Does Xeon E3-1231/41-V3 overkill for GTX 960?

[Maxime506]

Due to the budget constraint at the beginning I only put up a system like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($86.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($75.00 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.98 @ DirectCanada)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 361 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.05 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($34.00 @ NCIX)
Total: $291.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-12 09:37 EDT-0400


So it's literally a LGA1150 based system, with the Pentium to keep it running without breaking my bank. I can only OC it to 4.2Ghz stable since I am not the lucky one who could push it to 4.5. I added EVGA GTX 960 4GB Superclocked last month.

I have been through some games that doesn't really "need" quad-core CPU like BF4/BFH (Max settings w/ some dipping every a couple minutes), MGS V (Ultra), Fallout 3/NV (Old games but I enhanced a lot of AA settings in NVidia Control Panel), COD:AW, GTA IV and so on. But GTA V and new titles like Mad Max and GTA V are stuttering a lot and CPU are like 100 usage most of the time.

My upgrade would be targeting the upcoming Fallout 4. The minimum requirement for this thrilling game is an i5 sandy bridge which is still tough requirement (Fore physical cores for sure). I am still deciding between upgrading my Pentium to i5-4590 or Xeon E3-1231/41-v3, which is an i7-4770 without integrated HD 4600.

Since I am living in Canada the Xeon chips are like $100 more expensive than the i5, I only have a H81 mobo so i5/i7-K series are out of my game. The thing is: Is that worthwhile to spend a hundred more for four extra threads? How future proof the Xeon chip is over the i5? And plus, is that overkill for GTX 960 (as it's a half GTX 980)

 

[guanyu210379]

It depends on what you need, for a pure gaming rig, you do not need those processors with HT or 8 threads, i5 is sufficient.
GTA V, etc. can gain advantage over more threads but not by far.
How future proof? Nobody knows

BTW,
I am using E3-1231V3 but I need my gaming rig for rendering and editing too.
For me, having the extra threads is necessary.

 

[WildCard999]

I would just go for the i5-4590 or if you need to save more then the 4460. None of the CPU's you've listed are overkill for the GTX 960.

 

[Maxime506]

I would say it's for pure gaming. 4460 would save me $20 but I've heard that haswell refresh has slightly better IPC than the original.

When I mention future proof, I am talking about DX12 which may takes advantage on more CPU threads. So for the 2016 if any major title have DX12 support I think Xeon chips will be benefit from this than i5s. It could be easier if Xeon is $50-60 more expensive but that is what I am facing.

Thank you @ guanyu and @WildCard for fast response! I am open to suggestions.

 

[WildCard999]

Well if you can fit the Xeon 1231 into your budget then I say go for it or get a i5-4590 with a H97 MB. Another thing I noticed is that the MB you picked only has 2 memory slots so you may want to change you RAM to 8gb sticks, even if you only use one for now so that you can eventually upgrade to 16gb.

 

[Maxime506]

I have checked mono from Asus website and it's compatible with both the i5 and Xeon.

I have all the hardware in hands (except the i5 or Xeon depends on my choice) already and my rig has been running for more than a month. I know 8gb ram may be a problem but not in recent future.

Why would you suggest me to change my mono to H97? It seems like chipsets doesn't make much a difference in performance, but only the number of USB 3.0 ports or SATA ports

 

[WildCard999]

There's a few small differences between them, but probably nothing worth noting that would affect you. Never mind on the H97 MB.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1150

 

[Supernova1138]

I have checked mono from Asus website and it's compatible with both the i5 and Xeon.

I have all the hardware in hands (except the i5 or Xeon depends on my choice) already and my rig has been running for more than a month. I know 8gb ram may be a problem but not in recent future.

Why would you suggest me to change my mono to H97? It seems like chipsets doesn't make much a difference in performance, but only the number of USB 3.0 ports or SATA ports

H97 is usually recommended if you want to save some money because motherboards that have it are cheaper. The two big things you lose going with H97 is overclocking support, which won't matter with locked CPU, and SLI and Crossfire support, which might not be a big loss if you have no intention of running multiple graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire.

 

[WildCard999]

The H97 doesn't have SLI support but there are quite a few MB that support CF.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/#s=24&f=2&c=100&l=1000

 

[Supernova1138]

The H97 doesn't have SLI support but there are quite a few MB that support CF.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/#s=24&f=2&c=100&l=1000

They only support Crossfire due to it allowing you to run the cards in x16 x4 mode, which is far from ideal, the second card would likely get bottlenecked so badly by the chipset PCI-E lanes it has to use that you might as well not even bother. Running multiple cards properly requires a PCI-E lane splitter on the motherboard to allow two cards to use the CPU PCI-E lanes, which you won't find on H97.