Just how much difference does your CPU speed make in real-world gameplay? Are today’s games CPU-limited or GPU-limited? What impact does different CPU and GPU combinations have on your overall level of gaming quality?

BFGTech GeForce 7800 GTX OC 512MB – The BFGTech GeForce 7800 GTX OC 512MB operates at a core clock of 580 MHz and a memory clock of 1.75 GHz. This video card is based on the NVIDIA G70 (7800 GTX) GPU using 512MB of GDDR3.

BFGTech GeForce 7800 GTX OC 256MB – You can read our evaluation of the BFGTech GeForce 7800 GTX OC 256MB video card here. The BFGTech GeForce 7800 GTX OC 256MB video card operates at a core clock of 460 MHz and a memory clock of 1.3 GHz. The video card is based on the NVIDIA G70 (7800 GTX) GPU using 256MB of GDDR3.

BFGTech GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB – You can read our evaluation of the BFGTech GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB video card here. The BFGTech GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB video card operates at a core clock of 425 MHz and a memory clock of 1.05 GHz. The video card is based on the NVIDIA G70 (7800 GT) GPU using 256MB of GDDR3.

BFGTech GeForce 6600 GT OC 128MB – You can read our evaluation of the BFGTech GeForce 6600 GT OC 128MB video card here. The BFGTech GeForce 6600 GT OC 128MB video card operates at a core clock of 525 MHz and a memory clock of 1.05 GHz. The video card is based on the NVIDIA NV43 (6600 GT) GPU using 128MB of GDDR3.

All video cards are PCI-Express. We are using the absolute latest driver on NZone at the time of testing which is ForceWare 82.12 which supports dual core CPUs.

We are using two different motherboards and six CPUs total. Three AMD CPUs on the nForce4 platform and three Intel CPUs on the i975 XBX platform.

We will scale Pentium 4 Prescott at 2.8GHz single core to Pentium 4 Dual Core at 3.2GHz to the high-end Pentium Extreme Edition 3.4GHz dual core with 1066 MHz FSB. We will also scale AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ at 2GHz and 4800+ at 2.4GHz dual core up to the high-end FX-60 at 2.6GHz dual core. All RAM timings are as tight as we could make them; systems are formatted with a clean install of OS and games.