Gaming with fx 4100?

[darian2hunter]

I have an fx 4100 and 4gb RAM...In a few days i am getting a psu and the gtx 970, all i'm asking is will i still be able to play games untill i upgrade my cpu and RAM or is it almost impossible with that cpu and ram? I'm looking to play Goat sim, dead island, gta 5, dota, Call of duty....Even if its 1080p medium?

Also i am not looking for people to tell me "You should buy a graphics card and more ram" or anything like that!

Thanks!

 

[dark_strike]

If you want the straight poop and nothing else. Medium settings at 1080p is the best you are going to get out of your rig with that ram, CPU and GPU. You may have to adjust some settings on different games like between call of duty and grand theft auto V.
Hope I was able to help.

 

[Calculatron]

The component that is probably limiting you most is the 4gb of RAM.

You should be able to play games fairly decently, even at 1080p, but just expect to deal with a lot of dropped frames/dipped frames during intense scenes. Beyond that, you should be fine.

 

[Tchota]

dont worry you will, but as dark_strike said, you will have to play at medium/normal settings

 

[LookItsRain]

If you upgrade to 8gb of ram and overclock that fx you will run games at 1080p max settings no problem. Games are not as cpu bound as people think.

 

[Calculatron]

^
+1

 

[Tchota]

If you upgrade to 8gb of ram and overclock that fx you will run games at 1080p max settings no problem. Games are not as cpu bound as people think.

most games are not CPU bound, but the only game I know that CPU is irrelevant is Tomb Raider (this one is not far either http://www.techspot.com/review/979-battlefield-hardline-benchmarks/page5.html).

Some games where you can see differences between CPU performance:

http://www.techspot.com/review/1000-project-cars-benchmarks/page5.html
http://www.techspot.com/review/921-dragon-age-inquisition-benchmarks/page6.html
http://www.techspot.com/review/917-far-cry-4-benchmarks/page5.html

If you already have a good cpu cooler you can (and probably should) overclock, if not, save your money to buy a better CPU that will allow you to get the most of your new GPU no matter what the game is. An i5, E3, i7, or even skylake (when intel decide to release it) would be good options, but when you are ready to upgrade your CPU you can come back and we will try to help you find the best one for you.

 

[LookItsRain]

If you upgrade to 8gb of ram and overclock that fx you will run games at 1080p max settings no problem. Games are not as cpu bound as people think.

most games are not CPU bound, but the only game I know that CPU is irrelevant is Tomb Raider (this one is not far either http://www.techspot.com/review/979-battlefield-hardline-benchmarks/page5.html).

Some games where you can see differences between CPU performance:

http://www.techspot.com/review/1000-project-cars-benchmarks/page5.html
http://www.techspot.com/review/921-dragon-age-inquisition-benchmarks/page6.html
http://www.techspot.com/review/917-far-cry-4-benchmarks/page5.html

If you already have a good cpu cooler you can (and probably should) overclock, if not, save your money to buy a better CPU that will allow you to get the most of your new GPU no matter what the game is. An i5, E3, i7, or even skylake (when intel decide to release it) would be good options, but when you are ready to upgrade your CPU you can come back and we will try to help you find the best one for you.

These reviews are pretty much above 60 fps so it really does not matter, other than project cars, which is optimized by a 3 year old for amd.

 

[Tchota]

no one told him to buy a new CPU, but he will not max out setting just by overclocking, performance will change from game to game:

http://www.techspot.com/review/970-homeworld-remastered-benchmarks/page4.html (FX-9590 with 53 fps)

 

[LookItsRain]

no one told him to buy a new CPU, but he will not max out setting just by overclocking, performance will change from game to game:

http://www.techspot.com/review/970-homeworld-remastered-benchmarks/page4.html (FX-9590 with 53 fps)

Drop the aa to 2x and bingo, 60 fps, you dont need 4x aa on 1080p.

 

[st3v30]

What PSU are you buying to power your rig??

 

[darian2hunter]

This one....http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-P1-850S-NLB9-Series-Supply-Edition/dp/B00LB1B4VQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428004572&sr=8-1&keywords=XFX+Core+Edition+PRO850W+%28P1-850S-NLB9%29

 

[st3v30]

Nice choice.
Fx 4100 will hold back GTX 970 a lot so start saving for Intel 5th gen later this year and more RAM.
But still you will have nice FPS in most games.
What is your current GPU?

 

[darian2hunter]

My current GPU is a geforce 8400gs...The reason i am getting that overkill PSU is because i want to eventually SLI the 970 with another one....Also If you don't mind could you tell me your opinion on this idea, I currently have a 32bit OS but after i get my GPU and PSU (In a few days) i will get 8gb RAM 2000mhz Even though 4gb will only be usable but i will have a little money to spare after my birthday anyway. Then get a SSD and 2tb HDD With a brand new 64bit OS....Then i will instantly have 8gb RAM...then for christmas (Obviously i save up and put allot of money to this) i will get an i5 4690k, New SLI motherboard, and 16 gb RAM....So at christmas i will have SSD, 24gb RAM, GTX 970, New SLI MOBO (for sli in the future), I5 4690k?? Just to see if everything will work out okay? Sorry if it's hard to understand haha, Thanks!

 

[madmatt30]

Some wildly conflicting info on here
The guys who said you'll only be able to play at medium settings are completely wrong.

The essence of a CPU bottleneck/limitation means that you'll get pretty much the same fps at 720p medium as you will at 1080p ultra.
The CPU will set the limit on your min/max fps not the 970.

This means you may as well max all graphics settings - at least your games will look pretty 😉

Your plans look good - although 8gb 1600/1866 cas 9 is plenty & you won't need to sli a 970 unless you're going 1440p or 144htz on the screen.

 

[darian2hunter]

I'm going for a 1440p 144hz....

 

[madmatt30]

Then sli it will be😉

 

[darian2hunter]

Sure thing haha, Thanks for all your help guys cant wait!

 

[st3v30]

Ok,so right now you have 4gb RAM 1 stick and you plan to buy 8 gb more.
Keep that 4 gb stick in pc and other 8gb keep in box until you get 64 bit windows or what is even better wait for free windows 10 upgrade and then install 64 bit version so you dont have to pay for new windows and you will save more money.

 

[darian2hunter]

Thanks but i told i wouldnt be able to because i have OEM apparently?

 

[Tchota]

The guys who said you'll only be able to play at medium settings are completely wrong.

The essence of a CPU bottleneck/limitation means that you'll get pretty much the same fps at 720p medium as you will at 1080p ultra.
The CPU will set the limit on your min/max fps not the 970.

This means you may as well max all graphics settings - at least your games will look pretty 😉

The essence of bottlenecking?

You are the only one talking about resolution here. There are many other graphic values to be set, that will affect CPU performance, http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/1911-gta-v-cpu-benchmark-4790k-3570k-9590-more

Even the AMD 760k manage to go from 31 to 53 FPS, with a simple change on graphic settings (without any change on GPU or on the resolution)

Its a combination between the settings, the GPU and the CPU that will determine the value of the FPS you will have. Not only the CPU.

The only thing that might not affect significantly the gaming performance is the change from 720p ultra to 1080p ultra or a change from 720p medium to 1080p medium. But from 720p medium to 1080p ultra you will most likely see a big performance difference in terms of FPS.

 

[st3v30]

Thanks but i told i wouldnt be able to because i have OEM apparently?

For now it is 50/50 this is what i found for you

Option C: Free upgrades to all consumers, and possibly free licenses to all consumer PC OEMs, too, while continuing to charge for enterprise-grade licenses, would be the most radical move.