Video Card + CPU ... do you really need a 3ghz+ CPU???

[sharkypinoy]

So I finally came back to the computer hardware/overclocking hobby, after being gone for 2 ½ years, and I really needed to upgrade my computer to play todays games… I recently picked up Left 4 dead, gears of war, Crysis warhead, COD4 and COD world at war… and ive noticed that my system wasn’t cutting it anymore, even at really low res, some of the games Ive been playing have been really slow… so I decided its time to do a upgrade;

Option 1:
Video card: Radeon HD 4850 512MB (hopfully i can get up to 4870 speeds)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (hopfully i can get up to 4-4.2ghz)
total cost: 440ish (candian dollors)

Option2:
Video card: eVGA e-GeForce GTX 260 SuperClocked 896MB
Power supply: PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 Quad Power Supply
total cost: 420ish (candian dollors)

Now the majority of you guys leaned towards option two, because their logic was after 3ghz the cpu is no longer a bottleneck, and games now are relying heavily on GPU (altho I figured the overclocked E8400 @ 4ghz would help more then a better video card) So I wanted to put this to the test;

The test consists of me running CS: stress test (MAXED everything settings at 1605x1080) x3 and getting the average of the 3 run's

Hardware setup: P5B deluxe / intel E6300 / 7800gt and 8800gts / 2x 1gig PC8500 patriot ram

7800GT config
E6300 @ 1.86ghz = FPS 88
E6300 @ 3.0ghz = FPS 88.1
E6300 @ 3.29ghz = FPS 88.3
E6300 @ 3.5ghz = FPS 88.4

(looks like in this instance, the CPU has already maxed out GPU)

8800GTS config
E6300 @ 1.86ghz = FPS 182
E6300 @ 3.0ghz = FPS 213
E6300 @ 3.29ghz = FPS 214
E6300 @ 3.5ghz = FPS 215

8800GTS config
Q6600 @ 2.4ghz = FPS 182
Q6600 @ 3.0ghz = FPS 213
Q6600 @ 3.2ghz = FPS 214

(looks like in this instance, there was a 31FPS jump from 1.86ghz to 3.0ghz, BUT there less then 2FPS from 3ghz to 3.5ghz)

As you can see, at around 3ghz, you start to near the MAX of your cpu….. in my case, those gamers who are trying to decide on CPU/Video card combo’s for a system, this info might be able to help you out…. After this benchmark, ive decided I don’t need to upgrade my CPU to an E8400…. hopfully this helped some of you guys out there...

I’ll be getting a GeForce 260GTX in a week, and I’ll be doing the same test to see if it follows the same pattern.