Running fine on high everything with a mildly upgraded non-gaming PC?

Hi, this is my second post. I found BeamNG from Insanegaz on Youtube and was hooked immediately. Bought it a week or two ago.
At the time, I was running Intel HD integrated graphics (horrible for anything more than g-mod BTW) but when I got BeamNG I was getting at most 50-60 FPS on lowest everything (see below for comp specs), the only maps I could use were grid pure and grid with environment. So, I looked into a new GPU and settled on a NVidia GTX 650. Got one at BesyBuy the next day. Now everything runs flawless. High texture, mesh, lighting, and shader, running on a 32" monitor, getting above 80 FPS most of the time on any map, around 60 if I add AI. I was surprised because the high end requirements are waaay above what I am running. What gives? Am I missing something here?

Specs in case you cant read my sig:

(imported from here)

 

Well you aren't exactly drawing to the highest resolution display ever invented and although its only an i3 the CPU does have some decent single thread performance, sure its no i5 or i7 overclocked to 4.5ghz but its not that bad.

 

650 is to ~720p as the 750ti/760 is to 1080p. It'll max it with little problems. The i3 is also a dual core so you will not have a problem until 3 cars+.

 

I have the 650ti and it is quite a bit better than your 650 and it can run the game maxed out with postfx at 900p with no issues. Because I have a pretty low-ish end CPU (AMD A8-3850) in Drive it bottlenecks the GPU. (GPU only reaches 100% load if I have a car that doesn't need as much CPU power or something.)

 

how good is that gtx 650??
i may get one

 

BeamNG running at 60 FPS on max settings with a lowly Core i3 and a low-end graphics card?

Any proof of this?

Because I have a Pentium G860 and an HD7770 and I can't even get 40 FPS on Dry Rock Island with just a D-Series unless I turn shadows off and everything else to low. There's little difference between a Pentium series and a Core i3 series nowadays apart from the Pentium's lack of hyperthreading.

 

That makes all the difference for a game like BeamNG I believe...

 

eh, only for multiple vehicles.



Should also be noted that only mobile i3's have hyperthreading. Only 2 of the non mobile i5's have hyperthreading. Hyperthreading is primarily an i7 and xeon feature.

 

If that is true, you are one lucky guy.
See my specs and how "good" FPS I get:

 

BeamNG seems to not get along with Core architectures before Sandy Bridge, and that 1 GB of VRAM is probably hurting you with all of the new textures everywhere.

 

All desktop i3s from SNB onwards have hyperthreading AFAIK, that is what differentiates them from Pentiums.

 

I recently bought my new PC (last week) and I have a 4130 i3, 4 gb ram and a gtx 570 for only 330 € ($ 350) and I get 50-60 fps with ultra with post fx in extreme all map to a resolution of 1440x900

 

Odd, the i5's certainly dont so I wouldnt expect the i3s to have it aswell, but then they do have a lower core count so maybe they do get HT to make up for that.

 

(This is all for desktops)
i3s are 2c/4t with less cache and no turbo. Low end i5s are 2c/4t with turbo and more cache. High end i5s are 4c/4t with turbo and even more cache. i7s are 4c/8t with turbo and even more cache and then you get EE i7s that get crazy.