4 Reasons to Upgrade Your Gaming PC CPU Instead of the GPU

Own a gaming PC and are reasoning astir upgrading your GPU? Before pulling the trigger, it’s worthy checking whether you’ll beryllium amended disconnected upgrading your CPU instead. Here’s erstwhile a CPU upgrade tin beryllium much beneficial than getting a caller graphics card.

CPU Bottlenecks successful Games You Play? Get a New CPU

If you’ve noticed the games you play aren’t performing astatine their best, and you're connected the mode to the store to get a caller graphics card, cheque show metrics successful said games earlier pulling the weapon connected a caller GPU. You mightiness observe that your CPU, not the GPU, is holding you back.

Some games are precise CPU-intensive, and a caller GPU won't springiness you the boost successful show you're looking for. Let’s instrumentality Kingdom Come: Deliverance II arsenic an example. The crippled isn’t ace CPU-demanding extracurricular larger settlements, but it tin truly propulsion the CPU successful the game’s largest city, Kuttenberg.

The screenshot below, taken successful 1 of Kuttenberg’s busier areas, shows the crippled moving connected my erstwhile CPU, an AMD Ryzen 5600X. As you tin see, my GPU (RX 9070 XT) is poorly utilized, sitting astatine lone 85%. You privation to spot astatine slightest 95% GPU utilization successful games; if it’s lower, your CPU is astir apt the bottleneck. On the different hand, the CPU was sitting astatine 66% utilization, which is rather precocious and could hint astatine having a CPU bottleneck.

After switching to a Ryzen 5700X3D, my GPU utilization jumped to 99%, its powerfulness usage astir doubled, and the crippled present runs astir 20FPS faster! On the different hand, the CPU is present little utilized, sitting astatine lone 48%, and besides moving a batch cooler contempt maine utilizing the aforesaid CPU cooler with some processors.

Something akin happened successful Cyberpunk 2077. In immoderate parts of Night City with galore NPCs, my aged 5600X simply wasn’t up to snuff. I noticed that my GPU utilization was astir 90% oregon lower. But erstwhile I upgraded the CPU, I gained astir 10-12 frames connected average, and my GPU utilization jumped to 99%.

Now, a CPU that cannot support gait with a much almighty GPU won’t conscionable bounds your mean framework rate; it tin besides origin CPU-induced stuttering. For example, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is highly CPU-demanding, and my aged 5600X was not large astatine moving the game, resulting successful changeless CPU-related stutters caused by loading caller assets erstwhile moving astir the representation connected apical of bottlenecking my GPU.

Upgrading to the 5700X3D didn’t lick the stutters due to the fact that the crippled occasionally stutters adjacent with the 9800X3D, but they became little pronounced, greatly improving the wide in-game experience.

In Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the stuttering caused by my anemic CPU wasn’t arsenic salient and didn’t truly fuss me, but it was there. After I got the caller CPU, it wholly disappeared.

If you’ve got a anemic CPU that cannot support gait with your GPU, you should spot akin show stats erstwhile moving CPU-demanding games. If that’s the case, deliberation astir upgrading the CPU first.

A New CPU Can Boost Performance successful Multiplayer Games

A caller CPU tin beryllium a amended concern than a caller GPU, adjacent if you similar playing multiplayer games alternatively of single-player games that punish your CPU.

Suppose you play multiplayer games with “competitive” settings (most graphics settings acceptable to low) applied. In that case, the burden’s connected the CPU, particularly successful titles that are CPU-limited nary substance the ocular settings, specified arsenic Counter-Strike 2 oregon Valorant.

This applies to little resolutions specified arsenic 1080p, but galore esports titles tin beryllium CPU-limited adjacent astatine 1440p and 4K.

So, if you aren’t satisfied with show successful your favourite multiplayer pastimes and are mulling implicit getting a caller graphics card, cheque the CPU and GPU show metrics successful the multiplayer games you play. Chances are that your CPU, not the GPU, is holding you back.

Using Your PC for Other CPU-Intensive Tasks? Get a New CPU

If you usage a azygous PC for enactment and gaming and gain a surviving with it, a caller CPU mightiness payment you much than a caller graphics card.

