| Khuutra said: See title. I was having a discussion with Naz about me looking into getting an i5 vs. not, and it occurred to me that I have no idea to what degree CPUs act as limiting factors on modern gaming rigs. So somebody help me out here. Where does performance begin to actually matter? |
Well I had this exact situation recently and I can say that CPU was defintely a bottleneck in my case!
I had a Core2Duo 7200 and an ATI 5770. Then I upgraded my GPU to a 560ti.
Using Age of Conan as a benchmark. With the 7200 and the 5770 I was getting about 18-20 fps average with almost everything turned up in the expansion areas which are the most graphically intensive parts of the game. Being the eye candy whore I am I learned to play at that framerate.
Upgrading the GPU I was getting (according to Fraps):
Frames: 4595 - Time: 186972ms - Avg: 24.576 - Min: 8 - Max: 41
So it was an upgrade but not what I was hoping.
Then I upgraded my CPU, MB and RAM to an i52400 Sandybridge.
Frames: 2941 - Time: 95405ms - Avg: 30.826 - Min: 19 - Max: 60
So I had a bigger jump from the new CPU than I did from the new GPU and thats also unfair because I have higher settings on the second test, everything is on full. The BIGGEST thing is that the FPS is much more steady, never dropping below 19.
With Tera Online (I'm playing on a Korean server) I had an even bigger jump. I never played it with the 5770 but with the C2D 7200 and 560ti I was getting:
Frames: 4402 - Time: 159501ms - Avg: 27.599 - Min: 10 - Max: 46
The with the i5 2400 and 560ti:
Frames: 12506 - Time: 160697ms - Avg: 77.823 - Min: 62 - Max: 82
MASSIVE difference.
I'm playing all these at 1920x1200.
