How powerful video card can a Phenom II feed ?

[jfri 42]

I plan to get a Phenom II X4, 965BE 3.4 GHz CPU. Which video card would be optimal with that? Other components I have isNVIDIA GTS 250 1 Gb and 4 GB PC6400 RAM with Win 7 x64.

[Humpty 751]

Is it a budgetary decision to go for the Phenom ?

[JSkorna 137]

It will keep up with any video card that you can buy.

[Humpty 751]

Jim , won't the Phenom bottleneck a higher end card, I think the 250/ 450 or the 5770 would do good what say ?

[jfri 42]

Is it a budgetary decision to go for the Phenom ?

Yes you could say that. One important factor here is that I got an oem license for Win 7 so it's locked to my current mobo

Jim , won't the Phenom bottleneck a higher end card, I think the 250/ 450 or the 5770 would do good what say ?

Do you mean GTS250 (like I have now) and GTS450?

[Humpty 751]

Yes you could say that. One important factor here is that I got an oem license for Win 7 so it's locked to my current mobo Do you mean GTS250 (like I have now) and GTS450?

yep, and you already have the 250 so you can actually test it. The phenom will perform well.

[JSkorna 137]

Jim , won't the Phenom bottleneck a higher end card, I think the 250/ 450 or the 5770 would do good what say ?

No, the CPU will not hold back the graphics card. That is my CPU and I can even OC it with the stock cooler to over 4 GHz. He can go higher than those cards you listed if he wishes.

[jfri 42]

No, the CPU will not hold back the graphics card. That is my CPU and I can even OC it with the stock cooler to over 4 GHz. He can go higher than those cards you listed if he wishes.

How high card can I go to before the CPU becomes the bottleneck. BTW I might point out that I only use DDR2 PC6400 RAM. Maybe these becomes the bottleneck?

[JSkorna 137]

A bottleneck is a system specific event. It rarely occurs between components, especially if the components are all modern. No, your memory is not going to be a bottleneck. Get that CPU, use those other components listed in post #1 and see what your computer is like. Also not sure what programs you are going to run on it.

[jfri 42]

A bottleneck is a system specific event. It rarely occurs between components, especially if the components are all modern. No, your memory is not going to be a bottleneck. Get that CPU, use those other components listed in post #1 and see what your computer is like. Also not sure what programs you are going to run on it.

This is my gaming computer. I use FSX FS9 addons and other games. You might also see my post in the mobo ram cpu forum ' Which components in this system is worth upgrading ?

[dazz 69]

There's always a bottleneck somewhere, and it depends on the system but also on the software and the settings.FSX is extremely CPU bound, even the fastest CPU at 5GHz won't be able to run FSX at 40 FPS in all situations jfri, what is your budget? what's your current system? (moderboard, PSU, case, cooling...)Do you overclock?

[jfri 42]

There's always a bottleneck somewhere, and it depends on the system but also on the software and the settings.FSX is extremely CPU bound, even the fastest CPU at 5GHz won't be able to run FSX at 40 FPS in all situations jfri, what is your budget? what's your current system? (moderboard, PSU, case, cooling...)Do you overclock?

I'm buying this on credit so keeping cost low is importantMy current systemMSI KA780G socket AM2+ motherboardAMD 64 X2 6000 3.1 GHz CPUKingston 4 Gb DDR2 PC6400 CL5 RAMASUS GTS250 1 GB VideocardSeagate 7200 rpm 500 Gb harddriveCorsair HX520 modularWin 7 x64 OEMI intend to place this with a new CPU in a Fractal design define R3 case. Might also mention that I have an old cheap case that forces me to have one sidepanle removed. Otherwise the videocard overheats. That's why I get the new R3 case and since I will move all stuff to a new case I decided to upgrade the CPU at the same time together with a Hyper 212+ cooler. This I hope will enable overclocking but I don't overclock my current CPU with its stock cooler.

[dazz 69]

Ok, I would get a 955BE if you are going to overclock. Will be a bit cheaper and overclocks all the same (the unlocked 955 Black Edition version)The only difference between the 965BE and the 955BE is the stock clock speed.The Hyper 212+ is a great choice for a budget cooler As for your original question, your current GTS250 is a decent midrange card. I would just get the 955BE, overeclock it, and then test the system to make sure the 250GTS is not bottlenecking the overclocked CPUTo test it, turn off Antialiasing and Anisotropic Filtering, resolution to 1024x768, full screen and clear skies (no clouds)Compare against AA set to 8xS, filtering set to anisotropic and your native resolution with clouds all over the place. If you don't get a performance hit or it's not too big, keep your GTS250, if you need to uprade your GPU, get a GTX460. The Gigabyte OC or the MSI Twin Frozr have great cooling and overclock like beasts What resolution will you be running by the way?

[jfri 42]

Ok, I would get a 955BE if you are going to overclock. Will be a bit cheaper and overclocks all the same (the unlocked 955 Black Edition version)The only difference between the 965BE and the 955BE is the stock clock speed.The Hyper 212+ is a great choice for a budget cooler As for your original question, your current GTS250 is a decent midrange card. I would just get the 955BE, overeclock it, and then test the system to make sure the 250GTS is not bottlenecking the overclocked CPUTo test it, turn off Antialiasing and Anisotropic Filtering, resolution to 1024x768, full screen and clear skies (no clouds)Compare against AA set to 8xS, filtering set to anisotropic and your native resolution with clouds all over the place. If you don't get a performance hit or it's not too big, keep your GTS250, if you need to uprade your GPU, get a GTX460. The Gigabyte OC or the MSI Twin Frozr have great cooling and overclock like beasts What resolution will you be running by the way?

Where I live (Sweden) the price difference between 955 and 965 is only a few dollar. I use 1920*1200 resolution.

[dazz 69]

A GTS250 might struggle at that resolution. Not sure though, you'll have to test it yourself