Intel i5 Non-K CPU Bottle necking?

[Xyatron]

Hello everyone

 

I plan on building a PC within the next couple of weeks that features the Asus RoG Swift PG279Q 165hz 1440p gaming monitor that Linus reviewed recently. However since most of my budget is going towards the monitor, I have to really try and save as much money as possible on other components. I want to run:

 

Competitive games at 165hz 1440p Ultra settings

 

Triple A games at 165hz 1440p medium+ settings

 

The refresh rate is more important to me than the graphics settings, and I would be willing to turn both of these down to maintain the high refresh rate.

 

My questions are:

 

What is the cheapest intel i5 Z87/Z97 based chip that I can get that will not bottle neck the graphics card that I decide to buy? I was looking at the intel i5-4660 (UK) (USA)

 

Is the Nvidia GTX 980 currently the best option to buy at the current price point (I would've thought that it would be considering scaling issues with SLI)?

 

Thanks for reading,

 

-Xyatron

[TheRandomness]

There would be no bottlenecks with an i5-4460 and that graphics card. Consider an R9 390x though, more VRAM at a much lesser cost (well, a little less performance). Also, you could just get a cheap B85/H97 motherboard as you don't need the overclocking capability of Z-series chipsets.

[STRMfrmXMN]

Hello everyone

 

I plan on building a PC within the next couple of weeks that features the Asus RoG Swift PG279Q 165hz 1440p gaming monitor that Linus reviewed recently. However since most of my budget is going towards the monitor, I have to really try and save as much money as possible on other components. I want to run:

 

Competitive games at 165hz 1440p Ultra settings

 

Triple A games at 165hz 1440p medium+ settings

 

The refresh rate is more important to me than the graphics settings, and I would be willing to turn both of these down to maintain the high refresh rate.

 

My questions are:

 

What is the cheapest intel i5 Z87/Z97 based chip that I can get that will not bottle neck the graphics card that I decide to buy? I was looking at the intel i5-4660 (UK) (USA)

 

Is the Nvidia GTX 980 currently the best option to buy at the current price point (I would've thought that it would be considering scaling issues with SLI)?

 

Thanks for reading,

 

-Xyatron

There won't be any bottlenecks with those two. 

[Arwanell]

never!

[Sam Z Man]

A 980 won't cut it for what you want.

[Xyatron]

i5 4460/4440 is a great choice and won't bottleneck the 980 - especially at 1440p.

 

390X ~ 980 but with more VRAM, so I suggest getting that instead, depending on the price of course.

 

 

There would be no bottlenecks with an i5-4460 and that graphics card. Consider an R9 390x though, more VRAM at a much lesser cost (well, a little less performance). Also, you could just get a cheap B85/H97 motherboard as you don't need the overclocking capability of Z-series chipsets.

 

 

There won't be any bottlenecks with those two. 

 

Thank you for the replies! Although an amd R9 390X would be a good option, I really wanted to leverage the G-Sync capabilities of the monitor, and I was unsure if free sync was supported, or if it was up to the same standard since it does not run on a dedicated processor. Also I was wondering if you could explain the differences between the (many) different i5 processors, if they are all consumer grade chips and they don't really bottle neck single GPU builds then why not just buy the cheapest unlocked one or the cheapest outright one?

 

 

A 980 won't cut it for what you want.

 

 

Yeah, I didn't really think that it would but like I said, I am prepared to dial back the graphics settings a bit to give meet the refresh rate that I want. If I'm playing a game that revolves heavily around visuals (The vanishing of Ethan Carter; Skyrim; Tomb Raider; The Witcher Three etc) I can always dial back the refresh rate instead, and even

the resolution if I'm having that much of an issue.

 

Thanks for the reply

 

-Xyatron

[STRMfrmXMN]

Thank you for the replies! Although an amd R9 390X would be a good option, I really wanted to leverage the G-Sync capabilities of the monitor, and I was unsure if free sync was supported, or if it was up to the same standard since it does not run on a dedicated processor. Also I was wondering if you could explain the differences between the (many) different i5 processors, if they are all consumer grade chips and they don't really bottle neck single GPU builds then why not just buy the cheapest unlocked one or the cheapest outright one?

 

If you want to overclock then the 4690k makes sense, but otherwise the cheapest i5 is probably the best.

[TheRandomness]

Thank you for the replies! Although an amd R9 390X would be a good option, I really wanted to leverage the G-Sync capabilities of the monitor, and I was unsure if free sync was supported, or if it was up to the same standard since it does not run on a dedicated processor. Also I was wondering if you could explain the differences between the (many) different i5 processors, if they are all consumer grade chips and they don't really bottle neck single GPU builds then why not just buy the cheapest unlocked one or the cheapest outright one?

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I didn't really think that it would but like I said, I am prepared to dial back the graphics settings a bit to give meet the refresh rate that I want. If I'm playing a game that revolves heavily around visuals (The vanishing of Ethan Carter; Skyrim; Tomb Raider; The Witcher Three etc) I can always dial back the refresh rate instead, and even

the resolution if I'm having that much of an issue.

 

Thanks for the reply

 

-Xyatron

Because when you start pairing cheap chips with expensive cards bottlenecks start to occur. Like an i3 and an R9 390. If you're thinking about a 390x then get a 980 for the g-sync