I'm guessing the answer here is yes, but there's a really good deal on an XFX 1GB Radeon 7850 GPU, and I've been looking to upgrade for quite some time. Will my core i3-540 bottleneck a 7850? Has anyone benchmarked a setup like this?
The problem is that I built my system 3 years ago after being told that the i3/5/7 lines were going to be compatible going forward, so I picked up an i3-540 under the belief that the 1156 socket type was going to be around for some time, and I would be able to upgrade whenever I wanted. This was a lie, and now if I want a processor upgrade I need to grab a new motherboard as well. I want to upgrade my graphics from the equally outdated nvidia gts 250 without needing to upgrade my motherboard and processor, so I'm wondering if 90 dollars for a 7850 card is going to be a serious upgrade, or if the limiting factor will still be my processor. I don't play super graphics intensive games, but D3, SC2, Borderlands 2, and Skyrim don't look great on my 250.
The problem is that I built my system 3 years ago after being told that the i3/5/7 lines were going to be compatible going forward, so I picked up an i3-540 under the belief that the 1156 socket type was going to be around for some time, and I would be able to upgrade whenever I wanted. This was a lie, and now if I want a processor upgrade I need to grab a new motherboard as well. I want to upgrade my graphics from the equally outdated nvidia gts 250 without needing to upgrade my motherboard and processor, so I'm wondering if 90 dollars for a 7850 card is going to be a serious upgrade, or if the limiting factor will still be my processor. I don't play super graphics intensive games, but D3, SC2, Borderlands 2, and Skyrim don't look great on my 250.
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