i3 3210 + R9 280x= bottleneck?

[ZeeTech]

Does the i3 3210 with 4Gigs of Ram bottleneck the Gigabyte r9 280x?

 

[f1sherman]

jesus another one...


Yes it does.

But what games we are are talking about, what settings
any CPU can be a bottleneck depending on the usage scenario

 

[ZeeTech]

jesus another one...

what games we are are talking about, what settings

any CPU can be a bottleneck depending on the usage scenario

Battlefield 4 1080p Maxed out settings
Crisis 3 1080p maxed out settings
Far Cry 3 1080p maxed out settings
Tomb Raider 1080p maxed out settings
Watch Dogs 1080p maxed out settings

 

[jacktesterson]

Battlefield 4 1080p Maxed out settings
Crisis 3 1080p maxed out settings
Far Cry 3 1080p maxed out settings
Tomb Raider 1080p maxed out settings
Watch Dogs 1080p maxed out settings

Probably going to want a Quad for those games but I think your experience will still be decent.

The i5-4590's are on sale for $199 at Newegg right now with free shipping - I just upgraded from a 750K/FM2 Combo and it cost me like $90 after selling my board/cpu.

 

[ZeeTech]

So it bottlenecks,
Which should I upgrade first?
Cpu or ram?

 

[ZeeTech]

Probably going to want a Quad for those games but I think your experience will still be decent.

The i5-4590's are on sale for $199 at Newegg right now with free shipping - I just upgraded from a 750K/FM2 Combo and it cost me like $90 after selling my board/cpu.

Would an Amd 8350 do the job?

 

[jacktesterson]

Would an Amd 8350 do the job?

It would but I wouldn't recommend it if gaming is your primary concern.

I have had mostly AMD CPU's over the past 15 years but I just can't recommend the power hungry/slower IPC FX's over i5s/i7s for Gaming anymore.

 

[f1sherman]

it would

but every now and then an unoptimized, yet still great game comes along,
and then you want intel's IPC to plow through garbage code

from your list: Watch Dogs for example

 

[ZeeTech]

Because I live in Saudi Arabia and the intel processors is $70 more expensive than the neweggs

 

[Attic]

Battlefield 4 1080p Maxed out settings
Crisis 3 1080p maxed out settings
Far Cry 3 1080p maxed out settings
Tomb Raider 1080p maxed out settings
Watch Dogs 1080p maxed out settings

Yea, ouch. In those games you want a quad core, Tomb Raider being the least exposed to framerate issues with dual core.

You'll want 8GB system RAM and intel i5.

Better yet, i'd say look for i7 if budget allows, otherwise fastest i5 you can afford. The 4590 for $200 is nice.


I run a 280x on a Haswell Pentium, the G3258 dual core no hyperthreading. It does fine for stuff like,.. well it crushes stuff like.

RE5
HL2 + Episodes
Portal 1+2
Max Payne 3 (testing now, may be wrong on this)
Alan Wake
Sleeping Dogs

So the i3 you have is fine for 280x IMO depending on game selection, but your game selection (and new AAA games dropping from here on out) are going to want fast i5 or i7.



After having used the 4690k at 4.4ghz i'd say just get the i7 4790k if you can afford it and want to keep from being CPU bottleneck in the newest games. Not a lot of folks would agree with this though. If you want the 60fps mins, which 280x can deliver depending on graphics settings at 1080p, then you want fastest cpu you can afford.

 

[wand3r3r]

Here's a good sample of what the different processors can do and how they compare.

You can try judge how much you value the difference.
http://thetechbuyersguru.com/haswellgaming.php

 

[frozentundra123456]

Granted a quad is better for most of those games, but at 1080p "maxed out" you could be gpu limited. Download something like MSI afterburner and monitor your gpu usage. If it is well below 100% then you are limited by either cpu(most likely) or ram.

Unfortunately your i3 is an ivy bridge one, not haswell. Haswell i3 is considerably better in gaming than previous models.

I guess the way to ask the question would be to ask if your gaming experience is satisfactory. No matter what you will be "bottlenecked" by something, either cpu or gpu. Can you get a quad core Ivy Bridge i5 that will be a drop in replacement for your motherboard? If you want to upgrade, that would be the best solution. For gaming I would not go with the FX, as someone else already said, since you would have to get a new motherboard as well.

Also if you upgrade to a Haswell i5 you will have to get a new motherboard as well. That is why I suggested trying to find an Ivy i5 to use in your current motherboard.

 

[SPBHM]

Battlefield 4 1080p Maxed out settings
Crisis 3 1080p maxed out settings
Far Cry 3 1080p maxed out settings
Tomb Raider 1080p maxed out settings
Watch Dogs 1080p maxed out settings

"maxed out" is probably unplayable, more because of the VGA,

but with reasonable settings I think the i3 is going to be a noticeable bottleneck for all these games, but, it's mostly playable with OK quality with this combination,

you may have to reduce some LOD settings and other things in these games to help with the CPU

 

[brandon888]

Yes Bottleneck.. get another 4 GB ram at least and decent I5

 

[Termie]

Here's a good sample of what the different processors can do and how they compare.

