Which computer component is to blame for poor gaming performance? What is a «throat» or bottleneck in the PC world, who is to blame in the first place, and what should every PC gaming fan know? Or maybe it’s not the hardware at all? Let’s take this phenomenon one step at a time.
Content
What is «bottleneck»?
«Bottleneck» literally translates as «bottleneck», and in the world of computers it is translated as «bottleneck», «bottleneck». That is, it is something that limits the speed of the system, or rather one component that makes other components not work at full capacity.
For example, a mechanic assembled a car with a super-powerful engine, but did not take care of a high-quality suspension. This car covers straight distances of 400 meters quickly, always in the lead, but loses to other cars in classic track races because it literally falls apart in the turns.
That is, the suspension became the component that upset the balance in certain conditions of use. The engine works at barely half the power to allow the racer to fit into the corners because the car always skids.
In the community of computer fans, they often say: «rests on the video card», «rests on the processor», but almost never talk about software problems that are the fault of the video game developers themselves.
In computers, bottlenecks can be divided into three categories:
- Video card – is the most common type of «narrow neck» among console ports for computers. Changing the graphics card to a more efficient one significantly increases the frame rate;
- Processor – the game is undemanding to the graphics accelerator, but the frame rate increases dramatically with the replacement of the processor with a more productive one, and it does not respond to the change of the video card. This is a common bottleneck, especially among those who like to replace the GPU while leaving the old computer base;
- The engine of the game – under the engine load (many objects on the screen), we get a low frame rate with a computer of any class. Changing the video card does not affect the FPS, but a more powerful processor can add a few % of performance, which will still be unacceptably low. This bottleneck is the main attribute of poorly made video games, especially RTS, RPG, and MMORPG genres;
- Drive – a relatively recent type of «narrow throat» associated with new video game development standards, namely strong compression of game resources. In some modern open-world games, a slow HDD can cause short-term freezes, but the average FPS is almost unaffected. It happens very rarely;
Also, some people still consider «narrow neck» RAM. This is not entirely appropriate in all cases, except for integrated solutions. For example, for the owner of AMD Ryzen 7 8700G the difference between single-channel and two-channel will be huge. Higher RAM frequencies also affect APU performance in games.
High-speed RAM adds a few percent of performance in games where we are stuck with the CPU. If the video card is 100% loaded, we won’t get an increase from changing the RAM, but in eSports it can add from 1 to 10% FPS. However, is there any joy in 275 FPS if you had 255 FPS without overclocking the RAM?
There are situations when the most powerful computers of our time get down on their knees, and the player’s eyes water from the slide show and the reason for such FPS drawdowns is immediately unclear. In fact, the optimization and quality of the game itself are much more important than any hardware.
It happens that top-of-the-line PCs are unable to provide a stable frame rate in some games, and this is due to poorly written software. No state-of-the-art processor or the most powerful graphics card can solve the problem, which we will discuss below.
It is not necessary (and almost impossible) to have a perfectly balanced system. It is quite normal for a video card to be 95-100% loaded, or to work at 40-50%, just like the processor (this is the only way in esports). The main thing is that the result, i.e productivity was on the high levels.
Processor, video card, or developer?
Let’s look at a few different examples, popular video games of different genres and types, to understand the types of «narrow-mindedness» in computer games. It turns out that there are many games that are beyond the power of a modern premium PC, and some games squeeze all the juices out of it, making it work as if during stress tests.
Large and expensive projects
Battlefield 2042 — one of the few modern video games that loads 8, 12, or 16 core processors to 100%, literally. The game is able to use all the capabilities of the central processor. The 12-core AMD Ryzen 9 7900 works at 85-99% in this game, delivering 250-300 FPS.
With 1080p resolution, we don’t hit the limits of the video card, although it is also quite loaded. If you play at ultra graphics settings, the load will increase slightly, by 20-25%, and the transition to Ultra HD resolution will load the GPU to the fullest.
Battlefield 2042 is an exemplary-optimized game that shows both types of bottlenecks. This game is sure to bring some components in your computer to its knees, depending on the processor, video card, and monitor resolution.
As mentioned above, on average maps in Battlefield 2042 we get 250-300 FPS. At the same time, the frame rate is very, very stable relative to other online shooters (and not only).
For example, in Counter Strike, you can see 180 FPS in open locations with many players, and 400-600 FPS in a closed corridor on the same computer. At the same time, the processor load is insignificant, within 15-20% because only a part of the threads is running This is a sign of poor optimization, unprofessional developers, and a weak game engine.
