Bad CPU hurting GTX 295?

[Maverickman]

I've been thinking about upgrading to a Core2 Quad or Core i7 CPU as my Core2 Duo E8500 isn't cutting it anymore. I've got it overclocked to 3.56GHz, but I still think it's holding my GTX 295 back. I've been looking at the Q9650 as the price just dropped today by 40%. I can overclock it to at least 3.4GHz. With four CPUs, I should be all set. Is the Core i7 a worthy upgrade? It seems too expensive for the performance gain over a Core2 Quad.

[Monnie Rock]

Umm holding you back in what? Benchmark scores as in 3dmark06/3dmark vantage or in your actual gamplay?

[methimpikehoses]

Crank the dual core up to 3.8! :firedevil

[Toss3]

I've been thinking about upgrading to a Core2 Quad or Core i7 CPU as my Core2 Duo E8500 isn't cutting it anymore. I've got it overclocked to 3.56GHz, but I still think it's holding my GTX 295 back. I've been looking at the Q9650 as the price just dropped today by 40%. I can overclock it to at least 3.4GHz. With four CPUs, I should be all set. Is the Core i7 a worthy upgrade? It seems too expensive for the performance gain over a Core2 Quad.


I'd recommend getting an i7; nvidia's sli really shows its strength when coupled with a fast processor. :)

[Bokishi]

What res are you running dude, I'm still GPU limited at 2560x1600

[Muppet]

What res are you running dude, I'm still GPU limited at 2560x1600

And probably will be for a few more years yet :) I'd love a 30" though.

[Remmy1]

If you are going to upgrade there's no reason not to go i7. Initial benchmarks didn't show much of an increase in gaming but once you start going beyond a gtx 295 they smoke the previous generation processors. IMO You NEED a Core i7 to run Tri SLI (280+) or higher without having the cpu holding back your system. With that said, that kind of performance isn't necessary right now and if you currently have a 6600 or higher it's harder to justify an upgrade.

[Maverickman]

I'm getting 20179 in 3DMark Vantage running in Performance at 1920X1200. My 3DMark 2006 scores, however, are really low. I'm getting only 16617 with the GTX 295 vs. 15800 with my GTX 280. All my games run well now though. It seems more and more reviewers are using quad-core CPUs in their reviews. Dual-core is on the way out. That's why I was looking at upgrading to a quad-core CPU. Also, more and more multi-threaded games are out with many more to come.

[john19055]

I would think your E8500 would overclock better then 3.56gig .My E8500 will do 4gigs on 1.26v and 4.25 with 1.285v,so I would overclock the E8500 some more and get the most out of it.

[Maverickman]

I've taken my E8500 to 3.7GHz, but that's the highest stable speed I can run it.

[XxDeadlyxX]

I'd recommend getting an i7; nvidia's sli really shows its strength when coupled with a fast processor. :)

Amen to that, moving from 750i with Q6600/8GB DDR2 to X58 with i7 920/6GB DDR3 has given me incredible results with SLI.

Best way to describe it is X58 finally lets GTX 280 SLI or GTX 295 finally breathe :D The bandwidth that's needed to get max performance is finally there.