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tomster2300 · 05-26-2008, 12:31 AM

I'm thinking about upgrading my computer for my birthday, and am curious by something I found on tomshardware. The article is an investigation into the benefits of upgrading your processor over your video card, and vice versa.

Here's the link, followed by this paragraph in question:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...e,1928-20.html

"However, games are not 100% dependent on the graphics card; the Geforce 8 and 9 require a basic level of power, otherwise they are unable to exploit their 3D potential. The speed of the CPU should lie somewhere between 2600 and 3000 MHz; any lower, and the new graphics chips lose considerable performance."

I currently have an E4400 dual core, which clocks in at 2.0 Ghz. Despite the lacklusterness of my 8600 GT video card, am I not achieving its full potential while my processor is under 3.0 Ghz? Should I not worry about the cpu and upgrade the video card instead? I originally intended to use eVGA's step-up program to get a new card when building my computer, but accidentally waited too long to make use of it.

"The difference in performance among CPUs costing $77, $268 or even $1,237 (50, 170, 800 Euros) is actually relatively low. If you compare an E2160 at 1800 MHz to an E6750 or Q6600, you will find a 30% difference in the overall results. If the E2160 is overclocked to 2400 MHz, though, the difference in overall results is just 15%. The smaller cache of the E2160 budget CPU can be overcome by a higher clocking rate of up to 3 GHz."

While researching for my current desktop I found a website partially supporting the bolded text within the paragraph. They found that at 1280x1024 resolution, a test rig with a low end, small cache processor and high end graphics card, achieved nearly identical gaming results to a computer with all high end components. This is what I based my purchase on when choosing the E4400 and 8600 GT (the graphics card was a mistake I'll admit).

So, what do you guys think of this, and what do you believe I should do?

05-26-2008, 12:31 AM	#1
tomster2300 I like monkeys Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The South Posts: 2,512	Questioning Tomshardware I'm thinking about upgrading my computer for my birthday, and am curious by something I found on tomshardware. The article is an investigation into the benefits of upgrading your processor over your video card, and vice versa. Here's the link, followed by this paragraph in question: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...e,1928-20.html "However, games are not 100% dependent on the graphics card; the Geforce 8 and 9 require a basic level of power, otherwise they are unable to exploit their 3D potential. The speed of the CPU should lie somewhere between 2600 and 3000 MHz; any lower, and the new graphics chips lose considerable performance." I currently have an E4400 dual core, which clocks in at 2.0 Ghz. Despite the lacklusterness of my 8600 GT video card, am I not achieving its full potential while my processor is under 3.0 Ghz? Should I not worry about the cpu and upgrade the video card instead? I originally intended to use eVGA's step-up program to get a new card when building my computer, but accidentally waited too long to make use of it. "The difference in performance among CPUs costing $77, $268 or even $1,237 (50, 170, 800 Euros) is actually relatively low. If you compare an E2160 at 1800 MHz to an E6750 or Q6600, you will find a 30% difference in the overall results. If the E2160 is overclocked to 2400 MHz, though, the difference in overall results is just 15%. The smaller cache of the E2160 budget CPU can be overcome by a higher clocking rate of up to 3 GHz." While researching for my current desktop I found a website partially supporting the bolded text within the paragraph. They found that at 1280x1024 resolution, a test rig with a low end, small cache processor and high end graphics card, achieved nearly identical gaming results to a computer with all high end components. This is what I based my purchase on when choosing the E4400 and 8600 GT (the graphics card was a mistake I'll admit). So, what do you guys think of this, and what do you believe I should do? __________________ Desktop 1: Intel i7 920--GA-x58-UD3R--Corsair xMS3 6GB (3 X 2GB) DDR3 1333mhz--Sapphire HD 4870 1GB--PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750w psu--WD SATA 3.0 gb/s 320 GB HD--Lite-on DVD-DL burner--Thermaltake SopranoRS black case--Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Desktop 2: Intel C2D E4400--GA-P35-DS3R--Corsair xMS2 2GB (2 X 1 GB) DDR2 800--eVGA 8600 GT--Fortron Source 500 watt psu--WD 250 gb HD--HP DVD-DL burner--Windows Vista Home Premium Laptop: Apple Macbook Last edited by tomster2300; 05-26-2008 at 12:34 AM.