dyeager

@bibamatt:

Now lets look at your games: Skyrim only uses 2 threads. Stats from http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074-9.html show that going to a phenom II X4 would not make much difference (of course an i7 is off the charts).

The CPU for Battlefield 3 does not matter -- it wants graphics!! ( http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-13.html )

Assassin's Creed 3 is single threaded http://benchmark3d.com/assassins-creed-3-benchmark.

Sleeping dogs will use up to 3 cores, but is also graphics bound. http://benchmark3d.com/sleeping-dogs-benchmark

There are so few games that actually can use a quad core.

The graphics card is where you want to spend your money (plus power supply if needed). Your current CPU out of the box matches what is shown for the m57sli-s4 v2.0 in the stats in my first post to this thread. These stats compared with other users should put you slightly above average performance for the 550ti video card. If you can overclock the CPU and video, you will get better performance, but this is not required (just don't go to ultra settings) Good luck!!

@bibamatt: I just swapped in a 550ti 2g into my ga-m61p-s3 motherboard. No problems so far other than 6666's replacing the graphics box for the bios login after you have entered your password. the 5500 ti 2g has passed all tests given so far, even when overclocked to 1000 core 2300 memory. This includes 3dmark6, 3dmark11, passmark, furmark, wei, and folding@home. It even handles acronis disk manager from cd which my amd 5770 was failing to do after I upgraded the processor to a 955 x4 95-watt. running at 3.4. The 5770 may also have given me some reset problems which held down the overclock of the 955.

I also tested the 5500ti in my ga-m57sli-s4 2.0 which has a athlon x2 overclocked to 3.2. The penalty for processor speed/cores and HT link is as follows:

1GB 550ti SC 3dmark 11 graphics: 2589 (x2 m57sli-s4) versus 2636 (x4 m61p-s3)

2GB 5500ti 3dmark 11 graphics: 2371 (x2 m57sli-s4) versus 2422 (x4 m61p-s3)

The video card still responds further to overclocking. You will likely have a windows experience index of 7.3 to 7.4 for both graphics.

The 2gb should perform better on a x2 with games using lots of textures, but I did not test for that.

These cards are over twice as fast as a 8800gt which I also have.

Hope this helps