Battlefield 2042 does not have such sharp jumps, keeping the frame rate stable with minimal fluctuations. The picture is smooth, the video sequence is stable, there are no staters because the game uses all the power of the computer to the fullest.
The FPS stays at about the same level regardless of where the player is on the map, how many enemies are on the screen, explosive effects, etc This is a sign of good optimization, professional developers, and a high-quality game engine
So, in Battlefield 2042 «bottleneck» the processor or video card may be the bottleneck, but not the game engine, which is an exemplary, perfect example of how a game should use computer resources. There are very few such technically cool games, an endangered species.
Forza Horizon 5 a much simpler game. Casual racing in the open world does not require significant processor performance, but this fun is quite demanding on the video card. It’s hard to find a system that doesn’t have enough CPU for this game, and the graphics adapter is resting.
Even in 1080p, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX works at full capacity. Of course, EXTREME graphics settings are not necessary at all because ultra graphics in AAA games unnecessaryand in most cases unnecessary. With the HIGH profile, we would have gotten much more FPS, but does it make sense for such a game to go beyond 200-240 frames per second?
Forza Horizon 5 is definitely more GPU-dependent. The game engine is of high quality, allowing you to get 200+ frames per second with a mid-range system if you do not chase ray tracing. The CPU requirements are low, as a 4-6 core budget processor is enough to play with a consistently high FPS.
Most single-player games are just that, requiring a higher-end graphics card than the processor. For example, the Intel Core i3-13100F + Nvidia RTX 4070 Super build is great for Quad HD or Ultra HD monitors.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is a unique simulator, one of a kind. This is an amazing game with an incredibly large scale — the map in the game is our entire planet Earth with millions of settlements, hundreds of billions of trees and a realistic landscape.
MFS 2020 would not be the same if it were not for the long range of drawing objects. From an airplane, you can see buildings, mountains, and rivers tens of kilometers away. Flying over a twenty-million metropolis with thousands of This is perhaps the only case where ultra-graphics really works.
What is the point of this? It is very difficult for a developer to implement such a complex game with a large number of objects. For example, in GTA V, when the rendering range increases, the FPS decreases significantly (we are resting on the engine), and in MFS 2020, the frame rate is more or less stable in different locations.
The problem is still poor load distribution on the processor cores, so in the most difficult locations you can see 35-40 FPS with the flagship processor (only the frame generator will save you).
So, with Full HD resolution in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 we rest on the capabilities of the game engine, but can we blame the developers if they made the first and only project of this scale without a hint of competition?
With a 4K monitor or a weaker graphics accelerator, we will rely on the capabilities of the GPU, not the CPU. Likewise, It is interesting that this simulator has bottlenecks of all kinds, so let’s consider the following configurations and cases of «bottleneck» for MFS 2020:
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600 + Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti, Full HD. Here we definitely rely on the capabilities of processor. In heavy locations, you should expect drops of up to 15 FPS with incomplete GPU utilization;
- Intel Core i9-12900K + AMD RX 7900 XT. Ultra HD. This configuration definitely lacks video cards with maximum graphics parameters;
- AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D + Nvidia RTX 4090. Wide Quad HD. Without the Nvidia frame generator, we won’t get a perfectly smooth picture and will always see incomplete loading of all components. With the best gaming processor of today and the world’s most productive graphics card, we are running into the possibilities of gaming drivers;
- AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D + Nvidia RTX 4090 + HDD. Wide Quad HD. This toy continuously downloads data from the network, renders textures on the go, and in large quantities, so you absolutely cannot put MFS 2020 on your hard drive. We will get FPS drops and up to twenty times longer loading times compared to 2 PCI-E 4.0 SSDs. Let’s focus on the possibilities drive;
Esports and more
The popularity of AAA (read console) games on computers is not very high, so let’s consider other, much more interesting examples where everything is not so clear. Since the release of DOTA 2 A lot of time has passed, hundreds of updates, dozens of global patches and changes.
The game is supported and filled with content because it is still played by millions of users. Due to the emergence of new mechanics, heroes, items, a large map, hundreds of cosmetic items with unique effects, the old (as the world) game engine is getting an additional load and needs to be optimized.
In fact, video game optimization is a complex task that requires a lot of resources, especially human resources. It is enough for a developer to ensure comfortable game performance for modern of a gaming computer, ignoring the fact that the game itself is 13 years old.
