i3-2120 is still good?

[Wind]

so, i have an i3-2120. what do you guys thought, just buy a new GPU ( i don't know what max GPU i can get without bottlenecking) or just get a new system altoghether. i know building a new system is pretty expensive, so i really confuse now.

[WoodenMarker]

The 2120 is still a capable cpu for most things. 

It would help to mention what your system is being used for and the rest of your specs.

[Aniallation]

so, i have an i3-2120. what do you guys thought, just buy a new GPU ( i don't know what max GPU i can get without bottlenecking) or just get a new system altoghether. i know building a new system is pretty expensive, so i really confuse now.

What is the system for, and what is your budget for upgrading?

[Wind]

The 2120 is still a capable cpu for most things.

It would help to mention what your system is being used for and the rest of your specs.

ah sorry about that.

Ram: 4GB

GPU: Ati Radeon 4650

Windows 7 32-bit

the main purpose for the system just purely gaming. not 1080p but just 768p. the reason i want to upgrade if i just upgrade the GPU, i'm afraid the CPU is bottlenecking the GPU.

[Wind]

What is the system for, and what is your budget for upgrading?

around the price of an 280. if just the gpu. the purpose is gaming on 768p.

[WoodenMarker]

around the price of an 280. if just the gpu. the purpose is gaming on 768p.

It shouldn't have any issues with a 280. Bottlenecking depends on the game and isn't inherent to the cpu. 

[Wind]

It shouldn't have any issues with a 280. Bottlenecking depends on the game and isn't inherent to the cpu.

i see. my current GPU not capable doing triple AAA games now. even on CS:GO we must bump down the res to compensate with the framerate. so what you're saying my CPU is good for future games right?

[tsm]

around the price of an 280. if just the gpu. the purpose is gaming on 768p.

I'm sure that a i3-2120 will not bottleneck the r9 280 because the g3258 doesn't(well at least in my experience). I'm pretty sure the R9 280 is max, and then the R9 280x it will start to bottleneck a little. so yeah get the r9 280/hd 7950 (same thing) or you can get the r9 270x which is almost as good but has 2gb vram instead of 3gb

 

 

 

[Aniallation]

around the price of an 280. if just the gpu. the purpose is gaming on 768p.

It should be able to handle that perfectly fine. 

 

 

i see. my current GPU not capable doing triple AAA games now. even on CS:GO we must bump down the res to compensate with the framerate. so what you're saying my CPU is good for future games right?

It's not bad but in the future you might start to see bottlenecks.

 

It's up to how long it'd take you to save up for something like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i5-2400-3-1Ghz-Quad-Core-CPU-LGA1155-/231561216347?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35ea1fc15b

[WoodenMarker]

i see. my current GPU not capable doing triple AAA games now. even on CS:GO we must bump down the res to compensate with the framerate. so what you're saying my CPU is good for future games right?

We won't know what future games would need until the time comes.

[Wind]

It's not bad but in the future you might start to see bottlenecks.

It's up to how long it'd take you to save up for something like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i5-2400-3-1Ghz-Quad-Core-CPU-LGA1155-/231561216347?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35ea1fc15b

i think Sandy Bridge is not available now in the store. i'm prohibited buying online.

[Wind]

We won't know what future games would need until the time comes.

i get that, but for the meantime is it still a nice CPU overall?

[TheSLSAMG]

i think Sandy Bridge is not available now in the store. i'm prohibited buying online.

If you're in the US, Micro Center may still have some kicking around. Turns out you're in Indonesia. Why not online though?

[Wind]

I'm sure that a i3-2120 will not bottleneck the r9 280 because the g3258 doesn't(well at least in my experience). I'm pretty sure the R9 280 is max, and then the R9 280x it will start to bottleneck a little. so yeah get the r9 280/hd 7950 (same thing) or you can get the r9 270x which is almost as good but has 2gb vram instead of 3gb

i'm allowed to buy within the price of an 280. probably i go with 270x/7950, i don't know.

