The bottleneck in my new system is at the processing stage.
The bottleneck in my new system is at the processing stage.
It's not just about having four cores; the R7 240 is actually a mid-range GPU. The X4 860K is on the lower side compared to what we see today, especially when you consider Intel's offerings—competitors don’t have low-end Zen CPUs, so this isn’t as weak as it seems.
You need to be flexible with what you consider "mid-range." Neither the Athlon X4 860K nor the R7 240 stands out against the current midpoint of CPU or GPU performance, and it's unlikely anyone will have a clear idea of what that means for recent games. Core count isn't the best metric anymore. Right now, most processors offer 2 to 4 cores at a wide range of price and power.
It's in the mid-range category, though it feels a bit average. I understand the GPU isn't great—it was originally from an older office computer I purchased pretending it was a gaming machine. *thx pc world*