Interesting findings in 3D Mark 99 Max:
- E8600 @ 4.00GHz and 7900GT @ stock clocks scores 53540 3DMarks and 105220 CPU 3DMarks.
- E8600 @ 4.86GHz and 7900GT @ 532/784MHz scores 62869 3DMarks and 125672 CPU 3DMarks.
It's around 19% more points, that equals the 19% overclock on the CPU.
- E8600 @ 4.00GHz and 7600GT @ stock clocks scores 52268 3DMarks and 105613 CPU 3DMarks.
The 7900GT and the 7600GT have similar scores with the same CPU at the same clocks, looks like the 7600GT is a good match for the E8600 @ 4.00GHz and maybe the 7600GT is bottlenecking a little bit, nothing that you will notice in games or general usage of the system.
The 7900GT is around 70% better than the 7600GT, even with the CPU overclock the 7900GT still has headroom for a better CPU, like one with around 1000 points in CPU-Z 1.76.0, maybe a 2nd/3rd/4th Gen i5 or i7 with only one active Core and 5GHz+ overclock, but then the chipset support can be lacking for other stuff like USB and SATA. Using a 7900GTX won't improve the results, the bottleneck will always be the CPU as only one Core will be used in Windows 98.
What are your thoughts? For me I will install the E8600 in the ASUS P5G41T-M LX motherboard, clock the CPU @ 4.00GHz, get the 7600GT and the rest of the parts inside a nice case, call it a day and enjoy 😁