It is said that The Witcher 2 demands a strong cpu, so when you buy just the new graphic card you could end with with no performance increase at all.

What's your current graphic card? Depending on that information maybe upgrading the cpu first would be the better idea. Upgrade it and look if it increases performance on its own. Then you can still decide whether to upgrade the graphic card as well, or not.

i have a 9800gt now ... its an old card but it still runs the witcher 2 on medium settings with 35 to 45 fps .. i don know what to upgrade right now ... either its the gpu or the cpu ... ur help wud b appreciated

Well, I already told you your options:

1.) If you upgrade just the graphic card and not the cpu then there is a high possibility to gain nothing, since The Witcher 2 is known for being highly cpu limited.

2.) If you buy the cpu first there is a good chance that you will gain performance just by that and if not, you can always...

3.) ...upgrade both, which is the best option performance-wise. So if you can afford it it's te best option. If you cannot afford is, then 2.) is the best option in my opinion.

I would say upgrade both as well, or simply play the game on medium settings with 35 to 45 fps as you can right now. Yes it is more beautiful with better graphics but it is very playable and aside the eye candy as much enjoyable on a lower resolution and graphics setting.

Well a E7500 is about as good as your going to get with a old 775 socket CPU. 775 socket components are pretty much EOL
Also if you do not know already, if you're looking to upgrade to an i7 you will need not only the CPU but a new motherboard and DDR3 memory as well.

I'd say a 560ti is a good place to start, think some new cards are going to drop pretty soon as well, so maybe wait for those, that will cause the prices to come down a bit on the older model cards like the 560ti.

One other option you have as far as CPU if your motherboard allows it is to overclock your CPU a bit. Upping your CPU's FSB (front side bus) to 1333MHz will take your CPU to 3.3GHz. You need to make sure you have good CPU cooling though as with higher FSB comes a little higher CPU core voltages which leads to more heat.

I think that is NOT correct. Graphics are mostly dependent on GPU and by no means is the PCIExpress bus being clogged with today's video cards. If you include physics and so on. Then the CPU comes in handy. Nevertheless from The Witcher's own video and based on my previous knowledge. Given the CPU/GPU you have you have two choices:


1: Upgrade your system (CPU/GPU/Motherboard/RAM)
2: Upgrade only your video card.

Make sure you have the necessary power supply to support each option.

yep ... so i finally decided to buy a motherboard and cpu first ...

motherboard - gigabyte p67a-ud4
cpu-i5-2500k
later on .. as u said when the new cards hit the shelves .. i might buy 560ti .. thanx for the replies everybody .. appreciate it yep .. doin that ...

Unless you are going to use the PhysX engine or the 3D thing you are WAYYYY better off with a 6950, even the 1 GB model is better than the 560ti.
I suggest the 2GB though.

There seems to be many factors involved; and not just the two mentioned. I have posted that I am playing the game on a SM C2SBA+ii 1333 Workstation Board with 8 gigs of DDR2 memory using a E8400 C2D socket 775 at 3.0ghz (no overclocking) Vista 64bit and an EVGA 9500 1gig 600mhz Graphics Card! I have always used the Windows Task Manger to turn off all of Vista Graphic garbage (to less than 40 processes) and disconnect from the internet when I play TW2. I don't know about frames etc. but my custom setting are medium with 2 high and 2 low settings and I have never had any loading, hesitation or crashing problems. It is still IMO the "prettiest" game I have ever played with these settings. My collegue has a I7 9xx (don't remember the number) running 2.8 ghz with Xfire 5770 and an SM Workstation board as well; with 12 gigs of DDR3 mem and plays with everything on the highest settings. It is much "prettier" and in fact it is awesome; but I do not see a real speed advantage.

I built my rig in Feb 2008 and if I were to make any major changes it would be to replace the entire MB etc to upgrade to a more modern system entirely. To put a US$200.00+ Graphics card on this system I feel would be a waste of money at this stage.

yes .. as posted above ... im buyin a motherboard and a new cpu ... in a week i think if everything goes as planned ... n then after a 2 or 3 months before battlefield or skyrim release .. i might get that 560 ti after all .. now im a little confused with my pwer supply .. iis 350w enough for this rig ? .. ill post again here

motherboard - gigabyte p67-ud4
cpu-i5 2500k
gpu-9800gt
ram-6gb or i don know mayb 4gb (im still deciding here lol )

n yes i will change the psu once i get the new card

No, it's not.

Yea 350w is pretty weak even for your current system, if you are going with one graphics card and little or no overclocking I'd suggest a 650w. If you are going to be over clocking moderately or higher I'd bump that up to a 750W at least.

My system for example can pull around 450-480 watts fully loaded with a i7 920 overclocked to 3.4GHz and a GTX480 FTW. I'm running a Corsair 750 watt.
Best to have enough PSU then have your system have problems from lack of power or even worse blow a PSU because it is constantly overloaded.

its been two years now that ive been using this psu ... n ive had no issues at all ... n no i don overclock at all ... i don mess with those things ... but thanx for the input i think ill change my psu then ...

Don't be sucked in by mega-watt cheap power supplies.

The watts aren't as important as the quality or the amps on each rail.

Everything in your PC relies on your power supply, so get a decent brand.