Crossfire performance & CPU Scaling

How much of a bottleneck should I expect when using 2x 5870's in crossfire with a Q9650 @ 4ghz?
I know I can expect some, but I am wondering if it would be worth the 400-500$ investment sandy setup sooner rather then later?

This would be in comparison to a sandy 2500K in the 4-4.4 ghz range. All at 1900x1200.

I will upgrade eventually anyway, but if the performance gap is significant enough I will upgrade sooner.
I have found some reviews on the web, but they all used the older Kentsfield based quads and not the Yorkfield ones, and show some suprising numbers such as a e8600 beating a q6700 with crossfire'd 5870s.


Can anyone she some light on this? Hopefully somethat that has made a similar upgrade (q9650 to 2500k)?

Thanks!

Not much of a bottleneck, really. Should be alright.

it will tie you over till Bulldoozer......hopefully it is out around september16ish... Cant wait.. I wanna do ES or even Write a review.

For gaming having that CPU @4Ghz does not worth another cpu/mobo/ram upgrade.

$400-500 to spend? --> HD7990 (sell your 5870's to some bitcoin fan and you upgrade for free)

going to an oced 2500k or 2600k would boost your minimum Frame rates for sure but im not sure it's worth a huge upgrade ATM, wait or BD numbers or SB-E or IB is you can wait that long. If you JUST gaming the difference won't be huge.

Thanks for all the help.

I think I will keep my current core sys and just eek a few more mhz out of it, its got the headroom i just never fiddled with it.

Zalbard, your avatar brings back memories. Reinstalls steel soldiers...

HD7990 details are still too thin on the ground, and frankly what is out now looks fake.