Question Intel Core I5-3470 has bad performance in Dota 2 and maybe in other games

[AnimexGamer]

Hello! I recently just assembled a budget gaming pc composing of these specs:

-Intel Core I5-3470 CPU (Stock Cooler)
-Kingston 1x8GB 1866MHz RAM
-Gigabyte GA-H61M-DS2 MOBO (Limits the RAM to 1333mHz)
-Palit NVIDIA GTX 1050 GPU
-Western Digital Green 2TB HDD
-SilverStone Strider Essential 500W PSU
-Unactivated Windows 10

I have recently just built this PC and have only installed the GPU Drivers and Malwarebytes and as well as Steam and my games.

Now, I am particularly a fan of Dota 2, and I'm very sad to see that in 1080p Ultra (or even just High) settings, my average FPS is only around 65-70 and drops heavily down to 50 or even as low as 45 during intensive clashes. This is a real letdown for me since I upgraded from a I3-3220 to an I5-3470 just for this game (because it is more CPU intensive, and the i3-3220 only has 2 cores).

Even worse is that I chose the i5-3470 because reviews on YouTube (specially one by TechYESCity) because lots of benchmarks on there showed Dota 2 with the same CPU having averaging 100+ fps and dipping only to 90fps during heavy clashes. TechYESCity's video also compared it to the Ryzen 3 2200G in several games, and it seemed to be on par with it and was actually usable in 2019.

Running statistics on RivaTuner, I see that my CPU is indeed using 100% (I ran a benchmark lasting 5 mins at a lategame replay in Dota, where fights become more chaotic) and is running at 55°C - 60°C at 3.3GHz

I'm not an expert or anythig, so the only thing I can say is it's maybe either because the MoBo is old and I haven't updated the BIOS or Chipset or whatever it's called, or maybe because I have an Unactivated Windows 10 (will buy soon). I don't think it's because of Malware because I've only just built this PC with nothing else but games and movies, and I have malwarebytes installed and have run it and cleared any threats.

I want to run this game on High FPS even just at 90fps so that I can use my monitor's 75Hz refresh rate (This is also recent and I have wanted to try this, but so far, has only been achieved on medium-low settings on Dota 2). Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated!

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Dota 2 is CPU intensive only on a single core. There was very little advantage to upgrading form an i3 to an i5 for Dota2. The difference is only in the clock speed as far as that game is concerned.

However, you may be getting lower performance than others. If you are seeing 100% CPU usage then something may be wrong.

Ensure your CPU is not overheating, ensure all cores are enabled, and ensure you don't have a lot of background processes taking up your CPU.

 

[Barty1884]

TYC had the 3570 paired with a much stronger GPU (RX570).... achieving an average of 95FPS with some pretty terrible 1% and .1%?

View: https://youtu.be/g4vqft9l8lc?t=545


Neither an old motherboard or unactivated Windows would do this..... Really, you need to free up as much CPU resources as possible to give to the game. Do you have a browser open? Anything else in the background?

Also, there's the dual channel vs single channel aspect. Your system would benefit a bit from 2x4GB rather than 1x8GB, but it's not going to suddenly give you 90FPS stable...

 

[AnimexGamer]

Dota 2 is CPU intensive only on a single core. There was very little advantage to upgrading form an i3 to an i5 for Dota2. The difference is only in the clock speed as far as that game is concerned.

However, you may be getting lower performance than others. If you are seeing 100% CPU usage then something may be wrong.

Ensure your CPU is not overheating, ensure all cores are enabled, and ensure you don't have a lot of background processes taking up your CPU.

My CPU Temps reach a maximum of 65°C at thr worst in Dota 2, and I usually don't have any background processes (or at least I think so, because there may be apps that start on startup). I also think all cores are enabled since on RivaTuner, it shows CPUs 1-4 having varying percentage and temps.

 

[AnimexGamer]

TYC had the 3570 paired with a much stronger GPU (RX570).... achieving an average of 95FPS with some pretty terrible 1% and .1%?

View: https://youtu.be/g4vqft9l8lc?t=545


Neither an old motherboard or unactivated Windows would do this..... Really, you need to free up as much CPU resources as possible to give to the game. Do you have a browser open? Anything else in the background?

Also, there's the dual channel vs single channel aspect. Your system would benefit a bit from 2x4GB rather than 1x8GB, but it's not going to suddenly give you 90FPS stable...

As far as I know, it is more CPU Heavy than GPU heavy because I've seen GT 1030s Ultra this game with a 6th gen i5. Also, the GPU only uses 50% - 60% at the worst while the CPU uses 95% - 100% at 65°C

I usually do not have any background processes other than Discord, so no, there aren't any background processes.

I have a 2x4GB RAM Setup I installed for my brother's PC which uses an APU (AthlonGE) and I think it would benefit more on there than on my i5. Should I try and swap the RAM?

 

[AnimexGamer]

TYC had the 3570 paired with a much stronger GPU (RX570).... achieving an average of 95FPS with some pretty terrible 1% and .1%?

View: https://youtu.be/g4vqft9l8lc?t=545


Neither an old motherboard or unactivated Windows would do this..... Really, you need to free up as much CPU resources as possible to give to the game. Do you have a browser open? Anything else in the background?

Also, there's the dual channel vs single channel aspect. Your system would benefit a bit from 2x4GB rather than 1x8GB, but it's not going to suddenly give you 90FPS stable...

View: https://youtu.be/riRI4DP4NDI


This video has a GTX 1660Ti with an i5-3470. We have the same performance reaching 100% CPU usage but only getting around 70 average fps and getting bad dips.

 

[toniplavna]

Would be nice to see that gaming companies start to optimize their games...