Q9400 with GTX 480?

Wardone · 08 Sep 2010

Hello everyone!

I just registered to get some quick help from all of you here on Windows 7 forums since you seem like a nice bunch of peeps ;D

I just bought a Zotac GTX 480 with a Zalman 750 PSU and installed Windows 7 ultimate 64x and the small problem is my CPU.. I have a Core 2 Quad Q9400 2,7 Ghz CPU and i have heard from a friend that it will bottleneck my new gpu a bit if i dont OC it to atleast 3,4 Ghz and i have NEVER overclocked anything and he said i needed to oc it with BIOS at start up. But problem Nr 2 is that i think that HP has locked my BIOS settings so i cannot overclock my CPU but i am not 100% sure since i dont know how to do anything with bios. Oh and my ram is also pretty bad 400mhz DDr2. My friend has an AMD cpu and he just oc'd it with a program cant i do that with intel cpu's? What should i do? Without getting a new CPU that is. Or did i make the wrong choice when upgrading my computer like this? ANY help is appreciated :) Thx

Wardone

ken9122 · 08 Sep 2010

Welcome to 7 Forums !
Your CPU should not be a problem and I not suggest Overclocking.
Your memory could use upgrading. That would give the most benefit.

Ken

smarteyeball · 08 Sep 2010

Wardone said:

I have a Core 2 Quad Q9400 2,7 Ghz CPU and i have heard from a friend that it will bottleneck my new gpu a bit if i dont OC it to at least 3,4 Ghz

It will bottleneck a little.

and i have NEVER overclocked anything and he said i needed to oc it with BIOS at start up. But problem Nr 2 is that i think that HP has locked my BIOS settings so i cannot overclock my CPU but i am not 100% sure since i dont know how to do anything with bios.

Oh and my ram is also pretty bad 400mhz DDr2

I'm assuming you are also using the stock CPU cooler?

Between that and the RAM - overclocking is a bad idea.

Even if you had an unlocked BIOS, an aftermarket CPU cooler - that RAM will not let you get near 3.4ghz if it is indeed PC2-3200 400mhz (and not actually 400*2=800mhz PC2-6400 DDR2)

Everlong · 08 Sep 2010

My Q9550 is fine at stock speed 2.8GHz. I've overclocked it to 3.4GHz and you do get a bit more out of it, but that's the same with any overclocked system. Your GTX480 will still run without a problem with your Q9400.

Either way though, you should still look at upgrading your RAM to at least 800MHz DDR2.

pparks1 · 08 Sep 2010

Another vote that the Q9400 should not really bottleneck your video card. You are worried for nothing.

And yes, HP is going to lock out ability to overclock at the BIOS level as they have to support the machine and hardware and don't want people fooling around with that stuff.

DeaconFrost · 08 Sep 2010

You're friend doesn't really know what he's talking about. You can't blindly say that one part will bottleneck another, because it all depends on what you are doing/running on the computer. Some games that are CPU intensive will be limited by the CPU. If it is a GPU intensive game, then the GPU becomes the limit. You really don't need to worry about it at all, as long as you keep them at decent levels. If you had a Pentium 4 system with an Nvidia 480, then it would be very clear that one would hamper the other. In your given example, you have nothing to worry about....except any future advice from this friend.

Wardone · 08 Sep 2010

Wow i was right you are a nice bunch of peeps

Thx for all the replies i will prob upgrade my ram sometime that wouldnt be a problem :)

Wardone · 09 Sep 2010

Will i see any difference in fps if i upgrade my ram to 800mhz?

DeaconFrost · 09 Sep 2010

I doubt it. Most hardware sites have guides up showing how little timings and ram speeds affect actual, real-world performance.

Wardone · 09 Sep 2010

Allright but i wont need to upgrade my cpu soon then atleast :) Then i would need to get a whole new system

Which i cannot afford. Specially after this GPU