Few questions about 'future proofing'

[cythx]

Gaming at high resolutions, will I ever need to upgrade my CPU for gaming? Looking at benchmarks a CPU is very important for lower reso's like 1280x1028, but at higher resolutions like 2560x1600 there is BARELY any difference in the fps when using a high end GPU.

My question is, if I keep upgrading my GPU and game at high resolutions, how long will it be till I need to consider buying a new motherboard and cpu to keep up with the latest games requirements, even with high end GPUs?

fyi I have an i7 at 4 Ghz with HT (temps peak at 72 so heats not as much of an issue as you might think at 4 ghz), I used a 1920x1080 monitor, and if I ever change monitor the resolution will only go up.

 

[Helltech]

Our i7's will last a long time I have a feeling.

Personally I think a motherboard can last three socket generations before you need to upgrade. My 939 AMD I'm still using and it does well at high resolutions.

 

[jyjjy]

An i7 at 4ghz will likely last you a very long while.

 

[hunter315]

First, there is no such thing as future proof, just future resistant

An i7 at 4GHz probably wont be a bottleneck for 3 or 4 years, but you will probably find yourself wanting to upgrade your CPU and motherboard is less time even though you wont need to. What will probably make you upgrade your motherboard first is when GPUs start coming out on PCI-E 3.0.

Games are no more or less CPU dependent at lower resolutions, the CPU provides the same performance, its just that the GPU has far less to render to it is able to exceed the CPU so the CPU becomes the limiting factor, but in general the higher end CPUs even at low resolution only bottleneck you to 80+ FPS anyway so its not really relevant.