^ bad idea. You won't see the performance boost you expect because your CPU will be bottlenecking your GPU so much, it will be severely hampered. Your GPU can only go as fast as your CPU can process data
You will see a good boost from an 8800gt, but you won't get 100% out of a 670. You'll need to oc CPU to lessen bottleneck
Im well aware that my clu will severly bottleneck my card. However, would the performance gained, be enought to play for wxample farcry 3 on high settings (1680x1050)?
Ok guys, it looks like this is the situation: I don't have money to spend for a FULL rig, sadly. It requires me to upgrade halfway. It means, that I'm either getting a new CPU and staying with my 8800GT, or buying a new GPU with new ram, MB PSU and case, staying with my CPU and maybe even OCing it. It is not the most efficient, but I pretty much need an improvement right now, as I can't play games anymore due to the unsmooth experiences I'm leaning towards getting an 660 / 670, staying with my q6600 and buying a new cpu in a year or two (the new generations). I heard my Q6600 will bottleneck my GPU, but there will be enough improvements for me to play games untill I get money for a decent CPU...Right? Also, playing on high resulotions will remove some of the bottlenecks, no?
Playing at high resolutions doesnt alleviate anything. I've seen it said a few times and its wrong. High resolutions become more GPU dependent, but that doesnt mean the CPU has an easier time, it still has just as hard a time. Its mostly the games themselves that determine how much CPU you need, not the gfx card, unless you are running SLI/CF with fast cards. Unfortunately, if you want to get good framerates with high quality settings, you need to update both CPU and GPU (and memory for both as well) Putting a powerhouse of a CPU behind an 8800GT 512MB is a real waste for gaming imo. So that leaves upgrading the GPU for now and saving for an IB 3570K or better later. Clock your CPU as far as it will go, get a GTX670 and 4GB Ram minimum. (2GB will kill your gaming experience, dont do it!!) At least you can get a great experience in some games then. You may need a new PSU as well, depending if your PSU is worn out. The GTX670 uses around 70W more than your 8800GT. Alternatively, upgrade the CPU/mobo/memory and get a second hand last gen gfx card to keep you going. But again, you may need to upgrade the PSU. You've let it roll for a long time.