The DOTA 2 engine shows huge fluctuations in frame rate depending on the situation on the screen. On a small training card, you can see 500+ FPS with AMD Ryzen 9 7900. The video card, of course, rests with a power consumption of 80 watts.
It is enough to press a few buttons to turn 400-550 FPS into 200, 150, 100 FPS. On the most powerful systems of today (used by successful eSports players), we can easily get a tenfold drop in performance if there are many effects, heroes, units, etc. on the screen.
This is an exemplary example of how «narrow-minded» becomes exactly game changerBecause the processor is loaded by 15-25%, working at half or a third of its TDP, overclocking the RAM does not help much, and changing the video card does not solve anything, nor does the type of drive.
The main thing is that you can still play such games with a powerful processor because the drop from 240 FPS at the beginning of the game to 50-100 FPS in active battles is still normal for this genre, where you don’t need a fast reaction at all, but owners of old computers may have problems.
Among computer gamers, systems with a strong «skew» towards the video card are often found. This is the worst thing for eSports. Most popular PC games depend primarily on the processor because they have low-quality game engines with terrible optimization. Replacing the CPU with a more productive one will help to save the situation at least a little, but the video card has no effect.
Fortnite has similar behavior to the same «narrow neck», but is more stable. The developer of this game is three heads above the creators of DOTA 2, so the game behaves more predictably.
For example, we land in a remote place on the map, see 400-500 FPS, kill one player and a few bots with a frame rate of 300-400 FPS, and as we approach the center, where there are more real players and more objects in sight, the frame rate drops to 180-250 FPS.
Definitely with such a PC in Fortnite We also rely on opportunities game engineBut with AMD Ryzen 9 7900, it will be impossible to see 100 FPS like in DOTA 2 (especially with the Broodmother character, who creates many units that the weak engine dislikes so much).
In budget computers «the bottleneck» will be the processor, but there are also rare cases when player turns on ultra graphics (or at least high), not the lowest. In such conditions, you can load the video card to 100% and give your opponents a huge advantage in visibility (that’s why all successful players play with only the minimum graphics settings).
Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light is not an online game and, at the same time is not a model of optimization because with weak CPUs, the frame rate will easily drop below 60 FPS. At the time of its release, the game was very demanding on the processor, and now we are limiting ourselves to the capabilities of drivers.
Replace the 12-core AMD Ryzen 9 7900 with a 12-core Intel Xeon E5-2678v3 and the frame rate will drop several times, proportional to the performance of one core. That is, almost all video games of this kind, especially e-sports, depend on performance single core processor, not the number of cores.
If a player is interested exclusively in esports disciplines, then a modern processor with the highest possible Single Core performance should be a priority, and the number of cores is not important. For example, a 4-core Intel Core i3-14100F will put the 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 2700X to shame in most video games that can not distribute the load on all cores evenly.
Real-time strategies, or a nightmare for your PC
Doesn’t a fivefold drop in FPS in DOTA scare you? Then let’s take a look at those games where the most powerful computers are only enough for a slideshow, and replacing the processor can add 2-10 FPS. We’ll start with Ukrainian developers and end with mods from the community of gamers who have no knowledge of development.
Remake Cossacks 3 has become a real treat for fans of classic RTS, and has also made many fans think about upgrading their computers. The game engine is actually superb, as it supports giant maps, kilometers of playing field with seas, islands, and rivers.
There is also support for tens of thousands of units on a single map, but with a serious nuance. The frame rate strongly depends on the camera’s distance, the number of objects on the screen, and the interactions between them. For example, we start the game with 350 FPS, place a few buildings, and see 150-190 FPS.
After gathering a few hundred soldiers, the frame rate drops to 100-120, and an attack on an enemy city with an army of 600 soldiers causes a drop to 70, 60, 50, sometimes 30-40 FPS. In fierce online matches with a weaker processor (for example, Intel Core i5-6600), players are forced to watch a slide show 10-20 FPS in major battles.
There is a dependence on the processor, but only on the performance per core, not the total power of all threads. There is no dependence on the video card at all because for Cossacks 3 integrated AMD solutions or the weakest discrete graphics cards of today will be enough.
This is not the only RTS where the game engine is «the bottleneck» in the system — some projects look like a joke against the backdrop of the Cossacks. This strategy is Stronghold Crusader 2. The developers didn’t care about their players so much that they released the game with DirectX 9 in 2014, even though everyone had long forgotten about the ninth version.
