G3258 w/ 980 vs i7 4790K w/ 960

[van Rhyn]

I know that video games are mostly to highly reliant on graphics cards though also that a cpu can bottleneck performance. I want to know what happens if you overclock a Pentium G3258 as high as you can using mid tier parts and throw in an MSI GTX 980, compared to having an overclocked (just for the sake of it) i5 4690K paired with an MSI GTX 970 or 960.

Can the Pentium provide enough power to the 980 to offer enough fps to perform on par, outperform or closely tail an i5 4690K with it's 960/970, in which the gpu is likely going to be the bottleneck and not max out the i5. Can this provide a set up in which to buy a high end gpu and upgrade to a higher end Intel in the future which will free up the 980's complete potential.

I would love to see an article on this, I know that there are already articles out there on the G3258 and I have read them, however from the ones I have seen, this particular type of set up hasn't been tested. I understand that generally you need to have certain baselines to achieve fair results such as different gpus tested on the same cpu. One said that with the GTX Titan on some games the G3258 was near comparable to an i5 4690K, though on most around 10-15% behind. However what I'm asking for is the chance to see a low end cpu paired with a high end gpu, and a mid tier gpu paired with a high end cpu to see how much performance option 1 can provide over option 2, tested by the pros of course.

I see places like Best Buy who try to sell an i7 5820K alongside an r9 270 and they call it a gaming computer... They'll ask $1,820 for it, which actually isn't an outrageous price for them considering the other hardware, plus that's Canadian dollars. However what can you really do with that set up concerning gaming. There is a massive bottleneck there, I don't think the potential power that cpu has will be fully harnessed in a game for quite a few years, like a 4790K overclocked would barely break a sweat in new titles providing an adequate gpu.

When it comes down to it, can a G3258 handle enough of a GTX 980 to make it viable to buy that combo and then upgrade to an i5/i7 at a later time? It seems as though high end cpus get pushed to you more than high end gpus by many mainstream dealers when it comes to a gaming pc, at least in Canada I find this the case.
Even a fairly savvy outfit like NCIX seems to do this, in fact the G3258 you cannot even find on their website without searching specifically for it... I think they have a pretty good idea about what it could mean for their sales of other cpus.

Also this is a side question; wouldn't it be a good idea to go ahead and buy DDR3 2133 ram regardless of the G3258? If the mobo supports that speed shouldn't the ram just get automatically down-clocked to fit the 1333 max of the G3258? And then if you upgrade to an i5/i7 you would instantly enjoy the benefits of that ram in it's true form without having to go buy new sticks. Which in Canada is also very, very pricey at the moment.

 

[Archgaull]

I'm fairly certain that the pentium would bottleneck the GTX 980, and I'm confused as to why you would push so hard in that direction. Also, if you can afford a GTX 980 and 2133 MHz ram, I'm fairly certain that it wouldn't take long to save up the extra cash necessary to get a i5-4460 or something along those lines, instead of putting that little effort into the CPU department.

 

[Brillis Wuce]

An i3 see's a little performance reduction with high end GPU's, and the Pentium G3258 can "catch up" to an i3 after it's overclocked. I wouldn't recommend that combo.

If you're trying to decide whether buying it as a temporary setup is worth it, I can tell you that you'll still get good performance from your 980, just not the FULL performance. It'll vary from game to game.

As far as the RAM, I see no problem with that, but gaming performance from 1600MHz to 2133MHz RAM is exactly the same. Go for some 1600MHz RAM with a CAS latency of 9.

 

[maxalge]

I know that video games are mostly to highly reliant on graphics cards though also that a cpu can bottleneck performance. I want to know what happens if you overclock a Pentium G3258 as high as you can using mid tier parts and throw in an MSI GTX 980, compared to having an overclocked (just for the sake of it) i5 4690K paired with an MSI GTX 970 or 960.

Can the Pentium provide enough power to the 980 to offer enough fps to perform on par, outperform or closely tail an i5 4690K with it's 960/970, in which the gpu is likely going to be the bottleneck and not max out the i5. Can this provide a set up in which to buy a high end gpu and upgrade to a higher end Intel in the future which will free up the 980's complete potential.

I would love to see an article on this, I know that there are already articles out there on the G3258 and I have read them, however from the ones I have seen, this particular type of set up hasn't been tested. I understand that generally you need to have certain baselines to achieve fair results such as different gpus tested on the same cpu. One said that with the GTX Titan on some games the G3258 was near comparable to an i5 4690K, though on most around 10-15% behind. However what I'm asking for is the chance to see a low end cpu paired with a high end gpu, and a mid tier gpu paired with a high end cpu to see how much performance option 1 can provide over option 2, tested by the pros of course.

I see places like Best Buy who try to sell an i7 5820K alongside an r9 270 and they call it a gaming computer... They'll ask $1,820 for it, which actually isn't an outrageous price for them considering the other hardware, plus that's Canadian dollars. However what can you really do with that set up concerning gaming. There is a massive bottleneck there, I don't think the potential power that cpu has will be fully harnessed in a game for quite a few years, like a 4790K overclocked would barely break a sweat in new titles providing an adequate gpu.

