Video card vs CPU Speed

First of all, it must be noted that Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 are indeed extraordinary cards as far as their performance is concerned. These cards gain maximum advantage over the prev-gen solutions right in those games, where performance gains were expected the most. In particular, even the HD 4850 sometimes outperforms dual-GPU modifications of the HD 3870. At the same time, Athlon X2 4800+ is apparently insufficient to reveal full potential of the HD 4850, the 6000+ processor will be most likely the best choice. That's probably the best news for those who want a powerful computer for games for a limited budget.


What concerns Radeon HD 4870, even a more powerful processor is required here. Otherwise, such resource-intensive games as Crysis and World in Conflict will just demonstrate no gains. Besides, the card won't reveal its true potential in other games either.