Q9400 with GTX 480?

[Wardone]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[DeaconFrost]

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

 

[Wardone]

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

 

[SlackerITGuy]

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

Hmmmm maybe, but nothing significantly to be completely honest.

RAM frequency don't really affect gaming performance.

I went from a 4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 @ 800Mhz kit to a 4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 @ 1333Mhz one a couple of months ago and saw 0 performance improvements in games whatsoever.

Although In your case, going from 400MHz to 800Mhz might make a difference... I don't know.

But you should definitely consider upgrading that RAM.

 

[Wardone]

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

Hmmmm maybe, but nothing significantly to be completely honest.

RAM frequency don't really affect gaming performance.

I went from a 4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 @ 800Mhz kit to a 4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 @ 1333Mhz one a couple of months ago and saw 0 performance improvements in games whatsoever.

Although In your case, going from 400MHz to 800Mhz might make a difference... I don't know.

But you should definitely consider upgrading that RAM.

Yeah just noticed that i had 400 mhz after i got my gtx. So i wont see new ram any time soon. To bad

 

[Everlong]

It won't be so much an fps increase, though you might see a boost in some areas, but it will be more in loading times of programs.

 

[thomas242]

I have to ask are you using pc3200 or pc6400 because pc3200 ram is relay old and a PC still running that wood be god awful slow trying to run win7 in my eyes. I also like to know the make and model of dell you have so we might better inform you on the upgrades that might best fit your rig. But if I had to guess just on the info you given us. I have to say you are not running pc3200 and have ddr2 800mhz ram. And it runs at 400x2 giving you the 800mhz band with.
The other thing I have to say is dell love's to lock down its bios in a lot of their PC and I don't recommend trying to over clock it with your stock cooler in it. They make a very reliable PC but don't allays put a fans inside the case to get rid of all the excess heat over clocking will make inside that case.

 

[Wardone]

I have to ask are you using pc3200 or pc6400 because pc3200 ram is relay old and a PC still running that wood be god awful slow trying to run win7 in my eyes. I also like to know the make and model of dell you have so we might better inform you on the upgrades that might best fit your rig. But if I had to guess just on the info you given us. I have to say you are not running pc3200 and have ddr2 800mhz ram. And it runs at 400x2 giving you the 800mhz band with.
The other thing I have to say is dell love's to lock down its bios in a lot of their PC and I don't recommend trying to over clock it with your stock cooler in it. They make a very reliable PC but don't allays put a fans inside the case to get rid of all the excess heat over clocking will make inside that case.

I have HP. And yes i think you are right i am not 100% sure that i have 400mhz i have to check sometime but not a big problem. Tbh i dont think that i have 400mhz either

 

[Rhammstein]

You have PC2 6400 Ram which unless you've changed anything should be running at 800mhz, which is just fine for your platform.

In the future when you're ready, upgrade the Board, Cpu and Memory together and move over to DDR3 Ram. I wouldn't invest in the platform you have now, I would run it as long as possible and upgrade all of it, when necessary. That's a great video card, and will still be great down the road even, when you eventually upgrade to a newer platform.

 

[archie123]

its easy to check for a bottleneck , run a demanding game like crysis or bad company 2 , set everything to medium ingame and bench your fps , then set everything to high and bench again , if there is no real differance in FPS then you have a cpu bottleneck

im afraid its inevitable with that cpu and that gpu anyway , you'll struggle to max that out with a 4 gig I7 , you need a balanced system upgrading your ram wont help , maybe 1 or 2 fps you need to look at your cpu as a priority as at the moment your 480 will be seriously underperforming.

for now the only way to minimise the effect is to ramp up the antalaising , aniositropic filtering and res , if you play bad company 2 for example make sure your have all the effects such as HBAO set on , these are all gpu intensive tasks that will increase your eye candy but have little effect on fps because of your cpu.

if you can look into the q9650 or similar on the second hand market make sure its got the E0 stepping (clocks better and runs cooler and you can reach 3.8-4gig with little effort) , get a good cooling solution and overclock it , that will get you some more time before you need to spend a huge ammount on a full upgrade

 

[smarteyeball]

I have HP. And yes i think you are right i am not 100% sure that i have 400mhz i have to check sometime but not a big problem.

Download CPU-Z and check the memory and SPD tabs.

If the DRAM frequency shows as 400mhz, and/or the SPD tab shows PC2-6400 in the Max Bandwith, then you have DDR2 800 mhz ram, not DDR2 400mhz.