The game engine of SHC2 is not just bad, but terrible, one of the worst among all AAA strategies (if this monstrosity can be considered AAA at all). It would seem that the situation is the same as in Cossacks, but the scale of the game is tens and sometimes hundreds of times smaller.
That is, in Cossacks 3, there is a battle of a thousand, two, three thousand warriors on the screen, huge battles, large-scale, epic. In Crusader 2, a small bunch of peasants go after another bunch of peasants, the FPS drops to unplayable values, and the staters are eye-watering.
The developers added an artificial limit (common to all players) of 1000 units per map because they are well aware of how poorly they optimized their masterpiece. In Stronghold Crusader 2, the game engine is completely unable to work with many objects, and also cannot load the CPU.
At the beginning of the game, the CPU/GPU work many times more intensively than during the siege of the city by two hundred horse archers, that is, the problem is solely in the optimization of the game, in its insignificant drivers. 10-20% CPU and unstable 20-50 FPS on a top-end computer is not normal. It is impossible to play because of the unstable frame rate.
It doesn’t matter what kind of processor a player has: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, AMD A8-7600, Intel Core i5-2500, AMD Ryzen 5 1600, Intel Core i7-13700K or AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D — this game will «lag» on any PC due to the developers’ fault, who made fundamental mistakes at the development stage game engine.
Do you think this is the maximum that strategies can do? The situation is even worse when it comes to mods. The popular RTS Star Wars: Empire At War was so popular with fans that over 18 years, many mods have been released, and large-scale ones at that.
It is worth praising the authors of amateur mods for their incredible work because they spent a lot of time, but their technical knowledge and understanding of the game itself is at the lowest level, like a typical casual player.
The game developer has set strict limits on the number of spaceships on the battlefield because he understands the shortcomings of the game engine. It simply cannot handle a large number of objects, so you can see a twenty-fold drop in frame rate without these restrictions.
Fan modifications have the following key differences from the original:
- The camera is very distant. This puts a strain on the game engine, as the player sees many times more objects at once;
- The permissible number of units has been increased many times over. First of all, this applies to the smallest «airplanes», i.e. fighters, although there are also more large ships;
- The number of key nodes on large ships has been increased many times, sometimes tenfold. Each node is an interactive object (laser gun, missile launcher, hangar, generator, engine, etc.), which further loads the game engine;
- A variety of units and updated textures. There are more different ships, but this does not affect the performance of the game;
- Simplified economy. The player receives a lot of resources for the continuous production of units, which allows him to maintain the maximum limit of troops allowed on the screen at all times;
This all has a bad effect on FPS as the game world fills up. At the beginning of the game we have 330 FPS, and after only 10 minutes of playing with three computers, this figure dropped to 25 FPS. Further development and intense fighting with constant reinforcements reduce this figure up to 10-15 FPSand on weak systems one can see 5 FPS.
We would like to remind you that the game was tested with a computer based on AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. This is a perfect illustration of the fact that no hardware is superior to software Much more depends on the quality of the code and optimization than on PC upgrades.
Conclusions
Unlike console games, computer exclusives are rarely well optimized, so players often face the limitations of the game engine rather than the lack of hardware power. PCs have become overpowered over the past few years of intense development in a competitive environment, but this does not help to play many video games comfortably.
Some projects, like Battlefield 2042, surprise with high PC resource consumption and high FPS (and stable at the same time), and some graphically weaker games, like DOTA 2, drop frame rates by 5-6 times in some scenarios.
There is no way to protect yourself from this (unless you partially «pull out» CPU) because the player does not decide anything. We can only hope that the developers will invest enough resources, time, and effort in optimizing the game, and not release a raw product that «lags» on the most powerful PCs of today.
To summarize, we can draw conclusions in the form of theses:
- Software was, is, and will be the most important aspect for video games. No «hardware» can replace high-quality optimization, and it won’t save you if the engine is bad;
- Processor is more valuable than a video card because most video games (the most popular ones) for PCs are processor-dependent due to not very well optimized game engines that still deliver high FPS with powerful CPUs;
- Video card is prioritized for single-user console ports that are story-oriented, especially with 4K monitors/TVs;
- RAM is important for integrated solutions. For systems with a discrete graphics card, RAM also has an impact on performance, albeit to a lesser extent;
- Drive does not affect game performance, never acting as a «bottleneck» with rare exceptions like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
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