CPU Scaling matched with GPU?

[GeminiCool]

Kyle has done a few articles which indicate that CPU choice can influence real world game play. I genuinely appreciated the reviews HardOCP has been doing by taking a real world game play approach. To this end I was wondering if there is any information out there which begins to identify CPU/GPU requirements for ‘best game play’.

For example, we know that an OC'd I7 will allow you to play at the highest settings no matter which card. However if you game at 1980x1200 on a 4870 and your playing FC2, how much CPU do you need to max out your real world game play?

Does this make sense? For a given resolution and a given GPU what CPU is required for you to generally max out game play.

Thanks.

 

[khanis]

For example, we know that an OC'd I7 will allow you to play at the highest settings no matter which card.
Incorrect. When the resolution increases, a faster GPU is required to sustain framerates. You'll have a much different experience playing at 1920x1200 with an i7 and the 8800GT compared to the i7 and the GTX 285, for example.

 

[GeminiCool]

haha come on now.. I know my name says noobie but really? I intended to say for a given GPU, the I7 will allow... The CPU scaling article posted on HardOCP last month clearly demonstrated that even when we think games are GPU bound, faster CPUs can yeild better gameplay.....

So... here's the question:

You have a nice LCD that runs 1920x1200, so that's where you want to game.
You have say a 4870, what is the minium CPU you need to push max eye candy in most games?
You have a 4890 or 275, what is the minimum CPU you need to push max eye candy?

Does that help make it more clear?

 

[Inu]

For example, we know that an OC'd I7 will allow you to play at the highest settings no matter which card.


In the above, he means it wont bottle neck any cards.

 

[Impulse]

The minimum CPU you'd need for a 4870 vs a 4890 would probably be no different if you're gaming at the same res, in fact it'd probably be no different for a 4850 vs a 4870 vs a 4890... It might scale up/down if you go w/a CF config or with an older card though. As for the specifics, eh, I dunno what would be the absolute minimum... But something as old as a single core s939 A64 or a P4 would definitely bottleneck any of those cards for instance.

This thread had some very interesting discussion on the subject, with a lot of diverging opinions, and a lot of very useful test data towards the end of the thread. You'll probably find something in there that applies to your A64 X2 rig.

 

[GeminiCool]

Impulse,

Thank you much for the feedback. I'll check out the thread you posted. ... just read through several pages in that post, toward the end I found what you were talking about... thank you. I think that post prooves the point about CPU / GPU scaling, now it's a matter of establishing a minimum CPU for a given GPU.

I run a few different machines @ home (5 kids). The slowest home machine is an X2 @ 2.5 Ghz 512k cache. Next comes the X2 @ 2.92Ghz 1M cache. Then there's the Q6600 @ 3.3Ghz.....My video cards range from an OC'd 9800Pro to the 8800GT to the 4870.

HardOCP posted an article about 3 weeks ago which used two X2 cards in Xfire. They used a X3, X4, C2Q, and i7 and tested real world gameplay. The test showed that a faster CPU could impact real world gameplay.

I guess my question is a step backward from that review. If you purchase a more modest $250 - $350 graphics card, how much CPU do you need to maximize real world gameplay. Since this is a pretty large question, I was wondering if as a community we could begin building a table which indicates how much CPU you need for a given GPU at a given resolution.