Isn't the i5 3570K good enough for gaming?

[gyking94]

I notice when playing Crysis 3 my GPU usage is low with my 290. But after overclocking my i5 to 4.5, my 290 is now fully being used and the game isn't choppy anymore. I thought an i5 at stock is supposed to suffice for all games since it's so praised as the best gaming CPU. Is there something I'm missing? Why am I required to overclock such a high-end CPU for playing a GPU demanding game? Was OCing implied by tech reviewers when telling you to buy the CPU (are you expected to do it)? Or is this situation just an exception?

 

[clutchc]

I'd say you have something eating CPU clock cycles. There is no other reason the i5 would struggle. Do you have a lot of stuff running at startup when you try to game? Check your tray and see how many items are running. Eliminate as many as possible.
Maybe you better run CCleaner and do the Clean and Registry portions both. And do a malware check to see if you have bloatware taking up clock cycles. Same with a virus scan after updating.

 

[gyking94]

I'd say you have something eating CPU clock cycles. There is no other reason the i5 would struggle. Do you have a lot of stuff running at startup when you try to game? Check your tray and see how many items are running. Eliminate as many as possible.
Maybe you better run CCleaner and do the Clean and Registry portions both. And do a malware check to see if you have bloatware taking up clock cycles. Same with a virus scan after updating.

I did a fresh install and reset the BIOS one time and still had the problem. I'm pretty sure everything is configured right. Nothing major runs in the background either. I really think the i5 sometimes bottleneck. In certain maps in Crysis 3, one core has 90% usage and I experience stutter.

 

[clutchc]

I'd say you have something eating CPU clock cycles. There is no other reason the i5 would struggle. Do you have a lot of stuff running at startup when you try to game? Check your tray and see how many items are running. Eliminate as many as possible.
Maybe you better run CCleaner and do the Clean and Registry portions both. And do a malware check to see if you have bloatware taking up clock cycles. Same with a virus scan after updating.

I did a fresh install and reset the BIOS one time and still had the problem. I'm pretty sure everything is configured right. Nothing major runs in the background either. I really think the i5 sometimes bottleneck. In certain maps in Crysis 3, one core has 90% usage and I experience stutter.

That sure sounds like it is a CPU issue. But unless the processor isn't running at its full potential, I can't think of any reason it would be that slow. Are all 4 cores active? My old i5-2500K never had an issue with my R9-290X running Crysis3.

In fact, my even older Phenom II X4 965BE @ 4.0 GHz and my R9-280 can run C3 with no issues. Both were at 1080p resolution. Here are my notes from benchmarks I ran with the PhII/280:
Settings: System Specs High, Textures High, SMAA small 1x
CPU Usage 90-100%. GPU usage 50-100%.

If you feel like it, run the Firestrike benchmark from Futuremark and I'll compare scores with you. I have several builds' results saved. I should be able to come close to your system.

 

[gyking94]

In 3DMark Firestrike I get a score of 9076 with a graphics score of 11032 and physics score of 8311.

 

[clutchc]

In 3DMark Firestrike I get a score of 9076 with a graphics score of 11032 and physics score of 8311.

My i5-2500K @ 4.2 GHz and the R9-290X in my sig gets: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/2684702
So I'd say your CPU is perfect and your R9-290 is really performing well. C3 is a heck of a demanding game. I haven't had a rig yet that could max all settings out at 1080p.

 

[gyking94]

In 3DMark Firestrike I get a score of 9076 with a graphics score of 11032 and physics score of 8311.

My i5-2500K @ 4.2 GHz and the R9-290X in my sig gets: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/2684702
So I'd say your CPU is perfect and your R9-290 is really performing well. C3 is a heck of a demanding game. I haven't had a rig yet that could max all settings out at 1080p.

Yeah, I know it can't max it out. It's just the CPU bottleneck I'm annoyed with. I expect a stock i5 to do the job. Didn't know I'd have to OC it just to play the game. Are you sure your 2500k@stock doesn't bottleneck in Crysis?

 

[WhiteSnake91]

something has to be off, I saw plenty of benchmarks before with Phenom II x4's doing respectable in Crysis 3, and the i5s of any type were always decently ahead of the Phenom II's

 

[clutchc]

Are you sure your 2500k@stock doesn't bottleneck in Crysis?

Unfortunately I never kept notes from the i5 and C3 when I had it. But if my old Phenom II X4 965BE can keep up with the R9-280 in C3*, the i5-2500K must have done at least as well with the R9-290X. But if that is the only game that you have an issue like that, I'd just chalk it up to the game just being very CPU limited.


*(The Phenom II's CPU usage was peaking at 100% and so was the R9-280's GPU usage as recorded by HWiNFO64. Seems they were pretty well matched in C3 to me.)