I posted a benchmarking review showing a clear, sometimes drastic (sometimes not so drastic, but always present) improvement in gaming performance by upgrading CPU. His card is less than a year old and a fairly decent performer just a bit slower than a 7870; but his CPU is over 3 years old and was distinctly mid-range even when it came out - and you think I'm trolling when I tell him that his CPU is aging and should be upgraded? I do agree that his drive is the first clear bottleneck though. But for all your bluster you've yet to show a single benchmark. I reckon if he can even find a 2ndhand i7-860 he'll get a pretty big boost.