Hi Darren, another quick question, if I may. What would be the minimum Intel CPU which you would recommend that I upgrade to - either with or without the need to overclock - in order to eliminate this potential bottleneck when in use with a mid-range graphics card?
Edit: I am very much veering towards the HD4670/HD4770, as you have all convinced me that it would appear to offer the best reliability and bang-per-buck performance.
I'd overclock your current E1400 to around 3 GHz as JrRacingFan suggested, failing that I'd go straight up to midrange dual core such as the
E7400 as they are fast enough to run today's games easily at stock and overclocks well if one wishes, at minimum i'd get a lowend processors which would outperform your current E1400 and overclock just as far such as the
E5200. If the budget allows for Intel's extortionately priced processors go straight for the quad core range such as the
Q9400 or the
Q9500
I would avoid the 4670, at minimum you want the ATI 4830! Get the cheapest of the ATI 4770 or 4850, performance near enough the same.
Edit:
This should give you an idea of the performance of some of the recommended processors.
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Edit 2:
Which is preferable, out of the two?
I would get the cheapest of the two, I'd go with the 4770 if you can find it for more than £10 cheaper than the 4850, if there is just say £9 or less between the two cards I would get the 4850.
The ATI 4850 = older, about 1-10% faster, DDR3, 55mn chip, 800 shaders, runs hottest.
The ATI 4830 = new, slightly slower than 4770 and 4850, DDR3, 55mn, runs warm, overclocks faster than 4850, 640 shaders, cheapest at only £70!
The ATI 4770 = newest, performs near the same as 4850, DDR5, 40mn chip, usually cheaper than the 4850 but more than 4830, runs coolest.
Also remember that I am presuming that you are looking for a card below £85 with delivery I wouldn't pay more than that for either one of these cards. If you want to spend between £100-120 then I'd be looking more towards the ATI 4870 or GTX260 216 core.
Edit 3:
Edit: And would you consider the HD4830 better overall for my purposes, with my 2.0-OC-3.0 Ghz CPU, for £20 less than the HD4850?
As the ATI 4830 is up to £20 less for similar performance it is the best candidate price/performance. A slight optional overclock of the 4830 and it would perform the same or better than the 4850 or 4770 at stock. To be frank in a lot of games the 4830 can actually performs the same as the previously mentioned cards straight out of the box.
I currently own a 4830 so I'm trying not to be bias. I have the XFX 4830 and it was £74.00 but its only £70 now with free super saver delivery
here with only one left in stock.
It should last you a bit over a year, I doubt you'll struggle with games within that duration, just overclock the processor a bit then invest around £350-400 in a full system upgrade (CPU, GPU and maybe motherboard) in mid 2010.
