Due to recent discoveries, I now have a 400 dollar budget for X-Mas. I found a vid on youtube of somebody playing crysis with a 2.2 Ghz dual core and a 5770. He wasn't lagging too bad, even with fraps. I might upgrade to an E8400 if I have enough money, but this sounds pretty SHWEET!
Sounds pretty cool, Enjoy your purchase. I don't know much about the five series, so I cannot offer you any insight as to whether or not this is a good idea. I'm taking your word for that being a good combination. I do think however, that you may be bottlenecked by your 2.2 GHZ CPU. I had Pentium D at 3.0, and it bottlenecked my 8800GTS.
The architecture of the Pentium D sucks though, so I think I'll be good. Besides, he was using AMD LOL.
do you already have the e2200?
The E5200 uses the same architechture as the E8400, it's just slower in terms of frequency and has less cache.
Both the E2200 and the E8400 will bottleneck the 5870 pretty bad..
Well, if you get the E84 to 4.0 ghz, it wont be a problem.
Why not just spend a little bit more and get a Quad core ?
Why not just spend a little bit more and get a Quad core ?
I think buying a Dual Core right now is pointless. Soon you will definitely need a Quad Core. I would suggest picking one up. 
In previous threads he has stated he doesn't have a lot of money. He already has the E2200, so the GPU always comes before CPU.
I just bought the 8400 GS from BFG, and it does everything I wanted it to do.
It's running at 669/651/430, and I LOVE IT!
That's definitely not a 5770. Do you play games with that? Because I don't think 8400's run games well at all.
It does game pretty good. I don't see how you people think it's a bad card. It's really good if you have no money.
This.
I would say its the other way around actually. Sure you'll need a quad maybe in a few years, but thats in a few years, maybe. It would be smarter to buy one when their main stream, not cutting edge.
As far as I'm concerned, buying a dual core is really stupid. If someone buys a Phenom 2, or Core i5, they're set for years. If someone goes and buys an E8500, they're set for a year, tops. Video editing and 3D modeling is also quad core reliant.
We're talking about GAMING, not video editing or 3D modeling. I'll be very surprised if quads are main stream by 2011, cutting edge is for suckers.
Well, Crysis 2 is coming out in a few months.