Just curious whether my CPU is anywhere near being a bottleneck.

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Phantomous

Phantomous

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I have an i5 2320 (quad core) clocked at 3.0GHz but boosts to 3.3GHz.
Just wondering whether it's decent enough for modern gaming and if it performs well with a mid-level GPU, an Msi R7 250 OverClocked Edition 1GB GDDR5.

Btw this is a new budget build.

Thanks. :p
 
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your i5 will not be bottlenecked but yo shouldn't really worry about bottlenecking because it is impossible to avoid. Somewhere you will be bottlenecked, from the bandwith or the architecture etc. So in other words your i5 2320 should be fine with r7 250 but i would reccomend an i3 with haswell instead of your current i5
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baconlover102

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your i5 will not be bottlenecked but yo shouldn't really worry about bottlenecking because it is impossible to avoid. Somewhere you will be bottlenecked, from the bandwith or the architecture etc. So in other words your i5 2320 should be fine with r7 250 but i would reccomend an i3 with haswell instead of your current i5
 
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Phantomous

Phantomous

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Why do you recommend that? I'm certainly no CPU expert, more of a GPU person, just wondering why since i3 are pretty weak compared to i5's.
 
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slyu9213

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I don't necessarily see the point in calling an change from an i5 2320 to a 4th Gen i3 as an 'upgrade'. Haswell has higher IPC, better architecture, and probably a little more instruction sets but we're talking about 4 real cores vs 2 real cores and 2 HT Threads.

Additionally the i5 2320 is a 3GHz processor. It boosts up to 3.1GHz on all 4 cores, 3.2GHz on 2-3 cores and 3.3GHz on 1 core. But Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors can be overclocked 4 bins/400MHz from the Turbo Frequency. So in this case if the OPs motherboard allows this, the speeds would be 3.5GHz with 4 Cores, 3.6GHz with 2-3 Cores, and 3.7GHz with 1 Core. I think I've heard that some motherboards allow CPUs to run all 4 Cores at the Max Turbo speeds too.

Like many people said the R7 250 is an entry level video card. It wouldn't be bottlenecked that much even with an AMD processor. The i5 will be fine with even high-end GPUs. In a lot of games a 2.5GHz i7 will outperform or similarly perform a 8-Core AMD that is OCed when paired with a top level video card. I'm thinking it would be similar with an i5 also.
 
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mdocod

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The CPU will always be the hard cap on performance. If that hard cap is above your FPS goals, then your CPU is fine, if not, then it's your bottleneck.

GPU related performance caps are inversely adjustable with visual quality. Doesn't matter if you're running an R7 250 or an R9 290, both cards can play the same games at the same FPS, but with significant differences in visual quality settings.

Point being, it's not possible to determine whether you have a CPU related bottleneck or performance problem based on looking at your GPU choice. The only way to determine if you have a CPU related bottleneck or performance problem is to determine if the CPU selected can run the games you want to play at your FPS goals.
 
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baconlover102

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There are some benchmarks that haswell architecture cards help get a little more performance and also you can cut back on your power supply a little bit

 
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