cpu vs gpu

does anyone know of a good review/comparison with different gpu's in a less than cutting edge main system? Say a decent nf4 mobo(non-SLi), AMD64-3200, 1.5Gb pc3200 cas3 ram, standard clocks. Would that system support anything up to a 7900GT nicely or would the gfx card be wasted on it? What sort of a performance loss will you see due to the system...

Alternative cpus: X2 3800 or Op 144
Alternative gpus: 7800GT or 7600GT

I can't justify spending any more on a system, and the 3800 would be pushing the wallet a little hard for now. I can always update the cpu later! My current system is feeling the pressure of FEAR and CSSource :crazy:

If your looking for a budget CPU then a 3700+ San Diego is a great bet, especially if you willing to OC it a little, you can easily reach the equivalent of an FX-55.

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Originally Posted by RavenNight

If your looking for a budget CPU then a 3700+ San Diego is a great bet, especially if you willing to OC it a little, you can easily reach the equivalent of an FX-55.

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would that require better expensive ram and/or a non-retail hsf?

When you look at review sites benchmark charts, they show a range of resolutions from 800 x 600 to double that.
A card like a 7800GT with your Athlon64 3200, in most modern games, will max out most likely across the range of resolutions (ie is CPU limited).
That said, the higher the resolution you want to run at, the less CPU-bound you will be.

The other factor worth considering is in what sort of time frame you'll be changing your CPU anyway - if it's going to be in the next few months, i'd argue that you get the best graphics card you can now and then all will be super srubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishy when you get the new CPU.

Firingsquad is great for aticles like that. There is one of a 7800GTX using everything from a FX-57 to a 3000+ and the general pattern is at 1024 res, the difference is quite big, at 1600x1200 there is barely 2FPS difference.

So basically your much better of going with a high end video card, and medium CPU, rather than the other way round.

I agree - go with a higher end gpu, i had this debate when i got either a new cpu or gpu - bought a 7800gt and jept my A64 3200, glad i did that - plays everything very smoothly :)

If your on a budget then a nice 3200+ venice can be had for £100ish and below. OC it up to around 2.4-6GHz and you have a great bargain. The GFX card will count far more in games than the CPU :)

Opty 146 - £116.31inc on Scan today special, even the new batches should easily overclock to 2.5-2.6 and you have the 1Mb cache.

Spend the money you've saved on a more expensive GPU.