5850 be bottlenecked by E8400 OC'd?

[Jordster]

Hey guys,
I'm considering upgrading my GPU to 5850, but I'm not sure if my C2D E8400 will bottleneck it. I have a slight feeling it will, but it's OC'd to 4Ghz so that might help a little. If it will bottleneck, should I go for a QXXXX, or upgrade motherboard, ram, and get an i5?

Cheers

 

[Triple6]

Not really, the E8400 is a fast enough CPU, especially if overclocked. See here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/50
Do the games comparison, the stock clocked E8400 isn't that far behind the fastest i7's, and its even closer with the i5's that would require a new motherboard, RAM, and CPU.

 

[Jordster]

but wouldnt there be some sort of bottleneck because its a dual core? I just struggle to see how a core 2 duo can run a 5850 fine.

 

[Compiler]

Did you refer to the chart that Triple6 links to? The difference is about 5~10fps between what you have and a $1000 CPU. Most games work great with dual cores. 3-core CPUs also have a bit of a bump, 4-cores rarely help much in games.

Dual core doesn't mean squat. Drop in a dual-core Pentium Netburst (P4) type CPU - then you'd have something to be concerned with.

 

[Jordster]

Yes i did refer to his chart, however games that are coming out such as Crysis 2 will probably need quad-core. or would 5850 with dual core be fine for it? (without knowing requirements for the game)

 

[Triple6]

Crysis is a good example of how not to make a game, so is GTAIV, unoptimized and too demanding for most current(at release) hardware. Crysis 2 may be different, who knows.

A dual core will likely be the minimum, quad core will likely be recommended - but thats just a guess. Buts that a different question then a video card being bottlenecked by a CPU.

Why not wait for the game, see what it needs, how it runs on your system, and by then prices will have dropped even more on quad core CPU's an then make you're decision. Attempting to future-proof in the computer business can be expensive and futile, and very wasteful.

 

[Compiler]

Yep yep...

Wait until the game comes out before you buy something. And since Core2 is at the end of its life (EOL) in terms of development / upgrades... you'd be looking at replacing the board and CPU and maybe the memory too.

 

[loserOlimbs]

but wouldnt there be some sort of bottleneck because its a dual core? I just struggle to see how a core 2 duo can run a 5850 fine.

Thats what Intel would like for you to think... but when real performance meets marketing there are some inconsistencies...

 

[Compiler]

Yep Yep Yep...

Case in point, i7 quads and new AMD hex-core CPUs that shut-down/reduce come cores in order to raise the clock-rates on remaining cores. Effectively turning the 4/6 core cpus into 2/3 core.