PC Bottleneck Calculator

How to Use the Bottleneck Calculator

1. Choose your CPU and graphics card from the lists.
2. Pick the resolution you play at. This matters more than anything else, because the same pair can be CPU-limited at 1080p and GPU-limited at 4K.
3. Optionally pick a game. Games marked CPU-heavy (such as Counter-Strike 2) or GPU-heavy (such as Cyberpunk 2077) shift the balance towards that part.
4. Calculate to see the likely bottleneck, its size, an FPS range for low to ultra settings, a PSU size and upgrade suggestions.

Use Compare Builds to put two CPU and GPU pairs side by side, or click one of the example builds to load it into the calculator.

Example Results

The pattern is the important part. A fast graphics card with a slow CPU is held back most at 1080p, where the card finishes each frame quickly and spends time waiting. At 4K each frame is about four times the work for the card, so the same card becomes the limit, even with a fast CPU like the 7800X3D. Being GPU-limited at 4K is normal and means you're getting the most from your graphics card.

How the Estimate Is Worked Out

1. Each CPU and graphics card has a relative performance score in the tool's hardware list.
2. The scores are adjusted for resolution. At 1080p the graphics card's score is raised by 25% and the CPU's lowered by 15%, because the card has fewer pixels to draw. At 4K the card's score is lowered by 10% and the CPU's raised by 15%. At 1440p they're left as they are.
3. If you pick a CPU-heavy game, the CPU's score is divided by 1.2; for a GPU-heavy game, the card's is. A game that's heavy on both leaves them unchanged.
4. The bottleneck is the gap between the two scores as a share of the higher one. Under 10% is shown as balanced; 10–25% minor, 25–40% moderate, 40–60% severe and 60% or more critical.
5. The suggested PSU is the CPU's maximum power plus the card's board power plus 100 W for the rest of the system, with 25% headroom, rounded up to a standard size (450, 550, 650, 750, 850, 1000, 1200 or 1500 W).

The calculation runs on the Orbit2x server using the hardware list stored there. Nothing is downloaded from benchmark sites.

How to Check for a Bottleneck in Your Own Games

The reliable test is to watch CPU and GPU usage while you play, with an overlay such as the one in your graphics driver software or MSI Afterburner with RivaTuner.

• GPU usage at about 95–99%: the graphics card is the limit. That's the normal, healthy state, especially at 1440p and 4K.
• GPU usage well below 90% while frame rate is below your target: something else is holding the card back, usually the CPU. Look at the busiest CPU thread, not the overall CPU percentage; one core at 100% can limit a game while the total shows 40%.
• Lowering the resolution doesn't raise FPS: a strong sign of a CPU limit.
• A frame-rate cap or V-Sync keeps both parts below full use, so turn it off while testing.

Limitations

• Only 15 CPUs (Intel Core 12th to 14th gen, AMD Ryzen 5000 and 7000) and 15 graphics cards (GTX 1660 SUPER to RTX 4090 and RX 6600 to RX 7900 XTX) are listed, plus 10 games.
• A single score per part can't capture how different games use cores, cache and memory, which is why CPUs with extra cache such as the 7800X3D do better in many games than their score suggests.
• RAM speed, graphics settings, upscaling (DLSS, FSR), drivers, background apps and cooling all change real results and aren't modelled.
• FPS ranges are rough estimates from the same scores, not measured benchmarks.
• Prices shown in the hardware lists are list prices stored with the data and may be out of date.