Should I upgrade to a GTX 970 with an I3 4150?

[butaszar]

Hey guys,

I own a GTX 960 and an I3 4150. Now I have some money to buy a GTX 970 but not enough to get an I5. I've seen in benchmarks that the I3 can hold back the 970 from reaching a stable 60fps with newer games like GTA V or Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Should I upgrade anyway? After buying a 970 I would not want to see bad performance but I'm afraid the CPU is too weak.

 

[Zerk2012]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxZlxTqYYeM
A i5 cost less than a new GTX 970

 

[Gallarian]

You will see a large improvement in games by upgrading to a 970, but you will not see 100% of the potential gain.

The CPU you have is a capable one, but with modern games requiring much more CPU power (The Witcher 3, GTA:V, Total War: Attila, Tomb Raider, to name a few) it will start to hold you back a little.

If you had the choice between upgrading the CPU or the GPU, then the GPU would have more of an impact than a CPU upgrade, though you would ideally want to upgrade it later in the future to really get the full benefit of the 970.

It comes down to this; are you ok with seeing an improvment but knowing youre not getting the most out of it? If yes, then go for it.

 

[butaszar]

@Zerk2012
But an I5 doesn't provide the graphical improvement I need. The games might run somewhat better but I won't be able to crank up the graphical settings.

 

[butaszar]

@Gallarian
My aim would be to get 60fps at 1080p with high/very high settings.

 

[Gallarian]

Your ability to do so will very much depend on the game you are running. For example, you will not be able to achieve that in the Witcher 3 or The Division, but it will be possible in other games like GTA:V.

Overall, a 970 + I3 combo will be able to give you what you want, but just remember that in certain CPU heavy games, the i3 will hold you back.

 

[Zerk2012]

@Zerk2012
But an I5 doesn't provide the graphical improvement I need. The games might run somewhat better but I won't be able to crank up the graphical settings.

Then why did you ask the question if you already know your buying the video card.
If you look at my post I only posted a link to what performance you can expect and made a statement that the i5 cheaper. With either upgrade you will still need to make the other in the future.
If you have the money for the video card you could probably sell your processor and card and get both.

 

[Gallarian]

Then why did you ask the question if you already know your buying the video card.

He didn't ask 'should I upgrade the CPU or the GPU' - he asked whether he should still upgrade the GPU even though the CPU might bottleneck the system.

 

[Epicness937]

there will be a huge improvement but the cpu will hold the card back a bit

 

[butaszar]

Thanks for your help. Fortunately I found a guy who was selling his I5 4690K for cheap so I managed to upgrade both the GPU and the CPU.