You can try judge how much you value the difference.
http://thetechbuyersguru.com/haswellgaming.php

He should also check out this older article, using an i3-3220 and an overclocked GTX 670, which is nearly identical to his setup: http://www.techbuyersguru.com/CPUgaming.php

It tests a few of the games he mentioned, including Far Cry 3 and Tomb Raider.

A Core i3 plays those games just fine, but the newer games on his list will be more of a challenge. If his budget is really tight, I'd say a Core i5 and R9 280 (if he can find one) is a better setup than a Core i3 and an R9 280X.

 

[jacktesterson]

He should also check out this older article, using an i3-3220 and an overclocked GTX 670, which is nearly identical to his setup: http://www.techbuyersguru.com/CPUgaming.php

It tests a few of the games he mentioned, including Far Cry 3 and Tomb Raider.

A Core i3 plays those games just fine, but the newer games on his list will be more of a challenge. If his budget is really tight, I'd say a Core i5 and R9 280 (if he can find one) is a better setup than a Core i3 and an R9 280X.

7950's can be had for $150 Used or less and are the same card.

 

[KingFatty]

Yes Bottleneck.. get another 4 GB ram at least and decent I5

Are there any updated comparisons between 4 GB gaming vs 8 GB gaming?

Last I saw, the games run nearly identically between 4 GB or 8 GB of ram, so there is no reason to upgrade the RAM if you are gaming.

Look, this review shows no change for gaming between 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB:
http://www.techbuyersguru.com/Ramgaming2.php

 

[jacktesterson]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SO5FS5TVWKIAJG

Your welcome.

Edit: It's 3.3 GHz with Turbo to 3.7 GHz, not 3.0GHz as listed.

 

[jacktesterson]

Are there any updated comparisons between 4 GB gaming vs 8 GB gaming?

Last I saw, the games run nearly identically between 4 GB or 8 GB of ram, so there is no reason to upgrade the RAM if you are gaming.

Look, this review shows no change for gaming between 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB:
http://www.techbuyersguru.com/Ramgaming2.php

Doesn't Watch Dogs have 6GB of Ram for minimum?

That being said, I do think 4GB is fine for almost all games.

 

[jacktesterson]

Because I live in Saudi Arabia and the intel processors is $70 more expensive than the neweggs

Missed this. Sucks about being more expensive. I'd sell your i3, and find any quad i5-3xxx / i7-3xxx used off ebay

 

[AtenRa]

Battlefield 4 1080p Maxed out settings
Crisis 3 1080p maxed out settings
Far Cry 3 1080p maxed out settings
Tomb Raider 1080p maxed out settings
Watch Dogs 1080p maxed out settings

At those settings you will be GPU limited first than CPU even with R9 290. If you want Intel get the Haswell Core i3 4150 or 4330. For AMD get the FX8320E and OC to 4.2GHz with Turbo off.

 

[SlickR12345]

Since you are from Saudi Arabia, get older processors. In my country its the same, usually newer products cost from $30 up to $100 more than what they cost in the USA.

So look at the I5 3470, I5 3570k.

You don't need to upgrade the CPU soon though, just getting 4GB ram memory will improve your performance by a lot, since most of the time you are probably ram starved which can cause stuttering and slowdowns.

So yeah, get 4GB ram now and you'll have significantly improved performance, while you look around and decide which CPU you want to purchase.

Also your motherboard doesn't support Intel 4000 series CPU. So yeah, don't listen to those recommending 4000 series CPU, you'll literally need to get a new motherboard if you do that.

 

[AtenRa]

Well if he already has the Core i3 3210, then he should stay with that and upgrade to Core i5 or i7 later. He can play every current game with the Core i3 using the R9 280X.

But if he is planning to buy new, then he should consider Core i3 4150/4330 or FX8320E.

Another good alternative will be the new Athlon 860K with FM2+ (A88 chipset) Motherboard.

 

[SPBHM]

used I5 is probably his best option for an upgrade (I assume he already have the 3210+1155 MB), I just don't know if the prices for used hardware make it a viable option in Saudi Arabia


but yes, if you have integrated graphics or a slow VGA, even with the 3210 installing the 280x is going to completely change your gaming experience, in that sense the bottleneck is secondary... but it could be best to go with a cheaper card if you plan on keeping the i3 for a while.

4GB is OK for most games, but it can go really bad for watch dogs for example.

3210 to 860K sounds like a really weak upgrade choice, considering used i5 prices,

 

[f1sherman]

he'll get small gains if any, with +4GB alone
2-3 games - Sleeping Dogs, BF4 and...

4 cores Sandy/Ivy... any should do