Will an i3 Bottleneck a GTX 660
- Thread starter RFM-PC
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AverageNinja
Average Penis Too
I wouldn't say so. An i3 will run an HD7870 Tahiti LE without bottlenecking, so a GTX 660 should run fine as well.
Cheers!
Cheers!
alpenwasser
New member
My Google-Fu says that the internet's opinion on this is divided, with a tendency towards "it might a little bit, but if at all, then not dramatically". Those who have the CPU and are running discrete GPU's on it seem to be quite happy, whereas those giving advice to someone who is intending to buy the CPU and/or upgrade with a discrete GPU usually advise against it or warn of bottlenecks.
The only benchmark I've found where a 3220 ran gaming benchmarks with a discrete GPU is this one on Bit-Tech with a 680 (decent FPS for Crysis 2), everywhere else I've looked they benched the internal GPU of the i3.
Personally, I'd say any possible bottlenecks (if present at all) would certainly not be dramatic, unless maybe you're running a game that's very taxing for the CPU.
The only benchmark I've found where a 3220 ran gaming benchmarks with a discrete GPU is this one on Bit-Tech with a 680 (decent FPS for Crysis 2), everywhere else I've looked they benched the internal GPU of the i3.
Personally, I'd say any possible bottlenecks (if present at all) would certainly not be dramatic, unless maybe you're running a game that's very taxing for the CPU.
iBeInspire
New member
Battlefield 3 64 man servers @ultra, maybe a little bottlenecking.
Anywhere else, you'll be golden
Anywhere else, you'll be golden
Master&Puppet
New member
There's no clear cut answer really. On the one hand the i3 has great IPC so in games which are reliant on fewer, more powerful cores, then it will be fine. On games which make use of multiple cores it may bottleneck depending on graphics power and settings.
Depends on the game!
Depends on the game!
alpenwasser
New member
Agreed. That would also explain my Google results :lol:
@ OP: Future games will probably start making better use of more cores, so regardless of how well it does or does not work right now, an i3 is probably not the most future-proof setup regarding gaming. Just as a side note.
alienware
Banned
Good match IMO.
You'd probably get better GPU scores with a overclocked CPU but nothing that will make or break running suitable games.
I read a review recently that was quite excellent. It put the GTX 660 with the aging Q6600. Yes the Q6600 held it back but it still provided perfectly acceptable minimums in BF3.
Sadly I can't seem to find it and Google isn't being very helpful today.
You'd probably get better GPU scores with a overclocked CPU but nothing that will make or break running suitable games.
I read a review recently that was quite excellent. It put the GTX 660 with the aging Q6600. Yes the Q6600 held it back but it still provided perfectly acceptable minimums in BF3.
Sadly I can't seem to find it and Google isn't being very helpful today.
alpenwasser
New member
alienware
Banned
Oh good lad ! that's it yes, very interesting article that !
alpenwasser
New member
Haha, interestingly, I found it via this French site! Funny thing, the internet. And yes, interesting article indeed. Nice to have some hard data instead of wild speculation.
alienware
Banned
Also quite enlightening to see that a quad core CPU bodes far better than the equivalent dual core.
Amazing CPU the Q6600.
alpenwasser
New member
Indeed. The scaling is quite massive in some cases
It really does seem to have been. So sad I missed that era (and the one before it, and the one after it :sad: )
Ah well, I'm here now.
alpenwasser
New member
Considering that a Q6600 can still keep up quite well (even though it does bottleneck the GPU to some extent), I'd estimate that any bottlenecking (if present) from that Phenom would not be severe. You should still see a good improvement in your framerates.
Master&Puppet
New member
If I were you I'd get an i5 3570 off eBay secondhand. Getting the none K edition means that it should be in great condition as it won't have been overclocked and being ivy bridge it would be less than a year old. Can be found for a little over £100 which is near your budget.
alienware
Banned
I highly doubt it.
leathart123
New member
you should be fine unless you go single core or really old dual core
