GPU Advice for Gaming-heavy Rig

[Lemur]

Hay, Caius. It's not unusual for a new architecture's first generation to show little to no gains over the previous one. A lot of the changes are there to support higher clock speeds and optimizations down the line.

So the first generation of I7s score the same or slightly lower at gaming than the CoreWhatevers? Not surprised. But watch out in a year or so, I7s (and their derivative platforms) are going to start spanking the old architecture, no doubt. Just not today.

For somebody buying today, it boils down to a simple question: Spend less now and face a closed upgrade path, or spend more and hope that the hot procs of 2010 and 2011 are compatible with your mobo?