CPU not powerful enough?

[Austin4606]

I'm buying lots of new hardware using Christmas money and i'm not sure if something might go wrong because my CPU isn't powerful enough.. can someone help?

 

The CPU i got is a Intel Core i3-540 Dual-Core 3.06GHz (From what i know this can be heavily overclocked)

 

The hardware i'm buying is a mid-tower that can fit a microATX & a 600W PO. Oh, did i forget to mention a graphics card? I'm also getting a SAPPHIRE DUAL-X 100373L Radeon R9 280 for $200. And 4GB to equal  8GB.

[79wjd]

It depends on the game you intend to play....it will be decent, but its starting to show it's age. 

[jnmbhj]

You need a CPU upgrade to a pentinum g3258 and a z97 motherboard

Or at least try to

[Fate]

Yea... that's going to bottleneck in just about every newer game. You should probably get a new CPU + Motherboard 

[79wjd]

You need a CPU upgrade to a pentinum g3258 and a z97 motherboard

Or at least try to

No, just no. 

 

The g3258 doesn't play newer games particularly well -- I especially wouldn't pair it up with an R9 280; a Haswell i3 would be much better. 

[Pugs501]

The CPU i got is a Intel Core i3-540 Dual-Core 3.06GHz (From what i know this can be heavily overclocked)

Wat!?

You can OC a i3, I thought they were locked...

Heck what do I know

 

I think the i3 will be a bottleneck

Can you get a SSD in there?

[Mush Brain]

Go i7 860, they are cheap as shit on ebay now, 4c/8t Nehalem IPC.

[jnmbhj]

No, just no. 

 

The g3258 doesn't play newer games particularly well -- I especially wouldn't pair it up with an R9 280; a Haswell i3 would be much better.

No, not really it should be fine. You can really over clock that CPU. Unless you try to play far cry 4.

[failblox]

I don't even think you can 'heavily' overclock cause it's not a k-series CPU... Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think i3 chips are overclockable by changing the multiplier.

Yes, you could technically OC it by changing the BCLK, but that's not really recommended, as it changed the parameters of many other components in your system as well, which is something you don't want.

[79wjd]

No, not really it should be fine. You can really over clock that CPU. Unless you try to play far cry 4.

Yes really. Newer games really don't run well on dual core CPUs no matter how far you push them. 

 

I don't even think you can 'heavily' overclock cause it's not a k-series CPU... Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think i3 chips are overclockable by changing the multiplier.

Yes, you could technically OC it by changing the BCLK, but that's not really recommended, as it changed the parameters of many other components in your system as well, which is something you don't want.

The BCLK affecting PCIE lanes and memory isn't an issue back in the Nahlelm days; the only reason it's an issue now is because the duties of the north bridge are now on the chip itself, whereas Nahlhelm had a separate northbridge, which handles memory/pcie. 

[jnmbhj]

Yes really. Newer games really don't run well on dual core CPUs no matter how far you push them. 

At least you can upgrade because your on the z97 platform.

[Austin4606]

God. Only forum i've been on with over 5 replies in less than 15 minutes. 

 

Alrighty.. well this is pretty depressing due to the fact that i've been all over the web getting all the components together & then discovering my CPU is a piece of crap for gaming.. great. Great day.

 

The bad thing is once i buy everything else i'm only $20 from breaking my budget. So no new CPU and no new motherboard. Currently the max i can spend is $405. If anyone would be kind to somehow point me in the direction to being able to at the VERY LEAST play BF4 on medium-high with DECENT FPS would be great. I honestly don't know what to do now.. this is too much information.

[ForsakenLive]

No, not really it should be fine. You can really over clock that CPU. Unless you try to play far cry 4.

You should check the reports, there is performance inconsistency on games with the G3258, they run at the FPS the benchmarks say, but when you are playing you get those mini-stutters where the fps drops for a very slight amount of time. We don't know if it's the chipset, the CPU, or even DirectX that makes the problem, or even some motherboards; the bottom line is that there are a good amount of people and sources that indicate the inconsistency, that is very annoying when you game. Apart from many games that will not support the dual core well (COD, FC4), for what we know this could become a trend for the game studios, so might as well get something like a Athlon X4 860K, FX 6300 (or higher) or even an i3 or low end i5.

