Purchasing a high-performance graphics card is essential for enjoying demanding games with optimal graphical quality and taking advantage of advanced technologies that enhance the gaming experience. However, it's crucial to understand that a graphics card's performance can be significantly influenced by the processor used. If the processor can't keep up, the graphics card will experience a bottleneck that will limit its performance.
Hence the importance of this article, so that you understand which graphics card is most recommended depending on the processor you have.
Most Used Type of Processors
When it comes to choosing a processor for your system, two of the most notable options are Intel and Ryzen processors .
Intel processors are known for their solid performance and wide range of options, and have been a popular choice for many years. AMD's Ryzen processors , on the other hand, have gained ground in the market with their excellent value and focus on offering more cores and threads at a competitive price.
The choice between Intel and Ryzen will depend on your specific needs, but both brands offer solid solutions for a variety of applications and budgets.
Now, it's important to know what processor you have in order to choose a suitable graphics card , this way you avoid bottlenecks.
A bottleneck occurs when one component limits the performance of another. For example, the processor may negatively affect the performance of the graphics card by not supplying it with the necessary data and instructions at the required speed. This results in significant downtime for the graphics card.
How to identify a bottleneck before purchasing a graphics card?
To identify a serious bottleneck, simply observe high CPU utilization and GPU utilization below 85%. In this case, the processor is working at its limit while the graphics card is not being utilized effectively, wasting much of its potential.
There may also be less severe bottlenecks, with the CPU running at full capacity but the GPU maintaining 90% utilization, as well as mild bottlenecks, with the GPU operating at least 95%.
It's also essential to consider the screen resolution, as this will determine the graphics card's workload and the impact on processor performance. At lower resolutions, the GPU will take on less of the workload, and the CPU will have a greater impact on performance, and vice versa.
It's important to remember that graphics settings also influence the relationship between the GPU and CPU. Reducing the graphics quality will reduce the workload on the graphics card and increase the influence of the processor, and vice versa. Enabling demanding settings, such as ray tracing, will increase the workload on the graphics card and reduce the importance of the processor.
On the other hand, it's crucial to highlight the importance of optimization in game settings. Many current games only scale effectively on quad-core, eight-thread processors; some run acceptably on six-core, twelve-thread processors. However, anything beyond six cores and twelve threads won't have a significant impact on game performance, as they aren't optimized to take advantage of these resources.
Tips for choosing your graphics card
If gaming is your goal, choosing a 6-core, 12-thread processor with high IPC, like the Ryzen 7 7700X, is a great option.
However, don't get so obsessed with IPC that you underestimate the importance of the number of cores and threads. Currently, having fewer than 4 cores and 8 threads may not be enough for reliable gaming, and the ideal is to aim for a 6-core, 12-thread configuration. 8-core, 16-thread processors are only necessary in specific cases, such as when gaming and multitasking simultaneously.
In short, choosing the right processor for your graphics card depends on several factors, including screen resolution, graphics quality, and game optimization. Maintaining a balance between your CPU and GPU is critical to getting the best performance in your games.