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Which would be the better upgrade: CPU or GPU?

Sir_Real

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#1 Crossfire may be the problem here

#2 same exact settings, resolution and freshly installed OSes?

Basicly i could see full well the P4 couldnt run the crossfired HD4870's. Running almost anything 3D the cpu load was almost maxed out & i could almost count each frame it was so slow.

Ye the crossfire was a big prob for the old P4 when i took the tick out crossfire in ccc the framerates in 3D stuff jumped up quite alot.
 

qubit

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Yup, that's it Sir_Real: multi GPU setup on a weak CPU lost you performance and made it less than one GPU. Just as I have been saying all along. <facepalm> lol
 
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just asking... if your gts450 i5 is faster than the gtx465 i3, shouldn't you swap which system has what card?

I think the simplest way to put it with the bottleneck, the system can only perform as fast as the weakest link.

Good question and I'll give you a fair reply.

I built the machines at two different times and they literally now sit there and run F@H and WCG, so in that case it doesn't really matter what is where so much.
 
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good point.
 
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