Hardware & Technical CPU to go with 1050 Ti: Would a Kaby Lake Pentium do it as a budget solution?

[Deleted member 110222]

I'm helping a friend who's looking to play Elite on PC, as he wants to use a HOTAS badly. He's on a budget, as he is by his own admission, not that well off. He likes the look of the 1050 Ti.

What I'm here to find out is, would a current-gen Pentium be good enough for Elite Dangerous, paired with this GPU? I don't have much knowledge on Pentiums, but I do have a friend who runs SLI 660's with a Haswell model, the Anniversary specifically. It works well for him.

My friend that I'm trying to help with Elite, is interested in the Pentium because it's less than £100. He really is on a budget. He's not interested in playing other games, least not newer than Elite. Some really old RPG's like Morrowind, but other than those, the only current game he plays his Elite.

So would a seventh-gen Pentium cut it for a 1050 Ti?

Thank you.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Any currently sold CPU that can manage 4-6 threads will run the game just fine.

 

[Zeeman]

Would said friend be willing to go second hand? A 4690K with a good Z97 board would be a steal, and near identical performance to a 6600K. Intel also have a 3 year warranty, it's transferable in Aus at least - I bought a 6600K second hand a few months back, it went pop on the 3rd day, I sent it to Intel, and they agreed that it wasn't my fault - they sent me a new one. [up]

A 1050Ti should be ok, I went with a 760 for a while, and it was only planetary landings that got me to go for an upgrade to a 970 - then VR for the 1080...

A 1050Ti should be somewhere between a 760 and a 970, I think, so should perform well enough at, say, 1080P with some setting adjustments.

Z...

 

[GJ51]

I run a 980Ti on a Core i7-950 CPU and it's butter smooth at all ultimate settings with no issues at all on a 34" 3440X1440 monitor with a second 24" 1920X1200 monitor.

More is always better, but CPU usually isn't a choke point from what I see and what I've read.

I have seen reports that ram can be a factor and again, more is better. I'd want at least 8 and prefer 16GB.

Ultimately, performance needs will depend on how many pixels he plans to drive, but ED isn't terribly demanding on the CPU.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Would said friend be willing to go second hand? A 4690K with a good Z97 board would be a steal, and near identical performance to a 6600K. Intel also have a 3 year warranty, it's transferable in Aus at least - I bought a 6600K second hand a few months back, it went pop on the 3rd day, I sent it to Intel, and they agreed that it wasn't my fault - they sent me a new one. [up]

A 1050Ti should be ok, I went with a 760 for a while, and it was only planetary landings that got me to go for an upgrade to a 970 - then VR for the 1080...

A 1050Ti should be somewhere between a 760 and a 970, I think, so should perform well enough at, say, 1080P with some setting adjustments.

Z...

I'll mention it to him the next time we speak on the phone. I have brought it up before, but he's paranoid about second-hand, mainly because of his limited budget. I am right now trying to find reputable sources of second-hand components to see if that changes his mind.

- - - Updated - - -

I run a 980Ti on a Core i7-950 CPU and it's butter smooth at all ultimate settings with no issues at all on a 34" 3440X1440 monitor with a second 24" 1920X1200 monitor.

More is always better, but CPU usually isn't a choke point from what I see and what I've read.

I have seen reports that ram can be a factor and again, more is better. I'd want at least 8 and prefer 16GB.

Ultimately, performance needs will depend on how many pixels he plans to drive, but ED isn't terribly demanding on the CPU.

On the RAM, I have already persuaded him to go for 8GB over the 4GB he originally proposed. So there's that, at least.

 

[Kalpa]

For most gaming, even older CPUs will do fine. Z97 board was suggested, but one could go even a generation or two further. Of course finding them at stores might be harder now. DDR3 memory is getting extra affordable now that DDR4 is really rushing in onto the market, so getting a board using that could keep costs down extra bit. Of course that will mean that when the inevitable next hardware update comes, he'll have to ditch his old board and memory to go for DDR4, as DDR3 will likely have been phased out of any competitive systems by that time. Also seriously consider going for 16GB of RAM, 8GB is really rather tight (although if you only use your PC for gaming and have no extra programs in the background running about, you'll probably manage with 8. Four gigs is definitely too little nowadays though)

I mean, I've been running my current rig (core i7 920, Intel X58 chipset) since 2009, and the CPU is still quite competitive even by modern standards (granted, that thing was the bleeding edge of technology back in the day) - it's all the other stuff that's been marching forwards, CPUs have really stagnated in development during past 10 years (there's been ton of energy efficiency increase, though, and I think rather big optimizations for floating point calculations over the years. Still, the upgrades for single core performance are pretty marginal considering the time gap. It's become all about paraller computing and lot of cores. Which are still being underutilized in most games...)

 

[winterknight]

My eldest son, who also has no money (medically unable to work), uses Pentium CPU on H97 mobo, with 960 gpu, but that's a replacement for 670 that suffered fan failure and overheated.

