Question about gaming at 1280x1024

[madmurr]

Hello,
I have a 19" LCD that supports 1280x1024 resolution that I'll be keeping. I also have an MSI HD 4830 OC 512Mb video card.

My question is at what level of CPU and/or video card would be considered overkill for gaming at 1280x1024? Should I just keep the 4830 and maybe mate it with an Athlon II x3 and call it good?

I'm looking to build a new system in a month or so. I'm running Win 7 HP 64-bit, have 4Gb of A-data DDR3 1600 RAM waiting for install and like to play some older games like Medal of Honor and WoW as well as some newer games (demos). At this resolution, does it really matter how new the game is?

Thanks for any help.

 

[simon12]

At that resolution the 4830 is as good as you need and anything higher will give very limited performance increase. At this resolution the CPU does more of the work an Athlon x3 would be fine a x 4 better and a phenom 955 still would not be overkill but the Athlon x3 maybe as good as you need.

 

[g00fysmiley]

well at that res alot of the muscle is going to come from the cpu, but it shouldn't take much, i could run WoW in ultra at that res with a gts 450 1 gig which is only a little better than your 4830.

what it really comes down to is your budget, I'd probably reccomend getting a true 4 core processor as soem games are strting to use them, and WoW will use all 4 cores. if you have the money a phenom II x4 is nice, but if you're willing to go intel right now the sandy bridge cpu's are really the best thing out at most price points

this article should help

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu-core-i3-2100-phenom-ii-x6-1075t,2859.html

adn tehre are a few 1155 mobos already out so you can get the mobos

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600093976&IsNodeId=1&name=LGA%201155

and mroe to come if one of those doesn't tickle your fancy

 

[madmurr]

Thanks for the replies simon and goofy - I'm pretty excited about sandy bridge (and didn't realize mobo's were out already!). I was thinking that sticking my 4830 on a 2500k/P67 setup would be like throwing a 2-barrel carburetor on a Nascar motor...and maybe it is, but it'll work while I still have this 19" monitor and upgrades can happen later...thanks again!

 

[madmurr]

Best answer selected by madmurr.