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#2963754 - 02/20/10 05:47 AM Re: Intel 17-920 Chip-Why So Highly Rated ? [Re: Immermann]
Allen Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 10/13/99
Posts: 4748
Loc: Ohio USA
Originally Posted By: Immermann
Food for thought: http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/cpu_scaling_with_the_radeon_hd_5970,1.html

So for general gaming I guess bang for buck is the way to go when it comes to the CPU, and putting your money on a better GFX-card ...


Great article (giving FPS as a function of CPU speed). Really makes the point that once your CPU is "fast enough", making it twice as fast will not usually make a "visible to the unaided eye" difference (or will barely do so).

A similar article showed that the $96 dual-core AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.1 GHz was "fast enough" (it was the GPU that made the difference). And, most all enthusiast quads are faster than that.

So, save money on the CPU, MB, memory -- and pour it into the GPU (as you said) -- has been vindicated in tests yet again smile

Of course, like all rules of thumb, there are occasional exceptions.
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#2963773 - 02/20/10 06:33 AM Re: Intel 17-920 Chip-Why So Highly Rated ? [Re: Allen]
Remon Online content
Member

Registered: 10/09/09
Posts: 343
Originally Posted By: Allen
Originally Posted By: Immermann
Food for thought: http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/cpu_scaling_with_the_radeon_hd_5970,1.html

So for general gaming I guess bang for buck is the way to go when it comes to the CPU, and putting your money on a better GFX-card ...


Great article (giving FPS as a function of CPU speed). Really makes the point that once your CPU is "fast enough", making it twice as fast will not usually make a "visible to the unaided eye" difference (or will barely do so).

A similar article showed that the $96 dual-core AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.1 GHz was "fast enough" (it was the GPU that made the difference). And, most all enthusiast quads are faster than that.

So, save money on the CPU, MB, memory -- and pour it into the GPU (as you said) -- has been vindicated in tests yet again smile

Of course, like all rules of thumb, there are occasional exceptions.



Thanks, I was trying to find this article and couldn't remember which site I've read it on. There's a small problem with it though, as it uses an downclocked/overclocked i7 and not different CPUs. Also, what happens when you can't afford a 600$ GPU, and have to resort to smaller ones, like the 5850, and you have to lower your graphic settings? What happens then CPU-wise? Do they all stick together?

And what about future-proofing your machine? (I know, in todays computer world there isn't any proper future-proofing, but still...). I mean, the only card that could probably hold up with the next 2 generations of GPUs is the 5970, which costs... holy crap it's listed at 699$ and 649$ at Newegg. With 650, well... I don't know any CPU/Mobo/Memory combo that any sane person could purchase. But a i7-920/Asus Rampage Gene/3 gb memory costs around... and of course Newegg makes me a liar again, it costs about 600$. Stupid dollar.

Okay, never mind the future-proofing, but I believe the first set of questions is still valid.


Edited by Remon (02/20/10 06:34 AM)
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