Will my CPU feed my GPU?

[disappoint]

I've got an E8400 on an Asus P5Q Pro mobo with 4gigs of RAM Windows Vista 64. i currently have a 9800gt video card in there, want to upgrade to an ATI 5850. I run 1920x1200 res.

I want to get as high a framerate as I can for games like BFBC2 and maybe Crysis Warhead (which I don't have yet but I liked Crysis so I guess I might get Warhead)

I got the pre-order beta of BFBC2 and it runs good but a little choppy and I want to run it at highest settings.

Suggestions appreciated, Thanks.

 

[toyota]

well in general that cpu is fine but for games like BC2 you will need a quad and preferably an i7/i5 for best experience. for Warhead its fine at stock speed but overclocking to an easy 3.6 might help give 1-2fps in certain spots when using a 5850.

 

[Udgnim]

should be fine; OC the E8400 and "get as high a framerate as I can" and "want to run it at highest settings" are contradictory

if you haven't played BFBC2 since the latest patch was released, dual core performance has improved significantly

 

[disappoint]

Oops I forgot to mention it's already overclocked to 3.6 and stable. By get as high a framerate as I can I meant at the highest settings. In other words I don't want to have to reduce image quality to get a high framerate, if that's possible. I probably should have said, get a decent framerate at high settings.

What I'm asking is, is a 5850 not overkill for an E8400, or will the E8400 not be too much of a bottleneck and allow the 5850 to perform well. Or should I consider either a CPU upgrade to a quad core or a lower powered video card in order to have a balanced system where one component isn't holding back another. See I don't want to spend $300 on a video card and have it held back by the CPU. So should I spend less on the vid card, or get the 5850 and a quad core CPU, or will the 5850 work well with the E8400@ 3.6?

 

[toyota]

well at 1920x1200 you want all the gpu power a 5850 can give for some games like Crysis or Clear Sky. there will be a handful of games that will not perform at their best though until you have a quad and preferably an i5/i7 at that.

 

[disappoint]

Thanks, I will try the 5850 then and possibly get an I5/I7 in the future should any games run sluggishly.

 

[Udgnim]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5870-cpu-scaling_4.html#sect0

depending on AA/AF settings, some games scale well with an i7 and some games show minimal difference between an E8400 and i7.

i7 tends to produce superior minimum framerates. with no AA/AF, i7 produces higher avg framerates. with 8AA/16AF, avg framerates will converge between an E8400 and i7, however, i7 will have better minimum framerates.

 

[evolucion8]

You are fine with your CPU, if in the future, some bad ports like GTA4 will appear and may slow you down, just overclock the hell out of it, it will overclock beyond 3.6GHz without issues.