Good CPU to pair with HD3850 PRO 512

[Trunks9486]

and not be CPU limited anywhere in the near future at least? that is in games.

the E2xxx series getsa lot of praise here but i am worried about being performance penalty due to the 1MB of L2. Not to mention that overclocking that series seems to be kind of hit and miss...

Resolution is !240x1024.

What are people's thoughts on the 5000+ black edition athlon?

 

[Hesky82]

Games will become more demanding in time, so your gfx card will be the limiting component not the cpu.

 

[gurusan]

the 5000+ BE is a good CPU and can be overclocked pretty high, but i'd rather have an E21xx cpu clocked to 3+ghz

You should be able to see the members market so it would be a good idea to scout around for a used e6xxx or something like that.

 

[Vir]

As said here, graphics card will be more of a limiting factor. And if you ask me the 3850 isn't that fast.
A E2xxx cpu will be fast enough for now and you shouldn't be to worried about 1MB Cache it has, it's still doing its job very good with only a 'few' percent less performance in some games.

Overclocking a E2xxx to 3Ghz shouldn't be a problem at all, specially with the newer revisions of the chips and a P35 motherboard. The chips are cheap and the performance you get is great when overclocked, I can hardly see you getting dissapointed. Note that you should overclock these E2xxx because stock speed performance isn't that great

As alternative you could get a E4xxx series chip but I don't think they are really worth it unless you get them second hand.

The new E7200 is very nice aswell, I'd get that any day over a E4xxx but a E2xxx is still very good price / performance overclocked.

Hope that helps.

 

[p4radox]

An E21xx series CPU will be perfect, especially overclocked. I'd have no qualms about owning one with a GTX to be honest.

 

[~>Dg<~]

yep a budget amd x2 or 2xxx cpu will do fine.