Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Bottleneck for Gaming?

Last response: in Systems
Share

Hey guys,

So I built a system a couple years ago consisting of:

3.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo E8400 w/ Coolermaster V8 heatsink
EVGA GTX280
8GB G.Skill DDR2 1066Mhz
Gigabyte EP45UD3R Mobo
PC Power and Cooling 750 Watt
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

CD Drive (no need to be specific)
Windows 7 Pro
22" Samsung 1680X1050 monitor

Anyways, I've gotten back into Crysis and Crysis Warhead and I plan on getting Crysis 2. I've been playing Crysis Warhead but I'd like to be able to play Enthusiast as smoothly as possible! I started looking around and both AMD and nVidia have really stepped up their GPUs. Question is, for around $300 bucks, what card should I get for playing the Crysis series? Is AMD much further ahead when it comes to GPUs?

If you don't think the GPU is what is holding me back, what do you think is? I really don't want to go i5 or i7 yet simply because I'd have to upgrade my board and my ram as well!

What component should I replace to have the most bang for the buck? Would a new GPU really help me that much?

Thanks!

More about : bottleneck gaming

Register or log in to remove

If I remember correctly there was an article that examined CPU and GPU bottle necking and it is almost always the GPU that is limiting performance. More cores won't likely help your gaming but a new graphics card will definitely up your performance. Especially if you are paying $300. I'd say upgrade. I hear the GTX460 is awesome and it is usually only $200 and some change.
 
Ask the community
Read discussions in other Systems categories
!