I just bought a GTX 560 twin frozr and a Vertex 2 SSD to put in my system in my sig. I was also wondering about CPU. I've seen some comments that my CPU will be a limiting factor, but professional review CPU gaming benchmarks are hard to come by, both in the sense that there's not a wide range of games benchmarked, and they tend to only benchmark the latest processors for the latest games.
I'm primarily looking to play BF3 and perhaps something like The Old Republic when they are out, and Dragon Age II which is a bit sooner. Resolution is 1680X1050. As far as BF3 I'm pretty much assuming BC2 benchmarks are helpful. However, according to Anandtech bench, they do not have a benchmark for my PII X4 925, the closest is the 920, and since they do not use BC2 benchmarks on the bench, I have to presume the closest one to use is Crysis. According to the bench the 920 gets 71 FPS(using a GTX 280 if the listing is correct). I'm not sure how that translates to BC2, but I presume that BC2 is just slightly less intense overall and that up to perhaps 10 more FPS could be expected.
However, the question is, since the only real benchmark I can use for most of my purposes is the Crysis one on the bench(I have absolutely no idea what The Old Republic might be in system intensity nor what to compare it to), my questions are:
1. How long should I expect my 925 to go strong with games of the BF3, TOR, DA II nature(knowing as I ask this that it might already be weak)? No desire to overclock, at least not with the 925. And I know that's a very theoretical question since at least two of them are 6+ months away from release.
2a. How much longer would a 965 or 970 Black Edition extend that? (Or one of the higher clock rate X6's). This I could afford much earlier since I'd be able to retain the same mobo etc.
2b. Would a 970BE or an X6 require a bios update? I presume that a 965 would not and that a 970 or any X6 would...in any event would like to avoid bios tinkering. Edit: Never mind this one, I found how to check, I've got F5 bios and that's good enough for 965 and not the 970 or X6, as I thought. Which means I'm especially interested in how good the 965 would be since I don't want to flash bios.
This is just a little fact finding...I might be able to spring for SB or whatever the best is in 9-12 more months, but if a CPU only upgrade would help substantially, I might be able to afford that sooner. I only have stock cooling on my 925, and I'd grab a good aftermarket cooler if I went for a 965 BE or something, in which case I'd be a little more up for OCing.
I'm primarily looking to play BF3 and perhaps something like The Old Republic when they are out, and Dragon Age II which is a bit sooner. Resolution is 1680X1050. As far as BF3 I'm pretty much assuming BC2 benchmarks are helpful. However, according to Anandtech bench, they do not have a benchmark for my PII X4 925, the closest is the 920, and since they do not use BC2 benchmarks on the bench, I have to presume the closest one to use is Crysis. According to the bench the 920 gets 71 FPS(using a GTX 280 if the listing is correct). I'm not sure how that translates to BC2, but I presume that BC2 is just slightly less intense overall and that up to perhaps 10 more FPS could be expected.
However, the question is, since the only real benchmark I can use for most of my purposes is the Crysis one on the bench(I have absolutely no idea what The Old Republic might be in system intensity nor what to compare it to), my questions are:
1. How long should I expect my 925 to go strong with games of the BF3, TOR, DA II nature(knowing as I ask this that it might already be weak)? No desire to overclock, at least not with the 925. And I know that's a very theoretical question since at least two of them are 6+ months away from release.
2a. How much longer would a 965 or 970 Black Edition extend that? (Or one of the higher clock rate X6's). This I could afford much earlier since I'd be able to retain the same mobo etc.
2b. Would a 970BE or an X6 require a bios update? I presume that a 965 would not and that a 970 or any X6 would...in any event would like to avoid bios tinkering. Edit: Never mind this one, I found how to check, I've got F5 bios and that's good enough for 965 and not the 970 or X6, as I thought. Which means I'm especially interested in how good the 965 would be since I don't want to flash bios.
This is just a little fact finding...I might be able to spring for SB or whatever the best is in 9-12 more months, but if a CPU only upgrade would help substantially, I might be able to afford that sooner. I only have stock cooling on my 925, and I'd grab a good aftermarket cooler if I went for a 965 BE or something, in which case I'd be a little more up for OCing.
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