For those of us looking to upgrade for SOW

[Les]

Originally Posted by baronWastelan

What sort of CPU & RAM do you reckon I'd need, to keep that GTX 590 supplied with enough bytes to make full use of its abilities?

I don't know what the absolute minimum would be. But if I were building a new system right now I'd say, at least a Core i7 920, overclocked. Beyond that, whatever you want to spend your money on.

Having decided that though, your RAM choice is narrowed down, as using such a chip, which uses the LGA1366 socket, will require an X58 motherboard, which in turn will enable you to use triple-channel DDR3 RAM, which is best used in multiples of three sticks.

So, 6GB (3x2GB sticks) would have you covered for any game that I know of, whereas 3GB (3x1GB) could leave you lacking. Using 6GB would require also using a 64-bit version of Windows too though, so you'd have to factor that in.

You could use 4GB(2x2GB) and a 32-bit version of Windows, but the RAM wouldn't be running in triple-channel mode, and depending on whatever else you've got running (like Windows itself), 4GB might not be enough to keep something like, say, SOW:BOB moving along nicely.

Edit - Just wanted to add that when it comes to real-world gaming, there's next to no perceivable difference in frame-rates when running dual-channel or triple-channel RAM, or even between running double-channel and single-channnel RAM. And although I haven't experienced it first hand, there's no perceivable difference, in game, between equally clocked, LGA1366 or LGA1156 socket CPU's.