 

[MickyG1982]

I'm helping a friend who's looking to play Elite on PC, as he wants to use a HOTAS badly. He's on a budget, as he is by his own admission, not that well off. He likes the look of the 1050 Ti.

What I'm here to find out is, would a current-gen Pentium be good enough for Elite Dangerous, paired with this GPU? I don't have much knowledge on Pentiums, but I do have a friend who runs SLI 660's with a Haswell model, the Anniversary specifically. It works well for him.

My friend that I'm trying to help with Elite, is interested in the Pentium because it's less than £100. He really is on a budget. He's not interested in playing other games, least not newer than Elite. Some really old RPG's like Morrowind, but other than those, the only current game he plays his Elite.

So would a seventh-gen Pentium cut it for a 1050 Ti?

Thank you.

Put it this way.

[video=youtube;aQnCRwFpgVs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQnCRwFpgVs[/video]
With the 1050Ti 40-50fps in most situations the processor itself is actually being held back by the GPU

[video=youtube;oy7VLV5Knxw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy7VLV5Knxw[/video]
With the 6Gb 1060 60+fps in most situations. (more likely 70-80), The GPU is most likely being bottlenecked by the CPU here (in some of the tests)

It's no slouch. For about half the price (G4560) you are getting 90% of the performance of an i3 6100 (the 7100 doesn't provide much more) it'll easily beat my current budget gamer into the ground. Essentially the G4560 has buried anything budget by AMD until they release their new architecture, my poor system is dead, even in it's overclocked form. Obviously it's higher clocked siblings are going to perform better but that's £100for the G4620 vs £70 for the G4560 on Amazon just now, & that performance hike isn't nearly enough to spend that extra £30 (the i3 6100 is only £8 more).

Personally, I think it's an excellent stop gap CPU that provides access to the latest technology Intel provides at the moment so your friend has an easy upgrade path in the future without having to change the whole system again.

My motherboard of choice would be a Z270 based one which sit at the £120 mark for the cheaper boards, while it won't be much use on the Pentium it will be very good any K chips your friend may want to put in later.

I still want to hold back on upgrading my system until AMD brings out something better, but the Pentium route for me seems to be an ideal path too (decisions decisions), my 860K might be in for a early retirement!

There is a Caveat though, being Kaby Lake, Windows 7, 8 & 8.1 will not support the processor, Windows 10 is the only option open to your friend if he goes down that route.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Put it this way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQnCRwFpgVs
With the 1050Ti 40-50fps in most situations the processor itself is actually being held back by the GPU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy7VLV5Knxw
With the 6Gb 1060 60+fps in most situations. (more likely 70-80), The GPU is most likely being bottlenecked by the CPU here (in some of the tests)

It's no slouch. For about half the price (G4560) you are getting 90% of the performance of an i3 6100 (the 7100 doesn't provide much more) it'll easily beat my current budget gamer into the ground. Essentially the G4560 has buried anything budget by AMD until they release their new architecture, my poor system is dead, even in it's overclocked form. Obviously it's higher clocked siblings are going to perform better but that's £100for the G4620 vs £70 for the G4560 on Amazon just now, & that performance hike isn't nearly enough to spend that extra £30 (the i3 6100 is only £8 more).

Personally, I think it's an excellent stop gap CPU that provides access to the latest technology Intel provides at the moment so your friend has an easy upgrade path in the future without having to change the whole system again.

My motherboard of choice would be a Z270 based one which sit at the £120 mark for the cheaper boards, while it won't be much use on the Pentium it will be very good any K chips your friend may want to put in later.

I still want to hold back on upgrading my system until AMD brings out something better, but the Pentium route for me seems to be an ideal path too (decisions decisions), my 860K might be in for a early retirement!

There is a Caveat though, being Kaby Lake, Windows 7, 8 & 8.1 will not support the processor, Windows 10 is the only option open to your friend if he goes down that route.

Excellent videos! He'll like these. He'll be round my place in a couple hours so we can do some research together on my desktop.

He is going for Windows 10. While the PC is primarily for Elite, he decided he wanted the option to play Xbox games via play anywhere, too.

So the caveat of Kaby Lake is in his case, a non-issue.

 

[MickyG1982]

Excellent videos! He'll like these. He'll be round my place in a couple hours so we can do some research together on my desktop.

He is going for Windows 10. While the PC is primarily for Elite, he decided he wanted the option to play Xbox games via play anywhere, too.

So the caveat of Kaby Lake is in his case, a non-issue.

I'll give you one more, just for consideration on where that extra £30 could be spent... Forgive the music, it's absolute pants but the video itself makes a decent point.

[video=youtube;at-IA-4NX6s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at-IA-4NX6s[/video]

 

[drquin]

I run a 980Ti on a Core i7-950 CPU and it's butter smooth at all ultimate settings with no issues at all on a 34" 3440X1440 monitor with a second 24" 1920X1200 monitor.

More is always better, but CPU usually isn't a choke point from what I see and what I've read.

I have seen reports that ram can be a factor and again, more is better. I'd want at least 8 and prefer 16GB.