[Linux User]

Bare minimum for an R7 280 is Athlon X4 860K, although I'd recommend an i5

[jnmbhj]

You should check the reports, there is performance inconsistency on games with the G3258, they run at the FPS the benchmarks say, but when you are playing you get those mini-stutters where the fps drops for a very slight amount of time. We don't know if it's the chipset, the CPU, or even DirectX that makes the problem, or even some motherboards; the bottom line is that there are a good amount of people and sources that indicate the inconsistency, that is very annoying when you game. Apart from many games that will not support the dual core well (COD, FC4), for what we know this could become a trend for the game studios, so might as well get something like a Athlon X4 860K, FX 6300 (or higher) or even an i3 or low end i5.

Thanks for the info.

[ForsakenLive]

God. Only forum i've been on with over 5 replies in less than 15 minutes. 

 

Alrighty.. well this is pretty depressing due to the fact that i've been all over the web getting all the components together & then discovering my CPU is a piece of crap for gaming.. great. Great day.

 

The bad thing is once i buy everything else i'm only $20 from breaking my budget. So no new CPU and no new motherboard. Currently the max i can spend is $405. If anyone would be kind to somehow point me in the direction to being able to at the VERY LEAST play BF4 on medium-high with DECENT FPS would be great. I honestly don't know what to do now.. this is too much information.

 

The GPU you are aiming for is great, but to be honest the price could be better. Also maybe you can shave a couple of bucks from the case and PSU (just tell us where you are buying from, and what you had in mind). For the CPU, it's not really the most important part of the gaming build, but it's going to slow you down, the best you can do IMO is get a used 1156 i7, on ebay they go from the $50 to the $65 and it's a CPU good enough for games (specially if you OC a bit), with 4 cores and 8 threads. It won't bottleneck the GPU and will save you a considerable amount of money.

[Austin4606]

Well.. i COULD drop buying the RAM and stick with 4GB and MAYBE i could buy the Athlon X4 860K.. but i dunno..

[79wjd]

At least you can upgrade because your on the z97 platform.

An i5-4440 + h81 board would be the better alternative at that point unless he plans on upgrading almost immediatley/in a reasonable amount of time, in which case he should just wait and upgrade straight to the i5 and not even get a G3258. 

[Austin4606]

The GPU you are aiming for is great, but to be honest the price could be better. Also maybe you can shave a couple of bucks from the case and PSU (just tell us where you are buying from, and what you had in mind). For the CPU, it's not really the most important part of the gaming build, but it's going to slow you down, the best you can do IMO is get a used 1156 i7, on ebay they go from the $50 to the $65 and it's a CPU good enough for games (specially if you OC a bit), with 4 cores and 8 threads. It won't bottleneck the GPU and will save you a considerable amount of money.

 

Not a big fan of buying used PC parts.. especially from Ebay. But alright.

 

All i'm looking for is a decent case (Not asking for looks, i'm looking for a CASE and MAYBE a fair amount of airflow.) & a 600W PSU at the minimum.

 

Something i probably should've mentioned, i'm moving a pre-built motherboard & everything with it to whatever new case. So it's not like i built this, the CPU came with it a long time ago. So it's a bit aged.

[79wjd]

Not a big fan of buying used PC parts.. especially from Ebay. But alright.

 

All i'm looking for is a decent case (Not asking for looks, i'm looking for a CASE and MAYBE a fair amount of airflow.) & a 600W PSU at the minimum.

"600w minimum" 

500w is enough for ANY single gpu system, and 600w isn't nearly enough for most dual gpu setups. 

 

Whats your budget, location, do you need an OS/monitors/keyboard/mouse, do you have anything from your current computer you can reuse (case, hdd, etc...)--what are the exact specs of your current system?

[Austin4606]

"600w minimum" 

500w is enough for ANY single gpu system, and 600w isn't nearly enough for most dual gpu setups. 

 

Whats your budget, location, do you need an OS/monitors/keyboard/mouse, do you have anything from your current computer you can reuse (case, hdd, etc...)?

 

Got OS,monitor,keyboard and mouse. I edited my previous post above and i said that i'm moving the original hardware to a new case to replace some of the new hardware (PSU & GPU) and have more space for a better GPU. I CANNOT re-use the old case.

