CPU bottlenecking the GPU

[Hi P]

I was wondering, by just looking at the specs of both, how do you tell when a CPU may bottleneck a GPU on gaming? which data gives it away?

 

I hope my question made sense.

 

Thank you

[Joshcanread]

if the cpu is 100% load and the gpu isnt and vice versa

[bleedblue]

If you see an Athlon X4 paired with a Titan V.

[Hi P]

I know what you guys mean but, what gives it away exactly? what do you look in the CPU specs that make you say "Oh, this may bottleneck my 1080"

[bleedblue]

23 minutes ago, Hi P said:

 

Just like my (albeit pretty extreme) example, when you see a low end cpu paired with a high end gpu. Though the only real way to know is to monitor usages.

[emosun]

it's actually bad practice to guess a bottleneck without actually checking the usage.

usually you find the cpu that you need to do whatever cpu tasks you do and the gpu to do what tasks you need.

provided both were already capable of handling their end of the work then there actually will not be a bottleneck.  the only time a bottleneck occurs is when you ask more than what the part can provide.

[Cereal5]

47 minutes ago, Joshcanread said:

if the cpu is 100% load and the gpu isnt and vice versa

Usually load doesn't need to hit 100% (and most of the time won't) in order to be a bottleneck. A CPU can bottleneck around 75-80% usage, it mostly just depends on how the game is behaving.