CPU Bottleneck?

[bobhays]

Hi everyone, I have an i3-540 in one of my desktops which I use for basic school things. I have recently gotten into pc gaming (moving from ps3) and decided I need to get a video card to enjoy the games. I'm planning on getting a radeon 7850 for about 125, but im not sure if the i3 would bottleneck it since it's a couple generations old.

[Sarcasm]

You're fine outside Battlefield and ARMA games. I recommend overclocking the thing though.

 

inb4 @TheSLSAMG talks crap about it

[AlwaysFSX]

It wouldn't bottleneck it too much

[Razarza]

As long as you are playing GPU intensive games you should fine.

[WoodenMarker]

The 7850 is a great choice. It will not bottleneck.

[orangecat]

You're fine outside Battlefield and ARMA games. I recommend overclocking the thing though.

 

inb4 @TheSLSAMG talks crap about it

I don't think you can overclock i3's.

[orangecat]

it shouldn't be a bottleneck unless the game is very unoptimized on the CPU side or is very CPU demanding. I would go with an i5 to be safe and make the system last longer.

[Sarcasm]

I don't think you can overclock i3's.

 

Yeah yeah, five warning points. Come at me.

[bobhays]

You're fine outside Battlefield and ARMA games. I recommend overclocking the thing though.

 

inb4 @TheSLSAMG talks crap about it

 

 

The 7850 is a great choice. It will not bottleneck.

How would you overclock the i3? are the older gen i3's unlocked?

 

and I was wondering if the i3 would bottleneck the 7850.

 

 

Also with current benchmarks out I can see that the cpu can be a big bottleneck on high end systems but I was wondering if it would bottleneck a 7850 which is a budget card. (in bf4). I would really like to play at 1080p with med-high details but I am fine with 30-45 fps. I'd rather have image quality than more frames.

[bobhays]

it shouldn't be a bottleneck unless the game is very unoptimized on the CPU side or is very CPU demanding. I would go with an i5 to be safe and make the system last longer.

Would it really be worth building a whole new rig just to get an i5 in there? I can do it but would prefer to just add a video card (and maybe a new psu, I forgot which one i have in there)

[Sarcasm]

How would you overclock the i3? are the older gen i3's unlocked?

 

and I was wondering if the i3 would bottleneck the 7850.

 

 

Also with current benchmarks out I can see that the cpu can be a big bottleneck on high end systems but I was wondering if it would bottleneck a 7850 which is a budget card. (in bf4). I would really like to play at 1080p with med-high details but I am fine with 30-45 fps. I'd rather have image quality than more frames.

See the picture I linked.

[Analog]

I don't think you can overclock i3's.

 

Yes, ususally you can't overclock i3's, however you can overclock this one much like the i73820, using the FSB. 

 

You can try to oc that processor even more. Put the multiplier at 23 and the FSB at 177. It usually takes around 1.3V, however that my differ depending on your processor. Nevertheless, it's fairly to achieve 4GHz on these processors if you have a decent cooler. This will eliminate any kinds of bottlenecks, which might arise from adding a HD7850/70.    

[Sarcasm]

Yes, ususally you can't overclock i3's, however you can overclock this one much like the i73820, using the FSB.    

No, Clarkdale i3s have unlocked multipliers.

[Analog]

No, Clarkdale i3s have unlocked multipliers.

 

Yeah, I meant that you can also use he FSB to do the overclocking and at least in my observations it is more stable compared to only multiplier overclock (just like the i7 3820).

[orangecat]

540.JPG

 

Yeah yeah, five warning points. Come at me.

You can change base clock but you can't change CPU multiplier. Baseclock overclocking is just dumb.

[orangecat]

Would it really be worth building a whole new rig just to get an i5 in there? I can do it but would prefer to just add a video card (and maybe a new psu, I forgot which one i have in there)

You don't need an i5 but I would recommend it.

[Sarcasm]

You can change base clock but you can't change CPU multiplier. Baseclock overclocking is just dumb.

No, I changed the multiplier. 23 is as high as my board goes. My BCLK is actually down, because I engaged XMPs.