For example, if your enactment includes often compiling ample projects, semi-pro oregon nonrecreational video editing, analyzable fiscal oregon technological modeling, CPU rendering, and different tasks wherever a beefy graphics paper is little important than a almighty CPU, get a caller CPU present and upgrade the GPU aboriginal with the other currency you volition person earned with your caller CPU.

To comparison however overmuch show you tin summation by upgrading to a caller CPU successful photograph and video editing apps, cheque retired the Puget Systems benchmark results page, prime the app you’re using, and past prime your existent CPU and the 1 you program to upgrade to.

Another large root of CPU show metric comparisons is CPU reviews implicit astatine TechPowerUp. The outlet tests CPUs successful a multitude of productivity scenarios, from video editing to media encoding to codification compilation and more.

Gamer’s Nexus besides includes tons of productivity benchmarks successful their CPU reviews, which are besides disposable successful written form.

A High-Performance Gaming CPU Costs Much Less Than a Beefy GPU

Unfortunately, the GPU marketplace is not successful a large spot close now. High prices, which volition astir apt get adjacent higher with tariffs, debased availability with galore GPUs going retired of banal minutes aft restocking, and a dearth of due fund gaming GPUs each person detrimental effects connected the gaming GPU market.

On the different hand, the CPU marketplace is thriving. Even with tariffs, CPUs are much affordable than graphics cards. For example, you tin get the champion gaming CPU connected the market, the Ryzen 9800X3D, for $500. The Ryzen 7800X3D, arguably the second-best gaming CPU, tin beryllium yours for astir $400.

The implicit champion CPU prime for professionals successful request of a almighty productivity CPU that tin besides tally games arsenic good arsenic the 9800X3D, the Ryzen 9950X3D, costs $699.

Better yet, outlets specified arsenic Newegg and Microcenter merchantability CPU, motherboard, and representation combos that let you to power to a existent platform, similar AMD’s AM5, for cheaper than what it would outgo to get a mid-range graphics card.

For instance, arsenic of clip of writing, you tin snag a Ryzen 9700X, a large all-around CPU, a decent AMD B650 motherboard, and 32GB of precise coagulated DDR5 memory for $400. This combo tin supply competitory gaming show for fractional a decade.

Then there's the Ryzen 9600X, which tin support gait with virtually each modern graphics card, nary substance the resolution, selling for little than $250. Conversely, $400 tin nett you thing similar a Radeon RX 7600 XT oregon an RTX 5060 Ti 8GB, 2 overpriced 8GB cards that aren’t good suited for modern games supra the 1080p resolution.

With $250 successful your pocket, you’re constricted to fund GPUs suited for 1080p gaming with mean settings, specified arsenic the RX 6600 oregon the RTX 3050, the second of which I don’t urge getting successful the archetypal place.

The GPU marketplace is truly not that large astatine the moment. The champion gaming-grade GPU, the NVIDIA RTX 4090, costs arsenic overmuch arsenic $4000, treble its MSRP. More realistic options, specified arsenic the RTX 5070 Ti oregon the RX 9070 XT, merchantability for astatine slightest $900 and much than $800, respectively, with galore models costing northbound of $1,000. These are disapointingly precocious prices for what should beryllium upper-mid-range GPUs.

In different words, you tin get a flagship gaming CPU for $500, portion the aforesaid magnitude of currency tin lone nett you a mid-range GPU suited for 1440p gaming without ray tracing, similar the 16GB mentation of the RTX 5060 Ti.

If you’re itching to upgrade your CPU oregon GPU, unless your GPU is dying oregon cannot supply a playable acquisition successful the games you plan, get a caller CPU instead.

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Sometimes, upgrading your CPU tin beryllium a amended concern than a caller GPU, adjacent if you lone usage your PC for gaming. This is particularly existent if you’re an esports-focused gamer oregon if you usage your PC for enactment and fun, and your workflow includes CPU-intensive apps, a caller CPU is often a amended upgrade enactment since it volition virtually marque you much currency by reducing the clip needed to decorativeness projects.