How much does a processor really matter 4 gaming

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flashfire208

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I heard your processor doesnt do much in terms of gaming , is this true ??
Should i just buy a cheaper cpu and get a better GFX ??
 
flashfire208 said:
I heard your processor doesnt do much in terms of gaming , is this true ??
Should i just buy a cheaper cpu and get a better GFX ??
Click to expand...

Nonesense.

Never heard of a videocard processing game logic...

Very important. Though, they lose their influence with an increase in graphical output.

I.e. - resolutions above 1280X1024 tend to rely more on the card's capabilities.

On games that are coded by the ANC Youth League (like GTA 4), it doesn't matter what cpu you have - it will run like crap.

:)

I have a Core2 E6420, yet my games run better than my bros Core i7 + 9600GT...

;)
 
Thanks , just needed to clarify before i upgrade . So a Phenom ii x3 710 @2.6 ghz with a Nvidia GTS250 would be allright ??
 
I reckon there is something wrong with his i7 then...
Or its the GPU. A 9600Gt is not exactly the right card for an i7...
 
Tomshardware has a bit article looking at the effect of processor on gaming. They concluded that it definitely affects framerate.

The issue though was that by comparison the amount of work that the processor actually performed in games is less than video cards - and that the bottleneck on most games was the video card. If you have a core2duo/equivalent or higher you will need a very high end card to see any processor bottleneck - think gtx280 or above.

So for their tests in order to test real processor gaming differences they had to take extreme steps - either insane tri-sli gpu setups or cutting down gpu-related activities like resolution and effects to practically nil and comparing framerates.

But you can see with games like GTA4 you MUST have a good processor - it's just the way they're coded. Also for instance I play a lot of emulators, and with Dolphin (gamecube emu) it's practically 100% cpu-intensive - the gpu encodes the basic api and enables higher resolutions - but for framerates it's all about the processor.


The conclusion is you need to have a balanced system otherwise you will be bottlenecked. But it isn't necessary to go overboard on your processor because really with games the gpu makes a much bigger difference. Your Phenom2 will be fine.
 
HA HA HA !!!!!

I threw a spanner in the works !!!!!!

He owns a 9600GT CO 1GB from Gigabyte.
I own an HD4850 OC 512MB.

:D

So I lied about everything. His games run faaaar better than mine. No questions.

His games load quicker, and has far less 'hiccups'.

Yet, my FPS in tests are higher (VC - then).

Go figure.

:rolleyes:
 
For most games the gpu is more important but you don't want a cpu that holds the gpu back. There are also some games especially rts games were the cpu is quite important.

Generally you can go cheaper with the cpu but don't go too cheap so as to bottleneck your system.
 
Thanks to everyone for their quick replies and willingness to share their knowledge and experience !! I can now make an informed choice when i upgrade !
 
Yes coz looks at my specs.

CPU: Intel core2duo e6420
GPU: ATI Radeon HD3870
RAM: 2x 1GB DDR 800
MoBo: Biostar GF7050

And believe it or not.... I run all the latest games on full spec(at a res of 1280x1024[my LCDs max])... :p
 
iDenTiTy said:
Sometimes is really, really shows how big a difference a quadcore/i7 makes..

:(

Games like supreme Commander run fine on mine. But I can't run it at 1680*1050 because my CPU will kaark itself.

:(
Click to expand...

Yeah that's why I specifically mentioned that rts games are different. RTS games is the one genre that currently having more cores and a faster cpu really helps for the rest you can get away with a medium cpu and a great gpu.
 
I got an Intel E8200 with a ATI 4870 and it farks off!

I run all games at native 22" res, 1680x1050.. and no problems at all

Are you telling me that Im gonna get massive FPS increases if I had to pop in an i7 with my 4870 ??
 
HTC_guy said:
I got an Intel E8200 with a ATI 4870 and it farks off!

I run all games at native 22" res, 1680x1050.. and no problems at all

Are you telling me that Im gonna get massive FPS increases if I had to pop in an i7 with my 4870 ??
Click to expand...

Nope have run a 4870 with both i7 and the E82/E84 with no diff in frame rates
 
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