samjc3 said:
And realistically, anymore, processors seem to matter less and less. Sure, a blazing fast i7 rocks, but as long as you have a good dual core, it really doesnt change game performance much. Sure it affects load times slightly, and things like boot time, but most of your game performance is based on your graphics card these days.
I hate disagreeing with Sam, but, that's just plain not true.
I dare you to play TF2 with a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 (Free!) and a GeForce GTX 590 ($700+). Settings maxed out, I doubt you'll be able to hit 60FPS, much less STAY THERE.
With an i7 at 3.0GHz ($270) and a Radeon HD 5770 (1GB version, $120), you'd rarely dip below
80.
The fact of the matter is, your processor DOES matter.
But it all really depends on the games.
Source Engine games are VERY processor dependent.
Half Life 2, TF2, Left4Dead, these will eat your processor alive, it's just what they do.
A "decent" graphics card next to a solid CPU will let you take on any Source game, no problem.
The Unreal Engine has FANTASTIC GPU optimizations, and isn't nearly as dependent on the processor as the Source Engine.
Any reasonably good processor paired with a nice graphics card, and you'll happily enjoy you Borderlands/Killing Floor/BioShock/Duke Nukem Forever.
Personally?
I do enough with my computer, beyond gaming, that I would sooner put my money towards a processor, and skimp on the graphics card.
But if you're a gamer, you'll need a balance of both, just don't let your processor be a bottleneck.
)
