Primitivus
Distinguished
To answer that shortly, in the simplest way possible- An 8800GTX/GTS on anything short of a Core2Duo QX6700 will make your CPU officially the limiting factor of your gaming rig.
For example, on FEAR @ max settings, 4x AA 8x AF, the 8800GTX had neck and neck frame-rates @ resolutions 1600x1200, 2048x1536 and 2560x1600 with Intel that it did with AMD. This means that while the Intel Core 2 Duo pushed a higher ceiling of head-room to the 8800GTX at lower resolutions. (Meaning the Intel processor was the factor in the FPS lead over the AMD when combined with the same GPU) This also concludes that a person even with a 6800 Extreme processor would sometimes not get better frame-rates at really high resolutions when compared to an AMD processor.
This essentially proves what others in the thread have said.
I'm not sure if I understand you correctly but are you saying that a person who hits a ceiling at high resolutions regardless of processor is CPU bound? Because it's actually the opposite; at high resolutions it doesn't make any difference what CPU you're using because the GPU is the LIMITING factor. When a reviewer wants to test a particular CPU's abilities in games they focus on lower resolutions since these can be handled easily by a powerful GPU and therefore the strengths and weaknesses of the CPU in question are revealed. At high resolutions, especially with eye-candy on, the GPU starts to run into trouble and the CPU becomes less of a factor. Let me point you to a FiringSquad article about that very subject: http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_8800_gtx_gts_amd_cpu_scaling/ If you read the conclusion you'll see that the GTX is usually CPU bound, the GTS only sometimes, but it heavily depends on the games too. Older titles are obviously no sweat for the GPU and the CPU is the limiting factor. But newer and shader heavy titles scale well with different CPU's because even the mighty 8800 cards start to show their limitations. And it is rather probable that a person who buys a 8800 card today will do so in order to play newer titles as well as the upcoming ones like Crysis and UT2007, at high resolutions and with eye candy on. Of course you might still benefit with a C2D X6800 but if you want to play Oblivion with HDR + 4xAA + 16xAF @ 1920x1200 you can do so better with an X2 3800+ and an 8800GTX than with a FX-62 and a X1950XTX ( http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_8800_gtx_gts_amd_cpu_scaling/page11.asp )
I'm not actually recommending that anyone in the market for a 8800 card stick with an X2 3800+, I'm just saying that if we're talking about high resolutions then the CPU matters much less than the GPU and even the X2 3800+ owner who wants to play F.E.A.R., Oblivion, CoD2, Crysis etc. at high res + eye candy will see some benefit with a GTX/GTS over a previous gen card.