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Old 09-11-2004, 07:24 AM   #12 (permalink)
Lasereth
Knight of the Old Republic
 
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Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrap1
Not exactly. I would say it's more like 1) ram 2) Proc 3. Video Card

The ram supples data to the processor, then the processor sends data to the video card.
If you have a super fast video card, but a slow processor, the video card will be starved of data, it will be idle much of the time. If you have a super fast processor but low amounts of ram the same situation will occur, the processor will be idle much of the time waiting for data from ram.
No, it's definitely videocard first. Forget the data procedure...what matters is performance and tests. Upgrading from a 1.6 GHz P4 to a 3.0 GHz P4 will do you much less good than upgrading from a GeForce 4 MX to a GeForce 6800. Will the system be bottlenecked with such a good videocard and a sub-par processor? Yeah, but it'll perform a hell of a lot better than simply upgrading the processor. As of 3 years ago, the videocard handles nearly all of the calculations in gaming. That's why people with $70 processors and a $500 videocard are playing games at astronomical speeds (me ).

Having over 512 MB of RAM will increase game performance way more than having a faster processor as well. Adding an extra 256 MB of RAM to 512 will increase the average FPS drastically.

If ya want proof, check out the Doom 3 tests on anandtech.com. Upgrading from a 2.4 C Core P4 to a 3.2 GHz C core = 10% performance boost. Upgrading from a GeForce 4 to a GeForce 6800 = sometimes 200-300% performance boost. I shit you not.

PS: I saw that episode of TSS when they had the "gaming PC knowitall" on there. Seeing Rose and that moron say that your processor is the most important for gaming basically lost any hope I had for the show. I started screaming at the screen. I didn't really like the old TSS, but now it's unbearable. Hell, all of G4techTV is unbearable, especially the truckload of feces that G4 brought in.

-Lasereth
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