Avoid this PC Gaming Mistake! CPU Bottleneck Explained

What is a CPU bottleneck in a gaming PC? And why is it a bad thing? To see how it effects both the GPU and gaming performance, I've tested using my RTX 3080!
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Modern PC Specs:
Gigabyte B650M Gaming X AX:

Xeon PC Specs:
Intel Xeon E3 1240 V2
16GB DDR3 1600MHz
B75 mATX motherboard
(rest of the specs are the same)

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[RudysLeatherWorks]

Made this mistake recently when I upgraded my GPU to a RX 7900 XTX and temporarily kept my i7-9700K installed. 😅

[BrunodeSouzaLino]

I think one important reason as to why being GPU bottlenecked is preferred over CPU is because GPU processing is more expensive per watt than CPU processing. With the setup shown in the video, you're wasting GPU power by not maxing out the GPU and graphics cards are sort of designed to be maxed out anyways, especially considering the massive coolers they have.

[davidmacfarlane]

This is a great video and the charts comparing the 12 year old CPU vs a modern one on a High End card is useful on each game. Most users don't have a high end CPU on hand to test for the presence of a CPU botttleneck. It's good you included slides for multiple resolutions, and You have all the right data collected, but a technique could help in future videos like this by showing the resolution scaling on the same slide. A telltale sign of a CPU bottleneck occurs when changes in resolution and graphics settings seem to have little or no influence on performance.

I figured out what a CPU bottleneck was back in 2012 when I played Guild Wars 2 on WvWvW. I was getting single digit averages on my Phenom II X3 720 BE paired with a Radeon 4850. No matter what resolution or detail settings I selected the performance was always the same. I upgraded to Core i5 3570k, and the difference was phenomenal even with the on-chip Intel HD 4000 APU. That's right, if I played on medium or low And lowered the Resolution I had a MUCH better experience on integrated graphics than the much more powerful 4850 card.When I finally put the 4850 card in (I had a great experience in WvWvW, , though it was not perfect(!

[UncomfortableCouch]

Thank you for this. Can you please make a video on how to do a clean install of windows on a brand new SSD? Or how to switch it from HDD to SSD? Thanks!

[jordan-mnyy]

Cpu bottleneck will always hurt more your experience vs a gpu bottleneck cause the only thing designed to handle a bottleneck is your gpu. So use 500hz mouse polling rate to keep your cpu bottleneck away from youre experience.

[mOddEdLiKeHeLL]

I have a spare PC laying around with a 4 gen i5 (k series) and I put a GTX 1080 in it. 😂. It’s only in there because I was having trouble with it, video cutting out, in another PC. Figured out it was the hdmi cable. But I kept it in there. Some games, the micro stutter is funny. That i5 pushes 99% at times and GTX 1080 is like cruising.

[sebastian_hakansson]

New subscriber from Sweden here!
Interesting videos.. But... I still us a that cpu with a rx6600 in manjaro Linux, sure bottlenecks and more performance with newer system.. I get over 100fps in most "newish" games though, completely playable and not much stutter. Maybe AMD an Linux is more "forgiving" and use old hardware better? A new i3 12100 is not that much better really. Keep the good stuff up!

[TotallySearch]

This is me when I pair a AMD 3 4100 CPU with a 4090

[AdamAdam-gxpt]

Hi mate how do I know/find out/learn which gpu is best suited with a cpu…and vice versa..in general before I build the machine. Thanks

[Vermine_]

I’m planning on buying a 7900 GRE 16GB the dual fan model and I have an Intelcore i7-10700, do I risk a bottleneck and if so what’s a good cpu to buy ? Great video btw !

[antondovydaitis]

Based on what I have been able to figure out, I think that a Ryzen 5 5500 will be more than enough at 1080p for an RX 6650XT, but I don't want a weaker CPU.

If I wanted an RX 7700XT for unoptimized Unteal Engine 5+ 1080p, I am not sure what CPU would be more appropriate.

EDIT: Originally I was considering one of those Lenovo Thinkstation P520s with an Intel Xeon W-2135 and RTX 2080, but was talked out it because a couple creators advised me that it would be strongly CPU bottlenecked.

What's your opinion?

[talhaiftikhar]

Im gonna pair my rtx 2060 with i7-4770. How much performance will i get out of my machine ?

[xGamerGeek]

ryzen 7 5800x and rtx 3060TI, is that a good combo? totally new on the pc market.

[pacocarrion]

Avoid bottleneck...spend 3000$ in your computer🤑

[Galexlol]

i've a 3930k and a 2060 on a 1080p, i wanted to wait to upgrade the cpu until i really needed it but wanted to upgrade gpu asap but this video holy f would upgrading the cpu really double fps almost? why the hell are the fps going lower? that's insane lol