A bottleneck occurs when one component of our PC does not allow another to perform at its best, which causes the final result to not be as expected. If you see that your favorite computer games do not perform as they should according to the hardware you have, it is possible that your system is unbalanced and it would be time to renew it. That is why we are going to explain the relationship between the CPU and the Frames per second and how to know when it limits performance in games.
First of all, we must clarify that the processor and graphics card requirements are not the same for all games and vary from one title to another. However, when it comes to improving our PC to be able to enjoy better performance in our games, we can find ourselves limited. We know that we do not always have the capital to update both components and we must choose which one to update. So our recommendation is that if you can, replace both to improve the performance of our PC.
How does the CPU influence frames per second?
Video games are nothing more than a continuous loop in which in each frame the processor updates the situation of the scene and creates a screen list that is nothing more than a series of instructions for the graphics to generate the frame.
So the frame time is not what it takes for the graphics card to generate the frame, but rather it is a sum of both.
- If the FPS rate is not capped, then a more powerful CPU or GPU will result in an increased frame rate.
- If the FPS rate is fixed, an underpowered CPU will take away power from the graphics card, which will have to reduce the level of detail to reach the stipulated speed. This can be achieved by cutting the resolution, eliminating the use of certain graphic filters or using other equivalents that require less computing power.
That is why if you increase the power of the processor you always see an increase in performance, despite the fact that the rest of the hardware is exactly the same, since, on the one hand, the time per frame is reduced, and on the other hand, it we give more time to the graph in a fixed time. Let’s not forget that saying FPS is the same as talking about frequency, which is the inverse of time.
How to know that the CPU of your PC is the bottleneck?
The first thing you should look at is the technical requirements of the game, if you see that it is lower than what is recommended by the game developer, then what you should do is reduce the level of detail in the game so that the CPU spends less time creating the list screen and save a few extra milliseconds. In the event that you meet the specifications, make sure to close the rest of the applications that you are using and that also require the attention of the processor.
However, there is another bottleneck that is due to lack of activity . If when running any video game on your PC you go to the Task Manager and you find that the CPU has a very low percentage of use , then it’s time to force the machinery. Not in vain, the current Intel and AMD processors when they have a low workload relax in clock speed to reduce their consumption and heat. Therefore, they lower their performance.
Perhaps the game runs at a stable frame rate and is fully playable with great fluidity, but it’s time to hit the gas. How? Simple, turn up the game’s image resolution and suddenly you’ll see the magic . Your graphics card will switch to moving graphics under a higher resolution at a frame rate almost the same as before.