GTX 460 overklill for Athlon II x3 445

[kureme]

Suppose I build a budget computer minus the GPU and later get the GTX 460. Would the CPU be bottlenecking the GPU? Or would you recommend to just cough up the dough for an i5 760?

 

[Pyroflea]

Most likely it would be, but I can't see it really hurting performance too much.

 

[kureme]

Would you recommend it or should I just stick with an HD 5770? I am currently contemplating a new build and don't know if I should just go all out or not waste too much money and just get "enough" performance.

To start, it will be for gaming. I am primarily an RTS gamer but will also be playing everything else as well. I'm fine with lowered settings as long as its not the bare minimum, probably medium would be the lowest but high/ultra settings are preferred.

 

[Pyroflea]

My honest opinion is that people waste a lot of money on getting the "newest greatest" hardware, when it doesn't gain them any real-world improvements. Sure they can get 60+FPS, but our eyes can only see ~28FPS, so who cares? My old C2D e6750 and 8800GTS rig still plays any game that I want it to. RTS's aren't usually too graphic intensive, so I think a 5770 would work just fine. Obviously it's up to you in the end, but this is just my personal opinion.

 

[akashic]

I'm wouldn't call it overkill, the Athlon II x3 445 isn't a bad CPU at all, obviously the I5-760 is better but also more expensive, so if you budget can handle both the I5-760 and GTX460(for later) you should take the I5-760. What PSU do you have/are you planing on buying are you sure it can handle the cards?

If the choice is between "Athlon II x3 with GTX 460" and "I5-760 with HD 5770" i would go with the Athlon II x3 + GTX460, as you said you are more of an RTS kind of guy, as far as i know basicly all of the CPU demanding games are FPS games. Note, i haven't done much research on this area so i could be wrong.

If you plan on going SLI/CF, at some point later on go with the I5-760. The Athlon II x3 isn't the best choice for anything much higher then a single card GTX460/HD 5850 (atleast to my knowledge)

The HD 5770 isn't that bad running CrossFire, again, just make sure you CPU can handle crossfire if that is your goal


here is a few related links/review that you might find usefull

HD 5770 CF review: http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5770-review-test/
Athlon II x3 440 vs I7-920: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3-440-gaming-performance,2619.html
Power requirements for the pouplare GPUs: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/279391-10-power-requirements-specs-popular-graphic-cards-guide (as you can see on the list both the GTX 460 and HD 5770 do require just about the same singlecard and SLI/CF)

 

[akashic]

...but our eyes can only see ~28FPS, so who cares?...

regarding that i would like to refere you to this review http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3-440-gaming-performance,2619-2.html and check out the pictures also just read the first few lines

here is a quote from review "There is a common misconception that 24 or 30 FPS is enough for perfectly smooth video, or that the human eye can only perceive up to 30 FPS..."

 

[Pyroflea]

regarding that i would like to refere you to this review http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3-440-gaming-performance,2619-2.html and check out the pictures also just read the first few lines

here is a quote from review "There is a common misconception that 24 or 30 FPS is enough for perfectly smooth video, or that the human eye can only perceive up to 30 FPS..."

I see no noticeable difference between those two. *Shrugs*. Just trying to get across the point that you don't need to play at 60FPS to enjoy a game.

 

[akashic]

I see no noticeable difference between those two. *Shrugs*. Just trying to get across the point that you don't need to play at 60FPS to enjoy a game.

I do notice quite a difference between those two, but if you don't i can't really argue against that , I do agree with the fact that you don't need 60fps to enjoy most games, especially not RTS games.

I just felt i had to try and kill the myth that the human eye only beeing able to see about ~25fps, also the 60fps "standard" is based on your minitor runing at 60hz. Most monitor today is running at 60hz and that is why you are "limited" to 60fps, in other words, if your minitor is running at 60hz it refreshes 60 times per seconds and thats the reason for the 60fps "limit". If your screen runs at higher hertz you can notice the difference between 60 and 100fps aswell (if you got a minitor running at 100hz, though 100hz monitors aren't that common, so it is just an example)

The reason the myth of the human eye only beeing able to see about 25fps is based on movies beeing played at 25fps, but movies are precived as much more then 25fps because of motion blur you can read more about it all here: http://www.100fps.com/how_many_frames_can_humans_see.htm I don't even believe there is any knowen limit to how many FPS the human eye can detect but it is definitely WAY past 28

Anyway i think i am getting abit of topic here, sorry kureme I do hope you can use the info in your choice on GPU + CPU though, and i would still like to hear if you've figured if your PSU(power supply unit) even can run either of the GPUs or a name/link to your PSU if you need some help figuring out that part

 

[kureme]

Thanks guys, your opinions are very much appreciated. I think I will be going with the i5 and borrowing one of my friend's GPUs for a while. He has an SLI set up and says he doesn't even notice much difference anyways. Maybe I'll get the GTX 460 when the prices drop following the HD 6xxx and Kepler releases.

I'm going with the Corsair TX650 PSU. No worries about hijacking the thread, I find it very useful info. I do believe the percieved fps people see are affected by out state of mind (ie. just woke up vs. adrenaline rush) as well as if we have taken any "enhancements".

 

[kureme]

Best answer selected by kureme.

 

[duk3]

I think that the i5 is definitely the better choice for RTS games, most of them are more CPU limited than GPU limited.
SC2 can be played on ultra with an i5 750 and a 5770 no problems.