Which is more important for Gameing- CPU > Video Card -or-CPU < Vid Card?

Question

So is it better for me to have a good CPU and an ok vid card or an ok CPU and a good vidcard?

dont ask me to check first the MoBo because I will check if its compatible first

oh I see, so its worth investing in both, but is it cheaper to upgrade your Video Card or your CPU?

because the one I can upgrade the most I wont buy top of the line

Answer 1

well they are both equally important

Answer 2

Depends on the game, but generally the Video Card will be your downfall in a game. Graphic cards have their own RAM and a GPU that processes the video, instead of the CPU. Graphic cards also use specific codecs like DirectX 8 or DirectX 9. DX9 games require DX9.

Example:
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Minimum Requirements:
Supported OS: Windows 2000/XP (only)
Processor: 2 GHz Pentium IV or equivalent (2.8 GHz recommended)
RAM: 1024 MB
Video Card: DirectX 9-compliant Shader 2.0 card with 128 MB of VRAM (256 MB recommended) (see supported list*)

A 2.0GHz processor has been around since 2000ish and is not really cutting edge at all, but the video card required is very new. Note that RAM is very important as well, with modern gaming machines having a MINIMUM of 1GB

Answer 3

First two are dead wrong, video card is easily more important. Now that doesn't mean you can run an absolute piece of junk processor and expect it to not affect performance, but the video card is more important. If you are only able to upgrade one, go with the video card.

Answer 4

It doesn't matter, really. if ones really crappy, it's bottleneck the other component and not let it run at its best.