How bottlenecked would this card be?

[Sytrus]

My system currently is a 9800gt with an AMD x2 7750BE (2.7ghz dual). I'm either going to upgrade my mobo+proc to a gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P + AMD 955BE + coolermaster hyper 212 plus, or upgrade my video card to a hd 5850. If I upgraded to the 5850, how badly would I be bottlenecked by my current CPU in modern gaming? I don't use my computer for any CPU intensive applications besides games, so this upgrade would be purely for gaming. I know often times it depends on the game (I own both the extremes, crysis and gta iv), and do plan on upgrading all of the components eventually. But for now, what's the better upgrade?

Thanks for your time!

 

[jyjjy]

Upgrade the system now and card later. An HD5770 would be a nice upgrade you may be able to afford along with the new system. Getting another in crossfire later will give you performance similar to an HD5870.

 

[paperfox]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/balanced-gaming-pc,review-31741-8.html

Im thinking that for most games (exept for crysis and gta4) that upgrading to a 5850 would be the most noticable FPS upgrade over the mobo+cpu.

 

[jyjjy]

What is the native resolution of your monitor? If it is 1920x1080 or higher the HD5850 might be the better call. If it's below that I would just get the HD5770.
What is your current motherboard? If it can handle the Kuma you have now it may be able to handle all current AMD chips.

 

[coozie7]

What is the monitor resolution?

Check your motherboard manufacturers site, the 7750 uses the AM2+ socket, so some AM3 chips may be compatable, although the AM3 chip will not give its fullest performance until a full AM3 MB with DDR3 RAM is used-but it can help spread the cost of the upgrade/s
For now, if you play at 1650x1080-or less-the HD5770 is plenty and will be held back by the current processor anyway. Only go for the HD5850 if your monitor is over 1650x1080 or you want to use suicidal AA/AFsettings.

 

[coozie7]

Blast, beaten by Jyjjy!
Must
Type
Faster...

 

[Sytrus]

Yeah, it's a 1920x1080. And my mobo is a msi ms-7390, so it can't do any phenom II's.

Thanks for the replies so far!

 

[Sytrus]

I'm leaning towards the mobo+proc at the moment, simply because I'm afraid the GA-MA790X-UD4P will start selling out, being a ddr2 mobo and all. Also, it seems logical that when nvidia releases their new cards, that it'll drive down the price of the 5xxx series a bit.

However, the thought of getting a 5850 is still very appealing. How can I really tell if my CPU is a bottleneck? Is it *only* when it runs at 100% load (or 50% for a single core)?

 

[jezzarisky]

I would say if you're running a 5850 and getting low framerates, the cpu is probably the culprit.

 

[Sytrus]

Best answer selected by Sytrus.