Cheapest Processor To Pair With GTX 980 Ti? WIthout Bottleneck

Kybz

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Jul 11, 2014
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Basically, I want a GTX 980 Ti, but obviously it's really expensive, so I need to get a cheaper CPU to compensate for the high price of the GTX 980 Ti, but obviously without bottlenecking. It can be either an AMD or Intel CPU, I don't care which as long as it's cheap, and would work with a GTX 980 Ti. However, I would prefer an AMD CPU as I won't need to change my motherboard (my current one only supports AMD CPU's). Just the cheapest processor that won't bottleneck the GTX 980 Ti.

You guys have any ideas?

Thank you :)
 
Solution
Hi Kybz. A bottleneck occurs when one component is weaker than the other(in this case CPU and GPU). If either is weaker, it will hold back the performance of the other. Resolution also plays a very important role in determining this. At lower resolutions the CPU is used much more as the GPU will need CPU power to push it to it's maximum usage. At higher resolutions, the GPU will be stressed in games enough to run at it's maximum usage. A bottleneck is when one holds back the other. So I don't think an FX 8 core will bottleneck the GTX 980. The FX 8 core CPU maybe a weaker CPU in comparison to other Intel offerings. So if you buy an Intel CPU that Intel CPU may give you better performance in games because it is better than the FX 8 core...


No, even if you oc'd an 8350 to 5ghz or got a 9590 it would still bottleneck in some cpu bound games, GTA V would be a good example of this.
 
Hi Kybz. A bottleneck occurs when one component is weaker than the other(in this case CPU and GPU). If either is weaker, it will hold back the performance of the other. Resolution also plays a very important role in determining this. At lower resolutions the CPU is used much more as the GPU will need CPU power to push it to it's maximum usage. At higher resolutions, the GPU will be stressed in games enough to run at it's maximum usage. A bottleneck is when one holds back the other. So I don't think an FX 8 core will bottleneck the GTX 980. The FX 8 core CPU maybe a weaker CPU in comparison to other Intel offerings. So if you buy an Intel CPU that Intel CPU may give you better performance in games because it is better than the FX 8 core but not because the FX 8 core is holding back the performance of the GPU. With a GPU like the GTX 980, I'm sure you're looking towards gaming at a resolution of 2K. If so grab the cheapest FX 8 you can get and you can overclock it to get a bump in Single-threaded performance.
 
Solution
an FX-8350 even at 4.4GHz will bottleneck a 980 in some games. A 980Ti would be worse. It's unfortunate but the 8 cores 4 FPUs thing just doesn't compete with the Intel 4 cores in gaming. You can blame the software if you want but it's reality nonetheless.

I would probably go at least 4590 if it were me, the extra few bucks to go the best i5 is worth it since it's not much more $$ than the lowest i5. It seems to me like you are over buying GPU here though. GPUs are likely to last for a shorter time than CPUs, especially with more 4K coming. Unless you are running 4K or 1440p at 144Hz I'd stick with something lower unless you actually plan to build that 4K machine including a 6 core X99 based Intel machine.

Even AMD used Intel processors to demo their Fury X because their own CPUs can't keep up.
 
A fx 8350 can't be oc'ed so much that it matches an I5 4460 (~7ghz) in single thread performance, which is crucial in games. Even if it could, you'd be looking at liquid nitrogen cooling, a $300 motherboard and a 850w+ psu at the very least, which would drive the price insanely high. Not to mention ln2 cooling is absolutely unsuited for a normal pc.

 


980 ti will work with a 2500K

Update: going by Cheapest Processor
 


Who uses an i7 at 7Ghz ? 😉
 


Yup, for now AMD simply does not compete for gaming CPUs above the mid level. Hopefully Zen rectifies that but for now it's Intel all the way if you want to drive high end GPUs.
 


Haha, I mean the fx 8350 would need to run around 7ghz to match an i5 4460 in that regard.
 
An 8350 will work fine.
Not even much difference between an 8370 and a 5960X
www.technologyx.com/featured/amd-vs-intel-our-8-core-cpu-gaming-performance-showdown/
 
http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/2182-fallout-4-cpu-benchmark-huge-performance-difference