Can my Pentium 4 3.0 GHz utilize the Radeon X1650?

Question

Or did I just move the bottleneck to the CPU? At some point getting a better video card does not mean anything because the game is CPU bound. Should I get a cheaper video card because my CPU is so old and can't really push the video card?

Answer 1

A 3Ghz Pentium 4 can certainly use the X1650. I don't think you'd hit a CPU bottleneck with anything less than an X1950 Pro. I've got a P4 3.0 Ghz with a Geforce 7900GT.

The X1650 is no speed demon, but is rather pricey for its level of performance. A better buy is the Geforce 7600GT which has about identical performance to the Radeon X1650XT, for around half(!) the price. Or get an 8600GT, which will perform even better and offer DX10 support (not a big issue since I doubt you're running Vista on that CPU)

ATI makes excellent high-end and midrange cards but they aren't cost-competitive at the entry-level.

Answer 2

I have a P4 3.0 GHZ and the x1650 is only a 128 bit card which means it is about as fast as my 256 bit ATI AIW 9800 Pro. Since the bandwidth is the same and my computer does very well in graphics intensive games I would say no it wont. Your processor does not have to work as hard as you think it would while running games. CS:S runs my processor about 40-50%. Most of the things needed to run a game is stored in the RAM so the more RAM the faster the load times are and the less your processor and HD's have to load.

Answer 3

Most games aren't that reliant on processor speed (to a point).

If your motherboard will handle the processor, and has a slot to slap the card into (pci-e or whatever) then it should work together.

EVen if the processor isn't that special, you will notice a major difference in how high you can crank up detail, etc. in your games.

Answer 4

i am not sure