Which one would you rather have? A high end CPU or GPU?

I'd rather be stuck with a 2 years old CPU than a 2 years old GPU, but then again, CPUs dont progress as fast as GPUs

Some pertinent graphs for gaming here, discuss.

Games vs CPU


Games vs GPU

 

These are useless without knowing which GPU is being used on the CPU graph and which CPU is being used on the GPU graph.

 

CPU graph uses a 7800GT which is considered mid high end.
GPU graph uses a FX57 high end.

Games vs GPUs
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2607&p=6

Games vs CPUs
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...-games2_6.html

 

doesn't make too much sence.... it's like asking would you rather high end suspension/rims/tires or a kick ass engine w/ turbo....

I don't really play games that much, rarely, so I'd go with CPU. I also don't drag race or track my car, so I'd rather the suspension/rims/tires for a better handling ride.

 

as wellas a mass of other info such as motherboard, ram, video settings, etc...

the two kind-of correlate, but not really.

say for instance you're running a celeron D processor with a geforce 7800 SLI GPU setup. the game is still gonna run like ass if it runs at all.

on the other hand, if you have a p4 630 running onboard video, you can still play most games with less than great video quality.

however, taking benchmark charts from two diffent benchmark sessions using two different games and most likely two different setups entirely, is worthless when it comes to making your point. i guess you could print them and use them for toilet paper to get some use, but that may hurt the tooshieh:

 

With a slow CPU a system will only perform to a point no matter what GPU you have. If you have fast CPU, each time you upgrade the GPU there will be more noticeable gains.

 

Negatory.

Of course, those are different games, different set ups, but both graphs show how low end and high end components scale.

You can buy an Athlon 64 3200+ for about $170 and it will perform within 6% from a top end FX57 which cost over a grand.

On the other end, you can buy an SLI combo for $600 and it can perform 50%+ better than the same single card solution. And that will be something that you can notice in games.

However the very same high end card you just bought will be rendered obsolete once a new high end model comes out. The same thing cannot be said with CPU.

 

both graphs show how low end and high end components scale in their individual tests but the two tests compared do not show how CPU scales vs GPU. they are completely seperate tests with different base hardware. CPU and GPU aren't the only factors to take into account when doing a test of this nature. now, if the two tests were done using the same amount and type of ram, the same game, the same or equivalent motherboard(to include chipset) comparing the two graphs would amount to something. unfortunately it doesn't. in the two tests, mainboards aren't the same or equivalent, the x-bit test uses 2GB of memory but the anandtech test doesn't say. there is no control and no way to effective correlate the two test setups.

 

rather have 1gb+ ram, since CPU's of 3 years ago are fast enough, and i dont really play games

 

you need both as well as good ram good hdd and a good mobo and cooling can also be important