Video Card for Oblivion... (Yes.. I know..)

[Opterondo]

hey guys you think a AMD X2 4200 would be work well with the geforce 8800GTS 320mb? would it be powerful enough to even be worth it? i wanted to just go with a X1950 pro but that 8800 GTS 320 it almost to good to pass up, especially if it drops to $240 after the R600 comes out.

It will work i'm not sure about the well part. I'd probably get an X2-3800+ Brisbane for $65 and OC it to 3GHz honestly.

 

[choirbass]

your cpu in all honesty is not going to be a big problem... especially for oblivion... ...for oblivion, the first thing to take a dive for performance is guaranteed to be your gpu... so you most certainly dont want to sacrifice performance here if you can help it... secondary comes memory amount (2GB is preferrable)... then cpu speed (dual core preferrable)... then memory speed (ddr2-667 at least usually, if youre running AM2 or C2D)... then hard drive (WD 160GB 8MB WD1600AAJS is only $54, but is the fastest 7200 available)... etc... ...at the very least go for an 8800GTS 320, as a minimum... especially if you can swing the price (evga 8800GTS 320 is $260 after $20 rebate)... as far as OCing, definetly do it, as youll save yourself most likely a decent amount of money that could go to the gpu purchase instead... the X2 3600+ is a prime example for OCing, which can get you fairly close to 3GHz, as was pointed out, for only $80 retail too (or $65 oem, with no heatsink included though)... ...or you can go the route of getting a faster cpu for more money... and sacrificing your gaming performance some by investing in a weaker gpu... ...your call though... ...as far as OCing your X2 4200+, im sure that can be pushed to at least 2.6GHz without much problem, if you were open to that

im just trying to get the best fps i can (40-50 would be nice) with the best graphics i could while maintaining the frame rate, would a X2 5600 and a X1950 pro work better? then just upgrade my graphics card in 5-6 months? i remember someone telling me that "game preformance isnt always about the best hardware, its about the best set-up" would you agree with this statement?

well... regarding best hardware and best setup... as far as i can tell they usually go hand in hand... ...you could say best hardware period, or best hardware for the money... ...one is going to be absolute, and the other is going to be relative... ...if youre more budget conscious, go for whichever hardware fits your budget, and still offers acceptable performance (making multiple lesser replacement purchases usually ends up being more expensive in the long run, and if youre trying to save money, this usually would not be the way to go then, eg, an expensive gpu now, and another expensive gpu only a few months from now)... ...for the budget concious gamer, a cpu would be more of a waste to invest in, in all honesty (especially if your cpu is fairly recent, meaning within the last few years)... as the performance return is going to be minimal, compared to the performance boost of current gpus, over older gpus

either way, its advisable to wait until the R600 is released, if only for the possible price drops