Ultimately, performance needs will depend on how many pixels he plans to drive, but ED isn't terribly demanding on the CPU.

+1 for the 1st gen I7. I also use an aging processor. I7 '920' overclocked to 3.6, paired with 1070 and 16 gigs of ram. Currentlu running 4k at max settings running smooth. Is it 60 fps? No idea as i never turned on a counter because of how smooth ot was running. To the OP, ED is not cpu intense at all. Ram, Vram, and gpu clock will be the most important factors in what resolution and graphical fidelity you want to play at. I would recommand to your buddy to continue to save up for at least a 1060 and more ram. he can pick up a PNY 16gig (8gigx2) in duel channel for ~$50 USD. If your smart with components, then he can spend ~$400 USD and be gaming in 1080 maxed on Rise of the tomb raiser if he wished.

 

[Shadowdancer]

To the OP, ED is not cpu intense at all.

Slight correction: mostly not. In solo play, it runs perfectly GPU- or refresh-limited with an FX-6300, but open play with a handful of players in the instance, it will somehow run into a CPU limit.

At this point, I would not get a first-gen i7, that thing was just a practical joke on early adopters and has a ridiculous TDP. Don't dredge so far down the swamp.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

He's made his orders. Opted for the G4560. Thanks all for your input.

 

[Zetta]

That's the 2C/4T pentium isn't it? Would be interested to hear how well that works if at all possible.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

That's the 2C/4T pentium isn't it? Would be interested to hear how well that works if at all possible.

Well it's his money. Opinion on various forums seemed to collectively agree that it's a good pairing.

Just waiting for him to get the parts now.

 

[MickyG1982]

That's the 2C/4T pentium isn't it? Would be interested to hear how well that works if at all possible.

There isn't any reason why it wouldn't, in most tests it beats out my rig (a true quad core AMD 860K) handsomely in all tests & it plays ED & EDH just fine. The GTX 1050Ti doesn't lose out much on the GTX 960 either (it performs equally in most tests). For a 1080p gaming rig with plenty of upgrading headroom for the future ahead (when circumstances are better) it is indeed a good choice.

I do agree that it would be interesting to hear just how well it works however, mainly because the pentium is quite possibly going to be my upgrade of choice too in the not too distant future...

 

[drquin]

Slight correction: mostly not. In solo play, it runs perfectly GPU- or refresh-limited with an FX-6300, but open play with a handful of players in the instance, it will somehow run into a CPU limit.

At this point, I would not get a first-gen i7, that thing was just a practical joke on early adopters and has a ridiculous TDP. Don't dredge so far down the swamp.

With genuine curiosity: Im interested to see this limit. I havent bottlenecked my cpu with ED. And i am an open play only kinda pilot. I am a fan of aging hardware and what capabilities they continue to have in modern gaming. I was an early I7 adopter and to call it a practical joke is a little more of an insult then an opinion. Well anywho. The guys buddy bought a cpu that i think will be more then sufficient for a 1050 Ti. Pascal is too OP heading into 2017.

 

[Morbad]

Slight correction: mostly not. In solo play, it runs perfectly GPU- or refresh-limited with an FX-6300, but open play with a handful of players in the instance, it will somehow run into a CPU limit.

At this point, I would not get a first-gen i7, that thing was just a practical joke on early adopters and has a ridiculous TDP. Don't dredge so far down the swamp.

First gen i7s are still pretty solid and power consumption/heat production (which is only loosely correlated to TDP) is not that bad, though obviously falls short of modern Intel parts that have seen years of node shrinks and refinements. They were stellar parts at the time, and hold up very well today in most tasks.

An i7 920 still has better performance per watt than that FX-6300, or pretty much any AM3+ part.

 

[MickyG1982]

First gen i7s are still pretty solid and power consumption/heat production (which is only loosely correlated to TDP) is not that bad, though obviously falls short of modern Intel parts that have seen years of node shrinks and refinements. They were stellar parts at the time, and hold up very well today in most tasks.

An i7 920 still has better performance per watt than that FX-6300, or pretty much any AM3+ part.

As does the Pentium G4560!

 

[Noddie]

The Pentium G4560 is - until Ryzen comes out - probably (probably) the best budget CPU out there for gaming. The only real technical advantage it's chief competitor (the AMD X4 8XX range) have is that they're true quad-core processors, not hyperthreaded. This probably doesn't matter much, though. As has been said, the X4 can support Windows 7,8, etc and the G4560 can't - although I don't know how that effects running the older OS as a virtualized guest (the G4560 is not optimal for Virtualisation, but probably will not entirely prevent you doing it).

The X4 845, in particular, is slightly cheaper than the G4560, as are the cheaper motherboards in the AMD range. But for the additional spend, I'd go with the G4560 all day long.

The only other aspect is that X4 range do come with the Wraith cooler, which is REALLY quiet. The Stock intel one isn't, but that's not usually a concern for gamers and it isn't particularly loud unless pushed hard.