When it comes down to it, can a G3258 handle enough of a GTX 980 to make it viable to buy that combo and then upgrade to an i5/i7 at a later time? It seems as though high end cpus get pushed to you more than high end gpus by many mainstream dealers when it comes to a gaming pc, at least in Canada I find this the case.
Even a fairly savvy outfit like NCIX seems to do this, in fact the G3258 you cannot even find on their website without searching specifically for it... I think they have a pretty good idea about what it could mean for their sales of other cpus.

Also this is a side question; wouldn't it be a good idea to go ahead and buy DDR3 2133 ram regardless of the G3258? If the mobo supports that speed shouldn't the ram just get automatically down-clocked to fit the 1333 max of the G3258? And then if you upgrade to an i5/i7 you would instantly enjoy the benefits of that ram in it's true form without having to go buy new sticks. Which in Canada is also very, very pricey at the moment.

You would be better off getting ddr3 1600 ram, (any of the 4 core locked i5's like the i5 4690) , and a gtx 970.

 

[madmatt30]

^ agree with maxelge 100%

The i5+gtx 970 is the option in between that that will give you the best combo easily.

 

[mdocod]

Performance originates with the CPU. With the G3258, you'll experience the same great or poor (Depending on workload and expectations) results regardless of the GPU selected to pair with it. The GPU can never do the CPU's job.

Performance and visual quality are separate issues. Performance does NOT originate with the GPU. ANY modern gaming GPU can play any game at 60FPS unless otherwise bottle-necked. The difference between a $100 gaming GPU and a ~$400 gaming GPU is visual quality, not performance. The ~$100 gaming GPUs can run games at 720P at about the same FPS as ~$400 GPUs at 1440P.

Weak CPU's combined with weak GPU"s are good for low FPS goals and low visual quality goals.
Weak CPUs combined with powerful GPU's are good for low FPS goals with high visual quality goals.
Weak GPUs combined with powerful CPU's are good for high FPS goals with low visual quality goals.
Powerful CPU's combined with Powerful GPU's are good for high FPS goals with high visual quality goals.

Can the Pentium work well with a GTX980? Absolutely, as long as your performance goals are low and your visual quality goals are high.. If you have a different set of goals than this, then it will be a poor value hardware selection for your intended use.

Can the i7-4790K work well with a GTX660? Absolutely, as long as your performance goals are high and your visual quality goals are low. If you have a different set of goals than this, then it will be a poor value hardware selection for your intended use.

Pick your CPU based on your performance goals (FPS).
Pick your GPU based on your visual quality goals (resolution).
Any other approach is based on hardware mysticism. Steer clear of the witch doctor hardware mystics.

 

[Sig2525]

why not get an i5 4460 and a gtx 970

 

[Sig2525]

the g3258 on looks good on benchmark but actual gameplay - you will sir will see a lot of stuttering specially on games that use 4 cores.

 

[van Rhyn]

I'm fairly certain that the pentium would bottleneck the GTX 980, and I'm confused as to why you would push so hard in that direction. Also, if you can afford a GTX 980 and 2133 MHz ram, I'm fairly certain that it wouldn't take long to save up the extra cash necessary to get a i5-4460 or something along those lines, instead of putting that little effort into the CPU department.

Performance originates with the CPU. With the G3258, you'll experience the same great or poor (Depending on workload and expectations) results regardless of the GPU selected to pair with it. The GPU can never do the CPU's job.

Performance and visual quality are separate issues. Performance does NOT originate with the GPU. ANY modern gaming GPU can play any game at 60FPS unless otherwise bottle-necked. The difference between a $100 gaming GPU and a ~$400 gaming GPU is visual quality, not performance. The ~$100 gaming GPUs can run games at 720P at about the same FPS as ~$400 GPUs at 1440P.

Weak CPU's combined with weak GPU"s are good for low FPS goals and low visual quality goals.
Weak CPUs combined with powerful GPU's are good for low FPS goals with high visual quality goals.
Weak GPUs combined with powerful CPU's are good for high FPS goals with low visual quality goals.
Powerful CPU's combined with Powerful GPU's are good for high FPS goals with high visual quality goals.

Can the Pentium work well with a GTX980? Absolutely, as long as your performance goals are low and your visual quality goals are high.. If you have a different set of goals than this, then it will be a poor value hardware selection for your intended use.

Can the i7-4790K work well with a GTX660? Absolutely, as long as your performance goals are high and your visual quality goals are low. If you have a different set of goals than this, then it will be a poor value hardware selection for your intended use.

Pick your CPU based on your performance goals (FPS).
Pick your GPU based on your visual quality goals (resolution).
Any other approach is based on hardware mysticism. Steer clear of the witch doctor hardware mystics.

This is pretty much exactly what I was wanting to know, thank you! "Witch doctor hardware mystics" I like that. So places like Best Buy aren't exactly offering something wrong, it's just that they are offering performance not visuals. So it's really all about what you want inside your gaming experience.

 

[iHaveNoParts]

If you overclock a g3258 @4.5GHz and pair it with a GTX 970 or 980, there will be a little bit of a bottleneck depending on what game you're playing. For example, if you play low-end games like Minecraft, CS:GO, or Garry's Mod, then you will enjoy the performance in those kinds of games! But when it comes to high-end games, you will not enjoy the performance. Theres going to be many performance hiccups in Crysis 3 and in Battlefield 4. If you don't really play high-end games like me, then you will enjoy the performance. Hopefully this helps!