[Wind]

If you're in the US, Micro Center may still have some kicking around. Why not online though?

i'm in Asia, Indonesia in particular. cause i'm still 13 and my parent prohibited me from using credit card.

[SteveGrabowski]

i'm allowed to buy within the price of an 280. probably i go with 270x/7950, i don't know.

 

You should buy an Nvidia GPU with an i3. The AMD DirectX11 driver crashes and burns with an i3 or lower when there is a lot of stuff on the screen. An R9 280 is overkill anyways for 768p. I'd go for a GTX 750 Ti, or perhaps a GTX 660.

[Wind]

You should buy an Nvidia GPU with an i3. The AMD DirectX11 driver crashes and burns with an i3 or lower when there is a lot of stuff on the screen. An R9 280 is overkill anyways for 768p. I'd go for a GTX 750 Ti, or perhaps a GTX 660.

i take that into consideration.

[WoodenMarker]

i get that, but for the meantime is it still a nice CPU overall?

Refer to my first post in the thread ↑

You should buy an Nvidia GPU with an i3. The AMD DirectX11 driver crashes and burns with an i3 or lower when there is a lot of stuff on the screen. An R9 280 is overkill anyways for 768p. I'd go for a GTX 750 Ti, or perhaps a GTX 660.

Source? 

Brands shouldn't matter.

[Wind]

Refer to my first post in the thread ↑

forget about that sorry. my question now solved ,thank you.

[SteveGrabowski]

Refer to my first post in the thread ↑

Source? 

Brands shouldn't matter.

 

Eurogamer's review of the GTX 960 shows AMD cards performing really badly when paired with i3s.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-review

[RazerZ]

 An R9 280 is overkill anyways for 768p. I'd go for a GTX 750 Ti, or perhaps a GTX 660.

Can't speak for the driver crash, but this part of your statement is not true. Don't expect to max out games with a R9 280 at 768p.

[Wind]

Can't speak for the driver crash, but this part of your statement is not true. Don't expect to max out games with a R9 280 at 768p.

what makes you say that? not saying i don't believe it, but really? a 280 don't maxed out 768p?

[WoodenMarker]

Eurogamer's review of the GTX 960 shows AMD cards performing really badly when paired with i3s.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-review

That's an interesting read. Are there any similar tests you can link?

Can't speak for the driver crash, but this part of your statement is not true. Don't expect to max out games with a R9 280 at 768p.

Where'd you get that idea? The 280 handles most games at ultra just fine at 1080p. 

[SteveGrabowski]

That's an interesting read. Are there any similar tests you can link?

 

Eurogamer is the only site I have seen test this; everyone else just tests video cards in combination with i7s. GameGPU occasionally does CPU benchmarks with Radeon cards, but most recent games they do them with GTX 980, GTX 980 SLI, Titan X, etc. GameGPU's i3 benchmark looks pretty reasonable for COD AW.

 

This is very surprising though, since the COD AW performance article Eurogamer did was where they first discovered problems with the i3 and R9 280 combination.

 

It's pretty disturbing here seeing the i3-4130 + R9 280 combination lagging significantly behind the i3-4130 + GTX 750 Ti combo for the entire city driving section of the GTA V benchmark.

[GangstaRas]

That's an interesting read. Are there any similar tests you can link?

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/amd-high-overhead-drivers-on-dx11.209726/

His english is pretty amateur level but he was showing AMD's problem well with DX11. This however wasn't an i3, it was a Phenom x4 945 which is pretty much i3 level if not better than the Sandy Bridge variant the OP has. His 7850 is showing that he is getting CPU bottlenecks in some portions of the different games he tested but he uses a 770 which is a much stronger card yes but the CPU shouldn't be able to use the extra power either way; we should be seeing the same bottleneck performance shown on the 7850 +- 1 or 2 fps but that wasn't the case. Running Mantle where applicable completely fixed the issue but not all games are mantle unfortunately.