 5850. It was a typo.
I’ve never had that kind of problem with multi-GPU cards…
5850 - Tis mine.