Will an i3 cut it?

Discussion in 'Player Support' started by Makwa, May 30, 2013.

  1. Makwa

    Looking to upgrade tomorrow to a system that will play above 20 fps in good conditions. Problem is that i dont want to build on myself (very impatient) and I would also like my children to go to college one day. Will an i3 cut it if I put some cash into getting a graphics card right away?
  2. Lavans

    An i3 is alright for games that don't rely too much on heavy amounts of multithreading, especially if you overclock. But honestly, it would be better in the long run if you just shell out the additional money for an i5.

    Here is a pretty fair comparison of an i3 and an i5 going head to head
    http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/677?vs=288
  3. Krayus_Korianis

    I have an i3-2100 3.1GHz CPU. I get lots of FPS moving about, some days it's high, when there's LOTS people about it goes down to around 35-40 FPS. Warpgate it's over 100. Other areas with low people, 90+, with a medium set of people, it's about 60.
  4. Guadoc

    I have an i5 OC to 4.5GHZ and the game constantly tells me I'm CPU limited while using the FPS display so I don't think that an i3 would be optimal to be honest.
  5. Lavans

    PS2 is cpu intensive, but it rarely uses more than 2 cores. I usually see my i5 lingering at 40% usage. If PS2 was like BF3 that could make full use of a quad core, then an i3 would be a poor choice, but that simply isn't the case.
  6. Guadoc


    i3's only have 3MB of L3 cache compared to 6MB on an i5 so there is more to it than just number of cores (CPU cache makes quite a big difference to performance).
  7. JudgeFudge509

    I use an aqmd phenom from 4 years ago, and a gts250 from 3 and I run ps2 just fine.
  8. Lavans


    You're absolutely right. However, in most games, the difference in performance between an i3 and an i5 is roughly 10-15% unless the game is multithreaded beyond dualcore spec.
  9. Nolicense

    i think you have to say what video card you plan on getting as well. if your going cheap on the cpu you may feel like you can go cheap on the gpu as well.
  10. Candyballz

    Sorry to steal in and ask my own question OP, but maybe it'll help you too. I find myself constantly GPU limited, and I seem to be in the minority - everyone else I talk to is cpu bound. I have an i5 3570 (3.4), 8 gigs of ram and a GeForce gtx 550 ti - Is my graphics card really whats holding back my FPS? Im at mid-high 20's in big fights, 50 flying, 35-40 at wg. My fps doesnt change much at all, even if I switch to lower graphics settings.

    Anybody know if that card is just too weak? Anybody have a similar rig getting different results? How big a graphics card do you need to effectively deal with this game
  11. Alexlightning7

    If your fps doesnt change when you lower graphics settings, then your CPU bottlenecks you.

    With your system, I would expect you to get increased performance out of fights and the same in fights.

    Big fights limit your CPU.

    As for OP, laptop or desktop.
    Laptop no, desktop yes if its high clocked.
    High clocks seem to be better then more cores. the l3 cahce is important too, but thats really the only difference.
  12. HerbertKnivez

    All of these people that are telling you won't are probably assuming you plan on playing on High... Yes, it will, on low.
  13. Alexlightning7

    wtf are you talking about. the CPU doesn't matter for graphics settings other then shadows and a few others.

    Source: Running ultra on my laptop with a i5-2520m(dual core with hyperthreading, basicly an i3)
    I actually get better fps then most 6 core desktops(the amd ones atleast).

    And im running with EVERYTHING ultra, except shadows on low and no fog shadows. This includes AO, Flora, effects, and particles. all of those stress the cpu(well, some stress both cpu and gpu).

    But seriously, what will the CPU do that will prevent you from running things rendered on the GPU?
    Of course as people said, we don't actually know his GPU so that may be an issue, but not because of the i3.
  14. HerbertKnivez

    It shouldn't have been THAT hard to figure out that I meant the CPU straining settings...