Current Build
GA-EP45-UD3P
E6300 Wolfdale OC'd to ~3.8 GHz
4GB G.Skill PC8500
XFX 5850 + XFX 5850 Black Edition in CrossfireX and OC'd just a little
XFX Black Edition 850W PSU
After quite a bit of tinkering, Everything is stable and probably as fast as it's going to get without significant changes. It's been great for MW2 but now I'm getting into BC2 and I seem to be CPU limited. I get, basically, the same performance in terms of FPS in both medium and low quality settings. It's very playable most of the time, but when the battle heats up, things start to slow down. I don't think overclocking my 5850s any more than they are is going to give me anything other than instability.
So now I'm wondering where to go. The first idea is to replace the C2D with a quad of some kind. But I've got the C2D stable at 3.8 GHz, so I don't know how much improvement I'll see with a new processor. Could it be enough to make a noticeable difference in BC2?
The second idea is to move to a new motherboard and processor altogether. Even though it would be expensive, I would probably lean towards an i7 setup over an i5, if anything because it'd be more future proof. If I did that, would an overclocked 920 make me happy? Or would I want more processor to start with?
What would you do if you were me? I'd prefer not to spend more than $300 per component.
GA-EP45-UD3P
E6300 Wolfdale OC'd to ~3.8 GHz
4GB G.Skill PC8500
XFX 5850 + XFX 5850 Black Edition in CrossfireX and OC'd just a little
XFX Black Edition 850W PSU
After quite a bit of tinkering, Everything is stable and probably as fast as it's going to get without significant changes. It's been great for MW2 but now I'm getting into BC2 and I seem to be CPU limited. I get, basically, the same performance in terms of FPS in both medium and low quality settings. It's very playable most of the time, but when the battle heats up, things start to slow down. I don't think overclocking my 5850s any more than they are is going to give me anything other than instability.
So now I'm wondering where to go. The first idea is to replace the C2D with a quad of some kind. But I've got the C2D stable at 3.8 GHz, so I don't know how much improvement I'll see with a new processor. Could it be enough to make a noticeable difference in BC2?
The second idea is to move to a new motherboard and processor altogether. Even though it would be expensive, I would probably lean towards an i7 setup over an i5, if anything because it'd be more future proof. If I did that, would an overclocked 920 make me happy? Or would I want more processor to start with?
What would you do if you were me? I'd prefer not to spend more than $300 per component.