Don't let these graphs intimidate you. While they might look a bit complex at first, the information they contain should be easy enough to understand: what game benefits from a faster video card - or is a faster CPU the better investment? Interestingly, in some games the Athlon 1000 was just a tad faster when paired with an older, theoretically slower card.

Aquanox

Dark grey bars: Athlon 1000; colored bars: Athlon XP 2700+

Aquanox proves to be pretty independent of CPU performance. A faster processor only pays off starting with a GeForce 4 Ti 4200.