How bad would a FX-6300 bottleneck a GTX 980?

[Spurst]

I just picked up a GTX 980, and I wondering how badly the FX 6300 will bottleneck it? The FX-6300 is already built, so I was hoping not to screw around with it.

If I overclock the FX-6300 will it still bottleneck?

 

[ShintaiDK]

Depends what you play and what resolution.

 

[AtenRa]

What games ??? use DSR to increase GPU limit.

 

[Spurst]

This will be hooked to my 1080p TV. I plan on playing The Division on it.

Would an I5 2300 be an upgrade over the FX 6300, because I also have an I3 2100 rig that I could pick up a cheap I5 2300 for. Aside from that, I'm trying to keep the expense minimal, as this is a secondary gaming rig.

 

[swilli89]

This will be hooked to my 1080p TV. I plan on playing The Division on it.

Would an I5 2300 be an upgrade over the FX 6300, because I also have an I3 2100 rig that I could pick up a cheap I5 2300 for. Aside from that, I'm trying to keep the expense minimal, as this is a secondary gaming rig.

Do you already own the FX cpu as well? If so, I would stick with that.

 

[Spurst]

Here are the two options:

Option 1:
AMD FX-6300 BLACK ED
CORSAIR 16GB 2X8 DDR3
ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ MATX
MSI GTX 980 OC

Option 2:
Intel i3 2100
ADATA 4 GB 2x2GB DDR3
MSI H61M-P23 Motherboard
MSI GTX 980 OC

 

[Silverforce11]

The Division chews up AMD CPU and spits them out. Low thread, high IPC is where it's at for that game.

So yeah, it's going to limit your 980 at 1080p, basically running 50% I would guess.

 

[lehtv]

i3-2100 wins in The Division:





But in many other games, FX-6300 is better.

Given the rather high framerate with i3-2100, you don't need to worry about CPU bottlenecking in The Division. That is, there may be bottlenecking, but you'll still have nice framerates. No need to use DSR for moving the bottleneck to GPU, because GTX 980 is just enough for 60 fps on 1080p Ultra. On 1440p DSR, you'd lose 15+ fps.

 

[LTC8K6]

Looks like the FX-6300 will be okay for the game. I wouldn't get a new CPU.
Get some 1866 ram to go with it.

Later, you can drop an 8350 in if you need more power.

 

[AtenRa]

i3-2100 wins in The Division:





But in many other games, FX-6300 is better.

Given the rather high framerate with i3-2100, you don't need to worry about CPU bottlenecking in The Division. That is, there may be bottlenecking, but you'll still have nice framerates. No need to use DSR for moving the bottleneck to GPU, because GTX 980 is just enough for 60 fps on 1080p Ultra. On 1440p DSR, you'd lose 15+ fps.

Both CPU tests above dont use AA filters, once you enable FXAA you immediately become GPU limited at 1080p even with the GTX 980.

It is better to use DSR at 1440p without FXAA.

But i would OC the FX6300 to at least 4GHz to be on the safe side.

 

[tweakboy]

Very bad jk... no,,lt's holds its own, pretty much,

 

[lehtv]

@AtenRa

FXAA, really? That doesn't make any difference to performance or whether you're GPU limited or not. Did you mean MSAA?

Also I would rather use SweetFX SMAA than either of those.

It is better to use DSR at 1440p without FXAA.

DSR 1440p at ultra settings (FXAA or not, doesn't make any difference) will get you from smooth 60 fps to 40-45 fps stutterfest.

 

[AtenRa]

yea my bad i meant to say MSAA.

Well you can play at DSR 1440p with only turning one or two settings to high instead of Ultra and get almost 60fps with the GTX 980.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Here are the two options:

Option 1:
AMD FX-6300 BLACK ED
CORSAIR 16GB 2X8 DDR3
ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ MATX
MSI GTX 980 OC

Option 2:
Intel i3 2100
ADATA 4 GB 2x2GB DDR3
MSI H61M-P23 Motherboard
MSI GTX 980 OC

I agree with another poster who said just go with the FX6300. I would pick a Haswell or Skylake i3 over the FX 6xxx, but a sandy bridge i3 is pretty old. The i5 you mentioned is probably the best choice, but not a big enough improvement over the FX to be worth the cost unless you can get it really cheap, like 50 bucks or less. And yea, try to overclock the FX to 4ghz or so.

 

[Leyawiin]

If you must get an FX spend another measly $10-$20 and get an FX-8300. Easy to OC to FX-8350 levels or higher and is as fast or faster in that game than the i3s.

That said I have a PC with an FX-8320E @ 4.2 Ghz. I've swapped the GTX 970 I have between it and my i7 4790k PC and its definitely held back in most games by the FX. I would imagine the GTX 980 would be even worse.

 

[lehtv]

If you must get an FX spend another measly $10-$20 and get an FX-8300. Easy to OC to FX-8350 levels or higher and is as fast or faster in that game than the i3s.

If you bothered to read the OP, you would know he already has the FX-6300 rig built.

 

[Leyawiin]

Missed that but it doesn't matter - its still a valid opinion.

 

[Spurst]

Its not a valid option. Not really looking to buy a new amd cpu. These are both spare boxes, and available.

I am also on the stock cooler, so i dont really plan to oc it. I wasnt planing on this video card, i was actually planning on a 970, but the seller accepted my low offer on this so that is what i'll be using.

 

[tweakboy]

Get neither unless you want bottleneck.. gl

 

[RussianSensation]

This will be hooked to my 1080p TV. I plan on playing The Division on it.

Would an I5 2300 be an upgrade over the FX 6300, because I also have an I3 2100 rig that I could pick up a cheap I5 2300 for. Aside from that, I'm trying to keep the expense minimal, as this is a secondary gaming rig.

Don't bother. The Division is primarily a GPU limited game on a 60Hz monitor. If in the future you decide to upgrade the i3 2100 rig, buy an i7 3770K for it or at least an i5 3570K. i5 2300 is just a waste of $.

 

[A_Skywalker]

Will i5 2400 limit me with new generation video card like pascal but midrange, not the 1080, probably 1070.

 

[tweakboy]

Nice budget CPU, gl

 

[RussianSensation]

Will i5 2400 limit me with new generation video card like pascal but midrange, not the 1080, probably 1070.

Yes. In some games, even a 4.7Ghz i5 2500K gets murdered by an i7 6700K OC so a stock i5 2400 will bottleneck even a GTX980 in some titles. It all depends on the game you play, resolution and how high you crank AA. Use reviews or game specific testing like GameGPU.ru to check. Depends on the price of 1070, it still might be worth it.

For example, in some titles like Assassin's Creed Syndicate, or Crysis 3 or Fallout 4, even with a 1080, you will never be able to maintain 60 FPS in sections since i5 2400 isn't fast enough. In other titles, like The Witcher 3, it's a much more GPU limited game where an i5 2400+1080 would probably smoke an i7 6700K with a GTX980. Then there are titles like the Division that scale with faster CPUs but even a low end CPU gets 60 FPS averages.

I mean i5 2400 is a 5.5 year old CPU at this point. Wait until 1070 comes out and go from there. At current prices, don't buy any new $300+ GPU right now. Just wait until Polaris 10/GP104 launch around June/July.

 

[tweakboy]

AT the end of the day the 980 Ti cant be stopped until Pascal comes.