It's worth stressing here that actual frame-rates are not so important - relative performance between the processors is more enlightening. Also, we'd recommend keeping an eye on the consistency graphs - frame-time. This is the measure of on-screen stutter, and it's of crucial importance in understanding G3258's performance beyond the average frame-rate numbers.
... titles show the challenge of running multi-threaded software on a dual-core processor. Curiously, it's not really the frame-rates that are the problem - as you can see from the results table, the Pentium puts in a respectable enough performance in many cases. The issue is one of consistency - games are now built typically with four threads or more in mind. Dropping down to two - no matter how fast they are - causes latency and stalling issues that manifest as highly unwelcome stutter during gameplay.
Retaining ultra or very high settings in Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3 with a 780 Ti quickly exposed the frailties of the G3258. Whatever the background processing required in setting up the scene, it's just way too much, even for a two 4.5GHz cores.
In the highlighted video, you can see that running the game at the high preset (that's one 'notch' down from the ultra-equivalent, very high) in combination with a GTX 760 results in a night-and-day performance differential between the i7 4790K and the Pentium. The additional fidelity in the game simulation, coupled with the immense increase in GPU set-up costs, sees the Anniversary Edition Pentium struggle horrendously to keep pace. What we're seeing here is a classic case of a lack of hardware balance: the G3258 simply can't feed the GTX 760 quickly enough to sustain a consistent frame-rate.
We tested Battlefield 4 with the same GTX 750 Ti and GTX 760 combination, running both cards at the high quality preset but with the lesser GPU operating at 1600x900 (in line with PS4) while the GTX 760 ran at full 1080p. In both cases, the overclocked Pentium has trouble locking to 60fps whereas the i7 sails through. Our contention is that an engine built for four or more cores simply doesn't translate well to a dual-core chip, and a 4.5GHz overclock isn't a cure-all.
Now, in theory, DICE's Big Idea - the Mantle API - should help. By reducing the CPU load caused by setting up all those draw-calls, processing resources are redirected to other CPU-intensive tasks like physics. We paired the G3258 with a Radeon R9 280 - AMD's answer to the GTX 760. We see Mantle handing in consistently higher frame-rates, but the stutter issues are not resolved. Battlefield 4 still appears to require more threads than the Pentium provides, latencies kick in and the experience isn't that great at all.
The future of games development is many-core in nature and we wonder whether a little more investment in a better CPU in the here and now could end up being the better option overall in the medium to long term. Despite the ludicrous clock-speeds, on the most advanced titles, you do find yourself lowering quality presets or introducing frame-rate caps in order to combat some notable stuttering. In some respects, the G3258 Anniversary Edition feels like an anachronism - a modern-day rendition of an outdated type of processor that's had its day, bludgeoning its way to success through sheer brute force alone.