Will the Intel Pentium g3258 bottleneck the gtx 970 in low end games?

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iHaveNoParts

iHaveNoParts

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I love to play a lot of indie games and games that can be playable on many ordinary laptops. For example I play lots of Minecraft but I was thinking of building a $988 budget gaming pc. But I also wanted my gaming rig to have a z97 chipset motherboard so I can upgrade to an i7 in the future. Since I have selected a 970 and a g3258, is there going to be a huge bottleneck in minecraft and in any other games?

PC Specs:
Intel Pentium G3258 @3.2GHz Dual Core (Can be overclocked @4.5GHz)
Be Quiet Shadow Rock Low Profile CPU Cooler
Biostar B85MG Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
8GB DDR3-1600
1TB 7200RPM HDD
GTX 970 4GB (Reference Card)
Corsair CX500

If anyone could give me a helpful solution, that would be great! :D
 
Solution
KKAW


The G3258 will...
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KKAW

KKAW

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The G3258 will definitely bottleneck the GTX 970 in all scenario's, even if it is overclocked. Make sure that motherboard can overclock your G3258.

I would say stick with the i3 4170 and go with a R9 380 or GTX 950 depending on your budget.
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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Biostar motherboards are not very good overclocker boards, they tend to be badly made and use cheap components. I personally have seen more than a few toasted Biostar boards, so many that I flat out refuse to build a pc with one.

That said, the g3258 has much to be said for it. It OC like a champ and can handle strong single thread games like skyrim as well as any OC i5 or i7. And that's as far as it goes. Single thread games. You start in with mmorpg's or multi-core games like bf4 multi-player, it tanks. It's dual core, and there is no getting around that.

The i3 doesn't OC, so is weaker than the g3258 in that respect, but does have hyperthreading, so is much stronger in multi-core games and is not limited by GTA-V code requiring quad core as HT is typically classified as cores. While not as strong as a true 4 core cpu, its still basically 4 cores so stronger all around vrs a dual core that's only strength is in specific games.

Go for an i3 on a decent h97/z97 board. It's an easy upgrade path to an eventual i5 or i7 without motherboard replacement.

Lastly, I wouldn't pair a gtx970 with a cx500. First, its a CX, therefore it's already due for RMA or replacement, secondly it's only 500w, therefore you are limited in upgrade in cpu. 520w quality psu minimum, 550w if OC cpu. Given enough time you can get a quality 550w psu for cheap. I've seen XFX 550w for as low as $25.

Thanksgiving is not far away, that means Black Friday shopping.
 
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CTurbo

CTurbo

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The Pentium will perform as well as any cpu on the market in same games, and flat out not work at all in others.

I don't really like like it for real world useage. You would be much better off with an i3.


That Corsair CX psu is not very good also. You should replace it.
 
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LookItsRain

LookItsRain

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Like others have said, the 3258 will limit the performance of your 970 no matter what game you play, and will give you terrible min frame rates and frame time variance no matter what gpu. You say you dont play graphically intensive games, but your buying a 970. I dont understand what your trying to build this for.
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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That build is a good start, but not right. You are buying expensive shoes (gtx970) and wearing them over socks with holes and twine for laces (everything else)

An i3 is more than capable of running skyrim and minecraft, more so if you start throwing in heavy mods like enb's or 4k / 2k texture packs for flora/fauna, citirs/towns and weather. Those mods will kill a dual core performance. I'm running an enb and over 130 mods including the above texture packs on my i5 pc and it doesn't skip a beat, but does impact all 4 cores between windows, steam and game, all at max settings on a 660ti and I still get 60fps @1080p. If that's the highest level graphical game you are after, a 970 is way overkill.

The star tech paste is actually worse than the stock cm paste on that cooler.

That CoolerMaster elite psu is actually worse than the Corsair CX.

Try this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120V 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($314.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Raidmax ATX-402WB ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($16.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Sceptre E205W-1600 60Hz 20.0" Monitor ($79.88 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($26.98 @ Newegg)
Headphones: Corsair Raptor HS30 Headset ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $936.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-31 22:47 EDT-0400

Here's the kicker, a gtx970 is wasted on a 20" monitor, you'd be better off by far with a gtx960/r9 380 unless the monitor is temporary while you save for a 23.6" - 27" monitor.
 
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iHaveNoParts

iHaveNoParts

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Ok here! :D

This should be good! http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tR9yP6

(I also just realized I filtered it so it will only show the items from Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg for no reason xD)

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 @3.0GHz Quad Core ($180.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 7200RPM ($41.64 @ Amazon)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ($382.98 @ Best Buy)
PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 520w 80+ Bronze Semi-Modular ($54.99 @ Newegg)

Researched to see if the i5-4430 will bottleneck the 970 and they said it's fine! :)
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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Much better, but don't buy the BestBuy 970 for $382, its a nvidia reference blower style, basically bottom of the barrel. Any of the partner cards from Evga, msi, Gigabyte, inno3d, Asus, zotac, PNY etc will perform better, and cost @$0-$70 less. Newegg, Amazon, NCIX, SuperBiiz etc are much better choices. Get rid of the filter. Much cheaper that way.
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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Basically same price, much better performance, much better visual experience, better amount of quality gaming, more enjoyable in general.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($180.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($62.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($309.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Raidmax ATX-402WB ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($68.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($14.85 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: Asus VS248H-P 24.0" Monitor ($157.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($26.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Headphones: Corsair Raptor HS30 Headset ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $965.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-01 21:15 EDT-0400

Also you may want to reshop before ordering, just noticed the psu was previously on sale and is now $14 higher. Also watch for labor day sales, it shouldn't be hard to knock off $100 easy on this build in total if you shop smart.
 
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