Will my i5-3470 bottleneck a GTX 1060 6GB?

[erik8thw]

Here's my spec:

• CPU: i5-3470
  RAM: 2x 4GB DDR3
  Storage: 7.2K RPM
  Monitor: 1080p 60Hz

I plan to buy a GTX 1060 6GB. Here's the bottlenecking chart: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q7lIYRK5T0ABLvAkgbM_2jJGvbhlep27mR-eRcCy4FA/edit#gid=0 Based on the chart given, it seems that my i5-3470 wouldn't bottleneck it. Can I trust the chart? How about games like Overwatch, Dota 2, and other latest games?

 

[breek]

Hey Erik.
Your CPU is definitely getting older and it will bottleneck the 1060 in newer games, ones that are more demanding. Games like Cities: Skylines we know destroy CPUs. If you plan on playing many open world games with plenty of "world" to render, far view distances, etc. expect a bottleneck. This bottleneck can't always be relieved, however. Using Cities: Skylines as example again, even with a high end i7 6700k there are plenty of benchmarks where high end GPUs don't get to max out because the CPU gets there first.

Having said all that, I would pair your CPU with a 1060 with confidence. The i5s have been crowned gaming CPUs for a reason; they have strong single core performance, equal to i7 and come loaded with 4 cores. For comparison's sake, I had an FX 8320 @4.6Ghz. I upgraded this week to a i5 6400 @4.5Ghz. I'm enjoying the ~30fps increase I noticed in WoW. Your 3470 is much better than my 8320 was, even overclocked. Yours is ~30% better single core performance than my 8320. Because Skylake is wonderful and I can overclock my 6400 from 2.7Ghz to 4.5Ghz, so I'm happy.

Enjoy your build!

 

[herrwizo]

You are quite safe with that CPU, it is still a very strong gaming CPU. It won't bottleneck the 1060 in any game you throw at it - however, what might bottleneck it is BF1 multiplayer, and it has nothing to do with your CPU - the game is simply poorly optimized for CPUs, and sometimes brings even i7s to their knees. You are good to go, sir.