CPU or GPU ??

[magicoi]

Right, i have some money to burn from my birthday and im not sure whether to go for a new CPU or GPU!

Currently have an e4500 OC'd to 2.915Ghz (couldnt get any more) and an OCUK 8800GTX.

L4D uses pretty much 100% of the CPU so im leaning towards an E8400 so i can clock it nicely. SWith its extra speed and cache i think this will give some more life to my rig.

However, im also aware that the GTX isn't the beast it used to be for games thet have just been released or will be in the future. I currently game at 1440*900 but will upgrade to a full HD res monitr at some point this year.

What would you upgrade or suggest i do!??

Thanks in advance

 

[Nate Silvers]

Up the CPU defo spesh if your gonna be using Dolphin emulator. Might have to tone down some gfx in games, if you got a high end GPU though I'd get that over a new CPU unless you play Dolphin.

 

[pastymuncher]

Changing the cpu may not give you the boost you are looking for. Most games are GPU limited these days and from my own testing i have found that overclocking the cpu will make virtually no difference in fps. Going from a E4300 at 3Ghz to a E8500 at 4.5Ghz see's a 10fps in minimum framerates and no increase at all in average and max fps in games like COH Opposing Fronts and Crysis. See my charts here. 4th one down is the games charts.

 

[gt_junkie]

I'd change the GPU. By far the biggest boost for gaming performance.

gt

 

[b-star]

I'd change GPU...
When I had My old PENTIUM D with GeForce (can't remember No, but couldn't play even 2000-2005 games on medium/maximum)
After changing to X1950pro could play even Crysis on medium settings, COD4 on high, etc. ...

 

[reflux]

What motherboard do you have? Might be more useful to upgrade that and get a better clock on the CPU.

 

[JamesM]

I'd go with the CPU. I used to have an E4300 and a GTS and when I upgraded to a E8400 it made a noticeable difference in games, loading times and general use for me. Its now at 4GHz as well

 

[exhumedye]

If you're playing games that run on the source engine, such as Left 4 Dead, Half Life 2, CSS, etc, your best bet is to upgrade CPU, as it's a very CPU dependent game, if you want to play games such as GRID, Crysis, CoD4/WaW then you will need to update both of them eventually, GPU would be priority in this case for these games.

 

[Gunni Parker]

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cpu_mainboard/asus_p5k_p35_socket_775_motherboard/1

Role with the e8400 should be cool to oc! Will have to update bios though. I upgraded to a e8400 from a 4200x2. Only noticed a slight difference in gaming though.

 

[Guardsmon]

give me the money and I'll upgrade my rig for you
In all honesty, I'm still more than happy with my 8800GTX. I don't feel the bottleneck everyone goes on about. OK its not a 4870, but its still good for games like L4D, crysis and slightly older games

 

[linktoinsanity]

GPU +1. Makes more difference once you get past a certain cpu spec. The cpu will make a difference, but not as much as a gpu change.

 

[hawker1986]

This really seems to have split the crowd, but im on the CPU side myself. The 8800GTX is a great card and is more than capable of running anything at even 1680x1050 smoothly and looking great. So I think you would see most benefit from An E8400 (or even an E5200) and overclocking them some.

Hawker

 

[Gunni Parker]

The 8800gtx is still a sexy piece of kit! Buy a cooler for and give it a good oc!!! Deffo go with the cpu though.

 

[bledd]

cpu

that's a very low res, your gfx card is overkill at that res!

i play at 1920x1080, [email protected] with an 8800gt (lesser card than yours) with no noticable slowdown in L4D.

 

[magicoi]

Thanks for your input! Plenty of votes for each there! Im still confused!!

The cooler for the GTX and an OC sounds like a plan...

Think i may have to go for the 8400 then and clock it up

Motherboard is Asus P5K and BIOs version 0603 from 07/03/2007.

Would a BIOS update possibly aid my clocking then?

 

[bledd]

i'd stongly consider a new screen before a new cpu tbh..