Where's the bottleneck?

[Gammorian]

Just picked these parts and was wondering what the 1st component that would need an upgrade. Thanks


1.MSI K9NGM4-F V.2 AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7025 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813130162

2. EVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814130334

3. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Brisbane 2.3GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO4400DDBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16819103776

4. G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820231145

5. Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822148262

[Ethdios]

Okay, I know you're supposed to be the one getting answers here but I'm gonna ask you a question that I've wondered about for a while.

The graphics card you're gonna use says its interface is "PCI Express 2.0 16x". So, do you need a "PCI Express 2.0 16x" slot on your mobo, or does it work in just a regular 16x slot? Or does a 2.0 16x slot even exist?

And I can try to answer your question - I think your processor would be the first thing you'll want to upgrade, since it's only dual-core.

[Gammorian]

If my knowledge is correct, The GPU is comptible with the mobo but since the mobo doesn't have a 2.0 PCI slot the GPU will only run at a reduced speed.

This above computer is actually for a friend. I'm currently using a factory OC'ed MSI 9600GT on a 1.0 PCI slot x16 so it will run faster when I upgrade the motherboard.

[Alaron]

You're correct about the PCI-E slot.

As for your list, it looks good. I'd say the CPU could probably get bumped a few notches. The 5200+ is a popular choice for AMD builders right now.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by Gammorian If my knowledge is correct, The GPU is comptible with the mobo but since the mobo doesn't have a 2.0 PCI slot the GPU will only run at a reduced speed. This above computer is actually for a friend. I'm currently using a factory OC'ed MSI 9600GT on a 1.0 PCI slot x16 so it will run faster when I upgrade the motherboard.

The GPU will only run at a reduced speed if it requires more bandwidth than PCIe 1.0 can provide, that is not the case with the 9600GT, it will run at full speed with either 1.0 or 2.0 (assuming that it's a 16x slot). Is there any reason for getting that kind of ram? 2GB of DDR2-800 ram is a lot less expensive and provides enough ram with about as much performance as the ones in your list. If you could take the savings from buying 2GB of DDR2-800 and put it into a 2.GHz processor with 2x1MB cache, it would alleviate most if not all of the bottleneck.

[liambl]

Masaki is correct. Even with the 9800GX2, you only lose noticable performance with it reduced to 1x speed (you can change the card to run in different speeds by covering part of the PCI-e connector with tape). But certain games did benefit from PCI-e 2.0, games that require lots of memory like FSX. At 16x the game was about 100fps but at 1x it dropped right down to 3fps.