CPU for BF4 (crossfire).

chief barker · 2 Oct 2013 at 05:22

I know it's only a BETA but I am CPU bottlenecked in BF3 too with my i7 920 @ 4GHZ.

I have two 7970s and would like a definitive answer as to what CPU/motherboard bundle to buy.

This bundle with the MSI board (not sure what board to be honest).

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-180-OE

Or go all out and get this,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-182-OE&groupid=43&catid=2512&subcat=2513

Make · 2 Oct 2013 at 08:23

I'd pick the 4770k bundle if money is not an object and you got the proper cooling for it. You will surely avoid bottlenecks with that in future games as well.

You'll need the second one if you go quadfire or something crazy like that.

Hades · 2 Oct 2013 at 08:44

Judging by outdoors reports on the BF4 beta benchmarking thread in the graphics card forum I'd say something with more than 4 threads and a graphics card with at least 3gb VRAM. A top level i7 is ideal if you have the money. Or wait until the non-beta is out and see if the requirements are more sensible.

gpuerrilla · 2 Oct 2013 at 09:37

On a budget? Maybe an 8 core FX would be an option in addition to the GPU with 3Gb VRAM.

Marine-RX179 · 2 Oct 2013 at 09:45

Th0nt said:
On a budget? Maybe an 8 core FX would be an option in addition to the GPU with 3Gb VRAM.

It's not just about the number of threads the games using, it's about the overall grunt as well.

Overclocked FX8 WILL still bottleneck a pair of 7970 at 1920 res.

May be Mantle will somehow reduce the load or stress placed on CPU (or just make the use of CPU more efficient thus improve performance), but we won't know until December.

Martini1991 · 2 Oct 2013 at 09:58

With Mantle, I can assume an FX83 probably wouldn't bottleneck a 7970 Crossfire in BF4, but it's 1 game.

8 Pack · 2 Oct 2013 at 10:02

4770K for two cards. Those chips in that bundle are hand binned and you could well get more out of em.

gpuerrilla · 2 Oct 2013 at 11:24

Martini1991 said:
With Mantle, I can assume an FX83 probably wouldn't bottleneck a 7970 Crossfire in BF4, but it's 1 game.

The OP stated BF4 and not "loads of other games" so it applies.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 2 Oct 2013 at 11:37

Here are the GameGPU results for the BETA:

http://gamegpu.ru/action-/-fps-/-tps/battlefield-4-beta-test-gpu.html

With a Geforce Titan the FX8350 is around Core i7 2600K level in the article.

Edit!!

Having said that,an overclocked socket 1366 Core i7 should be OK.

chief barker · 2 Oct 2013 at 12:23

8 Pack said:
4770K for two cards. Those chips in that bundle are hand binned and you could well get more out of em.

It's gone up £110 since I last looked at it, I must have missed that deal.

uksoldierboy · 2 Oct 2013 at 13:08

I'd go with 8Pack's advice and get a 4770K if you can, i get 99% gpu usage in every game i've played including BF4 (I know you have a vastly superior gpu setup though but thought i'd add it anyway) Cpu usage is around 40-50%.

murah · 2 Oct 2013 at 13:10

chief barker said:
I know it's only a BETA but I am CPU bottlenecked in BF3 too with my i7 920 @ 4GHZ.

no offence but I dont think you can tell that information from this "BETA" its a 6 month old build approved for consoles, Has little to no optimisations and everyone no matter the speed of their CPU/GPU are experiencing issues of some kind

While I agree your CPU could be a potential bottleneck for two 7970s I wouldn't base that on this "beta". Does it bottleneck your cards in any other game you play?

Edit: useless post saw your bottlenecked in bf3 though I would double check that

chief barker · 2 Oct 2013 at 13:23

Cheers fellas, I'm a bit gutted that the bundle has gone up in price though.

I'm definitely CPU bottlenecked, I'm overdue a change anyway.

Marine-RX179 · 2 Oct 2013 at 14:49

Th0nt said:
The OP stated BF4 and not "loads of other games" so it applies.

To be fair, none of us know how exactly will Mantle be impacting on the use of hardware. As far as we know, it should definitely squeeze more performance out of the graphic cards, but (although I myself suggested the possibility) we won't know for certain if Mantle is really gonna help improving the efficiency or performance on CPU side of things...yet.

teppic · 2 Oct 2013 at 14:59

Marine-RX179 said:
To be fair, none of us know how exactly will Mantle be impacting on the use of hardware. As far as we know, it should definitely squeeze more performance out of the graphic cards, but (although I myself suggested the possibility) we won't know for certain if Mantle is really gonna help improving the efficiency or performance on CPU side of things...yet.

AMD has said that's half the point of Mantle, to move load from the CPU to the GPU and to use 8 cores as much as possible.

HighlandeR · 2 Oct 2013 at 15:30

Is that true they used a 6 month old console type build for this beta?

Seems rather poor and shoddy to do that? considering the games due in a few weeks time...

May explain all the performance and optimisations that may not have been included... heck they may even have fine tuned and balanced it further.

I would hate to wait till Xmas time to find out if Mantle is going to be big, and if all of a sudden AMD GPUS and CPUS are gonna excel like we all dreamed off !

zuludawn · 2 Oct 2013 at 16:24

chief barker said:
I'm definitely CPU bottlenecked, I'm overdue a change anyway.

How have you tested this, my 920 @ 4.4GHZ with xfire oc 7970 is only hitting just over 60% CPU usage in BF3 at an average of 120fps just tested it, yet you say yours has a definite bottleneck or am i missing something?

murah · 2 Oct 2013 at 16:57

HighlandeR said:
Is that true they used a 6 month old console type build for this beta?

Seems rather poor and shoddy to do that? considering the games due in a few weeks time...

May explain all the performance and optimisations that may not have been included... heck they may even have fine tuned and balanced it further.

I would hate to wait till Xmas time to find out if Mantle is going to be big, and if all of a sudden AMD GPUS and CPUS are gonna excel like we all dreamed off !

Yup because it had to be licensed and other such company crap, basically consoles holding back PC STILL

HighlandeR · 2 Oct 2013 at 17:17

thx that explains many things then, clearly no time for optimisations and tweeks and more control for the pc beta.

I think its best to ignor the beta and wait a few more weeks to see what the real BF4 is like.

Marine-RX179 · 2 Oct 2013 at 18:49

teppic said:
AMD has said that's half the point of Mantle, to move load from the CPU to the GPU and to use 8 cores as much as possible.

Yea but the thing is if Mantle works in a way of only requiring a AMD GCN gpu, the perform gap between Intel and AMD would remain unchanged, unless Mantle won't work without AMD CPU.