Which CPU for 5870 Crossfire?

[laserspewpew]

Plan: 5870 for eyefinity triple 1920x1200 resolution, buy another 5870 for Xfire later.

I'm still on Q6600 @ 3.6ghz that seems like it's on its last legs, so I need help deciding what to upgrade my cpu to.

The options that stand out to me is the Q9550 or upgrading to i7 930. However, I have worries that the Q9550 will bottleneck 5870s in xfire. I've read online that reaching 4gz might do the trick, but it's shaky, esp if I fail at getting that 4ghz OC. Although, staying on LGA775 would be economical. As for upgrading to i7 I'm hesitant due to socket 1366 becoming obsolete due to sandy beach this year, just as I drop money on a new mobo and ddr3 >.<

Recommendations are appreciated. I'm also open to other solutions to get this working, including going AMD, though I am unfamiliar with their chips.

 

[jonnyboyC]

Honestly going to be fine with the cpu you have. at 3.6 ghz, you may be bottlenecking your 5870 alittle now, but even CF if you go to eyefinity, you're going to pretty much be triple the stress while only doubling your firepower, so the bottleneck will shift more towards the gpus then before. If i were you i'd just wait for next generation since it'll be out in a number of months now

you'll most likely avoid of of those situation where, you'd wished you'd have just waited a bit longer, personally too, i feel even if it will bottleneck it i will be way above your monitor refresh rate, so in the end you'll see the same number of fps as you would if you were on an 980X

 

[blink180heights]

Just buy a core i7 920, overclocking will leave you over satisfied.

 

[laserspewpew]

Best answer selected by laserspewpew.

 

[laserspewpew]

Honestly going to be fine with the cpu you have. at 3.6 ghz, you may be bottlenecking your 5870 alittle now, but even CF if you go to eyefinity, you're going to pretty much be triple the stress while only doubling your firepower, so the bottleneck will shift more towards the gpus then before. If i were you i'd just wait for next generation since it'll be out in a number of months now

you'll most likely avoid of of those situation where, you'd wished you'd have just waited a bit longer, personally too, i feel even if it will bottleneck it i will be way above your monitor refresh rate, so in the end you'll see the same number of fps as you would if you were on an 980X

I guess I'll wait on upgrading my cpu for a bit. I'll see how my q6600 handles the 5870 first.