The i5 3470 dilemma

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Lance_Lionroar

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Jul 29, 2016
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Just Cause 3 got me thinking:

-Here are my specs,

GTX 970
Intel Core i5 3470 3.2GHz
8GB RAM
Seasonic 520W PSU
Asus P8B75-M

I've not had any problems with games since I upgraded to the GTX 970 last year, however, playing JC3 and seeing that I cannot maintain 60 FPS in town areas and whatnot, and after researching and checking other people's performance with the game, I concluded the obvious thing which is my processor is no longer good enough. It's already years old but it was doing the job, but I believe especially with CPU intensive games it's clearly bottlenecking my GPU.

I still get 60+ FPS on the max settings with such games, but the drop downs in certain situations are a thing I just hate. I looked into upgrading, but clearly the cheaper i7 generations are no longer being sold near me, so I have to dish out quite the amount to get something like a i7 6700, plus a new motherboard to come along with it, obviously. It's too much money that I currently do not have.

In your opinion, is it worth the pain to go through this upgrade (after having to save up for a while or borrow some cash), or is it good enough to keep going for a while more?
 
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anthonyc821

anthonyc821

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Lance_Lionroar,

If you only play Just Cause 3 then no, don't upgrade. If you play other games on max settings and getting very low fps then yes, ugrade. Do not upgrade only because of one game, upgrade if it's multiple games. Also, try to OC your graphics card if you haven't already. It gives a pretty big FPS boost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUEMS-B1Siw
 
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Lance_Lionroar

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Thanks for the reply, anthonyc821.

Well, technically it's Just Cause 3 that's the reason, but obviously I play anything I can get my hands on. The last game that made me feel like my processor needs to be taken up a notch was Crysis 3, in the grassy dome level, where things slowed down a lot. I don't really get low FPS, like I said it's 60+ in any game I play, save for some drop downs in certain situations. It's especially intense in my latest experience with JC3, in town areas and with some explosions, although my card can clearly handle it. I see that YouTubers play the same sections with 0 drop downs, and they all happen to have the latest generations of i7, and I'm envious to be honest.
 
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beyondlogic

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i dont think its cpu related more gpu related the 970s had issues with the last half of there ram if your at max settings and using the whole 4gb it will become unstable due to that small ammount of memory is slower
 
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anthonyc821

anthonyc821

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Lance_Lionroar,

Don't go for the latest generations of i7 processors until more CPU intensive games come out. i7 processors can handle a lot and they aren't really something you need right now. i5 processors can almost do the same things as i7 processors can, but the i7's can just do it better. It's basically like having an older brother that can do everything better than you. And you should only get an i7 only if you livestream or render videos.
 
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Lance_Lionroar

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Trust me, this has nothing to do with VRAM. Appreciate your answer though.
 
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beyondlogic

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are you sure if your vram goes over 3.5gb the whole game will slow down when it access that last 500mb of slow ram it clocks down to that slower speed all the ram
 
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Lance_Lionroar

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I'm pretty sure I'm not using more than 3GB of VRAM on my GTX970 and I'm sure it's a powerful enough card so, if you're suggesting that on my system specs, the GTX 970 is the problem I'd beg to differ. This thread is about my CPU. I'm also considering to upgrade my RAM as it seems like the cheaper upgrade.
 
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burgessanthony

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I can say right now that JC3 doesnr work on towns. There is something with those orange roofed buildings that the game code/drivers cannot use the gpu to it's fullest. I've seen 60% cpu and 60% gpu and fps drops in those areas despite trying EVERYTHING. Usually locked to 70fps pretty much maxed out. Recent amd drivers helped.

NVidia perform better in this game but you are correct about your cpu. I went to a used 3570k, overclocked and still hit 100% in places, although usually around 70%.

An i7 works well in this game, but don't upgrade for one game!

 
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burgessanthony

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To add, Anthonyc821 that's some awful advice. I7s have their place in gaming. Granted not as many games take advantage of hyperthreading, but they are more common and depending on your rig some gains can be had. Crysis 3, JC3 and I think the battlefield series to name a few.

Usually a higher clocked i5 is a better bet as games prefer clock speed.
 
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Lance_Lionroar

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Thanks burgessanthony (two Anthony's lol). You're definitely right. I'm going to shortly upgrade to 16GB of RAM as I heard JC3 just needs plenty of memory, and I'll just hold off on the processor upgrade for now, hopefully it works.
 
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