4870X2 or 4870 and E8600 cpu

[cotton_flex]

Hi all,

I can't decide on what to get so could do with some opinions.

I'm a casual gamer, mainly playing COD4 at the moment. I would like to game at 1920x1200. I have the Abit IP35Pro with E2140 cpu (oc'd to 3ghz) and 4gb ram on vista 64. My trusty x1950pro is showing its age though.

I'm thinking the X2 would be limited with my cpu and mobo. So would a single 4870 + E8600 oc'd to (hopefully) 4Ghz give me better all round performance gain? Price wise, its more or less the same.

I'm not after 8x aa or 16x af and 100+ fps. Just playable, with all in game settings maxed/near maxed out. Outside of gaming, I'm mainly on Visual Studio, SQL Server and a couple of VMs.

Thanks.

 

[The Asgard]

Your right about your CPU. To get the most from the X2 you would need a fastesr processor.

The 4870 will give you plenty of AA and performance at 1920x1200. I would buy the 4870 and keep your CPU. Putting a faster CPU will make very little difference at that resolution.

 

[Kaiju]

Is the difference from a 3Ghz to 4Ghz really that significant with a 4870X2? I guess if you want 8xAA and 100+ FPS, then it certainly would help.

I'd of thought a 3Ghz C2D would still be fine running a 4870X2. It's not like it would crawl or anything.

 

[The Asgard]

Is the difference from a 3Ghz to 4Ghz really that significant with a 4870X2? I guess if you want 8xAA and 100+ FPS, then it certainly would help.

I'd of thought a 3Ghz C2D would still be fine running a 4870X2. It's not like it would crawl or anything.

Depends on the amount of AA. More AA means more work for the GPU and less work for the CPU. There's the overhead with Xfire. Not really sure how much of an impact going from 3 to 4ghz would have. Obviously this would be dependant on the game.

The E2140 is fairly restricted due to its cache so it wont compare to a E8 series.

Best thing to do always is to buy the GPU first and see how it goes. Compare results with other people using faster processors.

 

[cotton_flex]

Thanks for your comments. I think I'm settling on the 4870.

 

[TheRealDeal]

With the x2 there is a huge difference from a 3ghz processor to a 4ghz. The cannuck review said in 3 games they were still cpu limited at 4ghz. Another review got there minimum frames up from 26 to 32 and average went up from 46 to 62 just by going from 3ghz to 4ghz. These frames seem low but all other cards were unplayable on this game can't be bothered searching for it atm as i am drinking. 4870 and e8600 sounds like a good combo as you can always add in another 4870 in time if needed and those e8600's clock really good.