Will i3 540 bottleneck gtx 660 ti ?

[JPalafox]

I was just wondering if i3 will bottleneck gtx 660?
I have 12gb of RAM for details

I want to play:
Just cause 2 and 3
BF 3
GTA V
Call of duty aw

 

[Karadjgne]

Yes and no. Depends on the game engines and level of details you are expecting. With a 2c/4t cpu, expect that anything intense cpu will slow you down some, so turn off things like physX support etc. In some games like GTA:V, that really can use as many threads as available, so an i3 is bare minimum, and will suffer accordingly.

If you keep the details modest, you be ok, but if you go adding a bunch of mods, it'll bog down quick.

 

[JPalafox]

Yes and no. Depends on the game engines and level of details you are expecting. With a 2c/4t cpu, expect that anything intense cpu will slow you down some, so turn off things like physX support etc. In some games like GTA:V, that really can use as many threads as available, so an i3 is bare minimum, and will suffer accordingly.

If you keep the details modest, you be ok, but if you go adding a bunch of mods, it'll bog down quick.

Can I play gta v low to medium or higher?

 

[Ecky]

It's not terribly helpful to think of it in terms of "bottleneck". A CPU sets your max frame, and a low end CPU will prevent your framerate from being really high. A faster GPU allows you to crank up your graphical settings or have a higher framerate, up to what your CPU allows.

So, for instance, you could have an old Core2Duo that only allows 30fps in a game. You're running triple 4K monitors max settings with GTX 1080 Ti SLI, and the video cards can only deliver 30fps at those settings. Technically there's no bottleneck here, but you're still getting lousy framerates.

You need enough enough CPU to deliver the framerates you want.

 

[Karadjgne]

The i3-540 is just below minimum recommended specs for gta:V, so yes, it'll run medium settings on 1080p with a gtx 600 and be playable, might even stretch a few settings into high. Just don't expect miracles from a 6yr old cpu.

 

[JPalafox]

It's not terribly helpful to think of it in terms of "bottleneck". A CPU sets your max frame, and a low end CPU will prevent your framerate from being really high. A faster GPU allows you to crank up your graphical settings or have a higher framerate, up to what your CPU allows.

So, for instance, you could have an old Core2Duo that only allows 30fps in a game. You're running triple 4K monitors max settings with GTX 1080 Ti SLI, and the video cards can only deliver 30fps at those settings. Technically there's no bottleneck here, but you're still getting lousy framerates.

You need enough enough CPU to deliver the framerates you want.

What would you suggest for an i3 540; a gtx 560ti or gtx 660? In terms of compatibility and maximum performance

 

[JPalafox]

The i3-540 is just below minimum recommended specs for gta:V, so yes, it'll run medium settings on 1080p with a gtx 600 and be playable, might even stretch a few settings into high. Just don't expect miracles from a 6yr old cpu.

I'll try to oc it a bit and see if it works! Thanks!

 

[Ecky]

The 660, if you have to choose between the two. How much are you getting them for?