Pentium G4560 + GTX 1050 Ti: Gaming at 1080p, Will It Bottleneck?

What is the gaming experience like for the Pentium G4560 + GTX 1050 Ti combo? Will it be able to deliver 1080p 60 fps gaming without creating bottlenecks? Let’s take a deeper look.

Pentium G4560 Paired with Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti

Nvidia’s GTX 1050 Ti is a great deal at the $139 price point when it comes to purchasing a new graphics card for your budget gaming rig. The card is based on the same Pascal architecture as the rest of the GeForce GTX 10-series, but uses a more efficient silicon to bring 1080p gaming to a wider audience.

The GTX 1050 Ti is paired with Pentium G4560, which is potentially the most interesting budget CPU Intel has released in years. Based on 14nm Kaby Lake (7th generation) architecture, the G4560 was originally priced at $65, but has slowly climed its way up to $80 due to a supply/demand imbalance. Even at this price, the processor is still a bargain.

Both GTX 1050 Ti and Pentium G4560 will cost you just over $200. With these two devices, you can assemble a pretty cheap system which should be capable of handling 1080p gaming at 60 FPS between medium and high settings.

The rest of the test system features a Z170 motherboard, with 16GB of RAM clocked at 2666MHz. There’s also a 500W power supply for some upgradability in the future as well as 1TB of storage so that it doesn’t look half-assed either.

Do note that the GTX 1050 Ti we’re using here, is an overclocked MSI variant. The card is a bit on the more expensive side, but it’s worth it. You get an additional 150MHz on the GPU clock and an additional 700MHz on the memory.

You May Also Like: GeForce GTX 1050 Ti vs GTX 750 Ti – Worth The Upgrade?

Pentium G4560 + GTX 1050 Ti Budget Combo under $550

Pentium G4560 + GTX 1050 Ti Benchmarks

Let’s dive into the benchmarks. The test was performed by our friend at Optimum Tech who ran a number of games on the Pentium G4560 + GTX 1050 Ti combo, to see if the Pentium processor holds back Nvidia’s Pascal card from being fully utilized.

Starting off with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the experience was fairly pleasant with no visual stuttering or frame rate drops. At 1080p medium settings, the little budget combo was able to reach an average 60 fps. The lowest 1% and 0.1% frames are quite far behind that average of 60, but it’s still a decent performance per price.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds – 1080P, Medium

In GTA V however, the Pentium G4560 does hold back the GTX 1050 Ti in certain conditions. If you are just driving around in normal conditions, you should have a fairly good experience mostly around the 70 fps mark. In population dense areas though, you can expect that to slow down to around 50 fps.

GTA V – 1080P, High

But, you shouldn’t be able to notice any immersion-breaking drops, and given the fact that we are playing at high settings, I’d say the experience is solid except that G4560 hits 100% load.

The most demanding title in the benchmark stack is definitely Witcher 3. Here, the Pentium chip slows down a little in really demanding conditions, for example riding past several NPCs who try to engage in conversations, or when fights break out.

Witcher 3 – 1080P, Medium

At 1080p medium settings, you see an average 53 fps with the lowest 1% and 0.1% at 39 and 22 fps respectively. If you want to maintain a consistent 60 fps then consider tuning down the settings to low, or investing a little more money in the CPU and GPU.

Battlefield 1 Multiplayer is also quite demanding on the CPU. The Pentium G4560 does hit the 100% utilization and creates bottlenecks a few times. At high settings, you should be able to play at 59 fps with the lowest 1% and 0.1% frames coming in at 38 and 25 respectively.

Battlefield 1 Multiplayer – DX11, 1080P, High

As you can see, we are struggling a little bit here, and the condition should improve with more cores and threads on board.

Overwatch pushes close to an average 100 fps at ultra settings. You can easily see those numbers increased to 120 fps and above, if you are prepared to drop settings to medium or low. Even the lowest 1% frame is above the 60 fps mark indicating a very smooth experience here.

Overwatch – 1080P, Ultra

Far Cry Primal, similar to Witcher 3, does prove to be quite demanding for this humble duo. The settings need to be dropped down to normal just to play about 60 fps. But, the game is fairly impresive even at normal settings as the high quality textures are retained.

Far Cry Primal – 1080P, Normal

Prey shows a fairly solid experience at ultra settings above 60 fps. The 0.1% result is again falling short but the 1% frames are coming in strong at 47 fps. So the G4560 is definitely capable here with no noticeable signs of stuttering.

Prey – 1080P, Ultra

Conclusion

That is all about the G4560 + GTX 1050 Ti gaming benchmarks. So, will the Pentium processor bottleneck the 1050 Ti?

To be fair, I am pretty impressed with the performance of the duo at 1080p. Sure, you do see the G4560 at 100% usage at very demanding conditions but these events are few and far between. You will obviously get better scaling with more cores and threads, but that is entirely up to you where you want to spend that extra cash.

Many would call it to be the ultimate console killer combination. That makes sense considering you are getting a much better performance than what a non-4K consoles currently offers. But, given the parts included in our list, you are paying a little bit extra as well.

Let me know what you guys think. If you are already pairing the exact two devices together, are you having a great time gaming at 1080p? Do tell us in the comments below.