Help me choose my Skylake Processor

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blue_smoke

blue_smoke

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Nov 10, 2013
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I've already bought a motherboard, 8gb of ddr4 and a case. Now I am to the processor. Will the i3-6100 be sufficient enough for modern AAA titles (GTA V, Fallout 4, Black Ops 3) and do I really need 16gb of ram? When I play a game thats all I do, no editing, etc with it simultaneously.

I really don't see the difference except a $75 dollar difference between it and the i5-6500. I have seen in game config files that they run on worker threads, not just the cores. Could I get by on an i3 instead of going with an i5? Also, I will be using either a 260x or a gtx 950, I haven't decided yet. I already have the ASUS 260x and am impressed with its performance, but I really needed a new processor, mobo, ram and hard drive.
 
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Supernova1138
If you're okay with locking to 30FPS, the i3 should be okay, at least for the moment. The i5 is something you'd want to have if you want to lock to 60FPS or higher.
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gilbadon

gilbadon

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For GTA V, the i3 will for sure bottle neck. I know a guy who had that issue. I would say minimum i5 for GTA V, but it also depends on how well you need it to run. Low settings? i3 should be fine. High, you need the i5.

As for 16GB if ram, a nicer CPU/GPU is much more important for gaming.
 
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blue_smoke

blue_smoke

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That's what I was afraid the general consensus would be. If I get an i5 it would be the i5-6500, would this suffice for high settings in the titles mentioned above even with the 260x? I am only playing on a 1440x900 screen.
 
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Supernova1138

Supernova1138

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The i5 6500 ought to be sufficient to run GTA V well. GTA V runs great on my 6600k without an overclock with my GTX 970, never dropping below 60FPS in single player on very high settings. Your R7 260x will be what would hold back your performance in GTA V with the 6500.
 
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blue_smoke

blue_smoke

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And we're back to the original question. Is an i5 necessary or would the i3 be a good companion with the 260X in terms of what will hold back my performance?
 
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Supernova1138

Supernova1138

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Take a look at this video here, it shows benchmarks with roughly equivalent GPUs to what you have with the Haswell i3, it includes GTA V at the start. It looks like you will be largely GPU bound running an i3, and you wouldn't likely see a difference between an i3 and i5 unless you have a faster GPU.
 
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blue_smoke

blue_smoke

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OK so lets say I pick up a GTX 960. Is the reason still going to be I need an i5 because I simply put more money into the GPU?
I'm just trying to see if there's some other place the 70 dollars can go like another stick of ram or possibly into my vehicle savings.
I am extremely comfortable if I can frame lock with NVIDIA drivers to 31fps. I've never experienced anything weird about being capped at 31. I just can't dip below that, that's when the problems happen.
 
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blue_smoke

blue_smoke

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Sound's like I found my answer. I've been running on a core 2 duo system for about a year now so anything is a massive upgrade. Thanks!
 
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gilbadon

gilbadon

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@blue_smoke, you are in a sticky spot.

Typically you want to spend 1.5x to 2x the money on the GPU than the CPU in a gaming rig. For example, a i5-6600k and a GTX980 is a good combo.

GTAV is a pretty CPU intensive game, but it is GPU intensive as well. If you got an i3 you would have a major CPU bottleneck. If you got an i5, you would have a major GPU bottleneck.

If you want to best match your GPU's performance, the i3 would be the better option. If you want to upgrade your GPU in the future, get an i5.
 
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