Would a 7950 be bottlenecked by my CPU?

[dredwulf]

Long time reader, first time poster. Looking for some second opinions.

This is my system as it stands now:

Zalman Z11 case
EVGA P55 FTW
EVGA Super Cooler
EVGA GTX 295 CO-OP FTW 1.79GB
Intel Xeon X3450 Engineering Sample (4 core - 8 threads) @ 3.7ghz HT on, Turbo disabled
8GB Corsair Ballistix Tactical at 1600 with 9-9-9-24 timings
OCZ Agility3 60GB OS drive
300GB Seagate Spinner
FSP Aurum Gold 750w
40" Toshiba HDTV 1080p/60hz as primary monitor

Would I be better off upgrading to a new Z77 Mobo with an Ivy Bridge i5 and keeping my current GTX295 for while or simply upgrading to an HD7950 and waiting for the next best thing from Intel or AMD?

No fan boys here please. I have no problem with Intel/AMD CPU's or Nvidia/AMD GPU's. I'll go for whatever makes the most sense for my situation. This is a 90% gaming machine, no rendering or encoding is done on this PC besides the rare encoding of a movie or two.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

A 2600k oc will be faster, but no harm upgrading anyway.

 

[dredwulf]

A 2600k oc will be faster, but no harm upgrading anyway.

So you think I should keep the GTX295 and go for the CPU/MOBO upgrade? The highest resolution I game at is 1920x1080 and I have no problem dropping to 1600x900 if need be.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I meant gpu upgrade.

 

[raghu78]

OP you already have a core i7 920 cpu (xeon version) . also you have overclocked to 3.7 ghz.

http://ark.intel.com/products/42929/Intel-Xeon-Processor-X3450-8M-Cache-2_66-GHz

thats more than enough for running a HD 7950 or HD 7970. definitely go for a HD 7950. Massive upgrade from the GTX 295. the Sapphire HD 7950 boost card for USD 300 (280 after rebate) is a very good option. 2 year warranty.

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeo...dp/B0098HW1HG/

if you want 3 year warranty go for Gigabyte HD 7950

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Mini-...dp/B007581QHG/

 

[dredwulf]

Awesome. I was still hoping my CPU and MOBO would hold out for another year or two.

HD7950 it is, thanks for the Amazon links!