 

But.. my dad has an old computer case for his old computer. It's pretty old.. not sure if it will work.

[79wjd]

Got OS,monitor,keyboard and mouse. I edited my previous post above and i said that i'm moving the original hardware to a new case to replace some of the new hardware (PSU & GPU) and have more space for a better GPU. I CANNOT re-use the old case.

 

But.. my dad has an old computer case for his old computer. It's pretty old.. not sure if it will work.

Again, what are your exact specs now, and what is your budget/location. 

[Austin4606]

Again, what are your exact specs now, and what is your budget/location. 

 

I mentioned my budget in a previous post. My budget is $405.

 

My specs are:

-Intel Core i3-540 CPU @ 3.07GHz

-4GB DDR3 RAM

-Windows 7 Installed

-ATI Radeon HD 5450

[ForsakenLive]

Not a big fan of buying used PC parts.. especially from Ebay. But alright.

 

All i'm looking for is a decent case (Not asking for looks, i'm looking for a CASE and MAYBE a fair amount of airflow.) & a 600W PSU at the minimum.

 

Something i probably should've mentioned, i'm moving a pre-built motherboard & everything with it to whatever new case. So it's not like i built this, the CPU came with it a long time ago. So it's a bit aged.

 

I know, buying used sometimes it's a hassle, but if you have the patience to do it you can get amazing stuff, GPUs, Headphones, CPUs and even motherboards/ram/coolers can be obtained for very good prices, those parts don't really change with age, and if they do (old fan) they can be fixxed easily. Right now you see people on websites like /r/hardwareswap selling R9 280Xs for $120 on really good conditions, I mean they are almost like new. The things we always buy new are fans, SSDs, PSUs, hard drives, cases, monitors, things that show age quickly. Payment, shipping and contact suck a lot sometimes, but most of the times it's worth it.

 

I did the same for my PSU, I went slightly overkill (650W unit), a good PSU will last a decade, and what do I know if tomorrow AMD comes with the R9 399XOmega, a GPU that sucks 400W alone. Also it's nice to have headroom so the fan is quiet and the PSU efficient; it's usually just a $10-15 difference between a bigger PSU and one that just fits.

 

I'm not going to go that much into cases, because it's a personal decision, form factor, aesthetics, etc. But something like a Arc Mini, s340, N200, Source 210/220, are cases that won't really go old, have what you need and enjoy good temps.

 

Perfectly fine to be rebuilding the old prebuilt, it's a step forward. If you consider the used CPU, you can keep on the same platform and even save yourself from a OS reinstall; it's not that much money and it won't hold back your future card. And if next year you find yourself with a chunk of change, you can move to a new platform.

[Austin4606]

I know, buying used sometimes it's a hassle, but if you have the patience to do it you can get amazing stuff, GPUs, Headphones, CPUs and even motherboards/ram/coolers can be obtained for very good prices, those parts don't really change with age, and if they do (old fan) they can be fixxed easily. Right now you see people on websites like /r/hardwareswap selling R9 280Xs for $120 on really good conditions, I mean they are almost like new. The things we always buy new are fans, SSDs, PSUs, hard drives, cases, monitors, things that show age quickly. Payment, shipping and contact suck a lot sometimes, but most of the times it's worth it.

 

I did the same for my PSU, I went slightly overkill (650W unit), a good PSU will last a decade, and what do I know if tomorrow AMD comes with the R9 399XOmega, a GPU that sucks 400W alone. Also it's nice to have headroom so the fan is quiet and the PSU efficient; it's usually just a $10-15 difference between a bigger PSU and one that just fits.

 

I'm not going to go that much into cases, because it's a personal decision, form factor, aesthetics, etc. But something like a Arc Mini, s340, N200, Source 210/220, are cases that won't really go old, have what you need and enjoy good temps.

 

Perfectly fine to be rebuilding the old prebuilt, it's a step forward. If you consider the used CPU, you can keep on the same platform and even save yourself from a OS reinstall; it's not that much money and it won't hold back your future card. And if next year you find yourself with a chunk of change, you can move to a new platform.

 

What CPU do you recommend? I'm seeing lots of things on Ebay. I'd have to ditch getting 4GB of RAM and sticking with 4 instead of 8 to get a decent CPU.