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does my i5 3470 bottleneck my R9 290X

You should post your whole build first, then we could see if there's any obvious issue. I would suggest that you play the game and follow the temperatures, and listen for any obvious noise if any fans go spinning crazy to try cool something down.
 


+1 for this.

If it starts out high and then drops it sounds like CPU and GPU heat saturation inside your case. You may need to improve air circulation with higher RPM side and top vent fans.