[SOLVED] Can you reduce a CPU bottleneck by lowering the resolution?

[OMGitsMoha]

I have an i3 2100, and I'm looking to get a RX 400 series or 500 series, but I heard there'll be a bottleneck if I do get one of the GPUs, so Is it possible to reduce the bottleneck by lowering the in-game resolution? Thanks for any answers

 

[Flayed]

No you can only reduce a GPU bottleneck by lowering the resolution.

 

[mdd1963]

The i3-2100 was a fine dual core back in 2011 or so....and it even still runs Linux Mint nicely.

But, it is pretty low on the list of processors i'd try to start gaming on, short of playing just Medal of Honor from 2004, Quake 3 or 4, etc...(i.e., old games)

 

[Karadjgne]

Cpu takes the game code and pre-renders all the frames it can. Sends those to the gpu which finish renders the frames according to resolution and detail settings and sticks them on screen.

That i3-2100 is a dual core cpu + hyperthreading, so upto 4 threads. The only way you'll change fps output is to change the input. That means dropping Xbox DVR, Cortana, game helpers, and any other stuff that has any usage of the cpu in the background.

It won't matter about any gpu paired with that cpu, if the gpu is suffiently strong enough it'll just mean you'll be able to maximize detail settings and not suffer fps loss and the card won't have to struggle and over heat to do such.

Some games are more demanding, that'll drop fps from the cpu, some games are less demanding and fps will be higher. Some games like GTA V are very thread intensive preferring 8 thread use, and will drive the cpu hard at upto 100% usage. There's nothing you can do about that without moving to an i7 2600k / i7 2700k or E3 Xeon v1 and actually having 8 thread capability.

 

[OMGitsMoha]

Cpu takes the game code and pre-renders all the frames it can. Sends those to the gpu which finish renders the frames according to resolution and detail settings and sticks them on screen.

That i3-2100 is a dual core cpu + hyperthreading, so upto 4 threads. The only way you'll change fps output is to change the input. That means dropping Xbox DVR, Cortana, game helpers, and any other stuff that has any usage of the cpu in the background.

It won't matter about any gpu paired with that cpu, if the gpu is suffiently strong enough it'll just mean you'll be able to maximize detail settings and not suffer fps loss and the card won't have to struggle and over heat to do such.

Some games are more demanding, that'll drop fps from the cpu, some games are less demanding and fps will be higher. Some games like GTA V are very thread intensive preferring 8 thread use, and will drive the cpu hard at upto 100% usage. There's nothing you can do about that without moving to an i7 2600k / i7 2700k or E3 Xeon v1 and actually having 8 thread capability.

I'm gonna stick with the i3 2100 until I make some money and I'll maybe get a i7 2600 (non K version)
I guess I'm gonna be able to play on medium, 720p? with a RX 480 8gb

 

[Flayed]

I'm gonna stick with the i3 2100 until I make some money and I'll maybe get a i7 2600 (non K version)
I guess I'm gonna be able to play on medium, 720p? with a RX 480 8gb

It is possible to game with your cpu, it's just less than ideal. A friend of mine still uses one with a gtx 760. He says he won't upgrade until next year. The issue is a lot of games have a minimum requirement of a quad core cpu now.

 

[OMGitsMoha]

It is possible to game with your cpu, it's just less than ideal. A friend of mine still uses one with a gtx 760. He says he won't upgrade until next year. The issue is a lot of games have a minimum requirement of a quad core cpu now.

Thanks for answering and all the answers, much appreciated

 

[Karadjgne]

What resolution you play at will be the responsibility of the gpu. If in a game your cpu is capable of 50fps, then it's 50fps at 720p, 1080p or even 4k. That's what the gpu gets, 50 frames per second. The lower the resolution, the easier it is for the gpu, far less pixels to populate with color. So with a Rx480 if you get 50fps on screen at ultra 1080p, you'll also get 50fps at medium, 50fps at low, 50fps at any 720p detail settings, as that's the maximum the cpu can give the gpu. It's only if you get less than 50fps output on the monitor that changing details or resolution can bring fps back upto 50, but it won't exceed 50, as the gpu doesn't get any more than that.

Cpu sets the limit. Gpu lives upto that limit, exceeds it or fails miserably, all depending on what resolution and detail settings. But you cannot make fps go any higher than what the cpu is capable of, and that old i3 isn't capable of all that much being 2c/4t. Not in anything current.

 

[OMGitsMoha]

What resolution you play at will be the responsibility of the gpu. If in a game your cpu is capable of 50fps, then it's 50fps at 720p, 1080p or even 4k. That's what the gpu gets, 50 frames per second. The lower the resolution, the easier it is for the gpu, far less pixels to populate with color. So with a Rx480 if you get 50fps on screen at ultra 1080p, you'll also get 50fps at medium, 50fps at low, 50fps at any 720p detail settings, as that's the maximum the cpu can give the gpu. It's only if you get less than 50fps output on the monitor that changing details or resolution can bring fps back upto 50, but it won't exceed 50, as the gpu doesn't get any more than that.

Cpu sets the limit. Gpu lives upto that limit, exceeds it or fails miserably, all depending on what resolution and detail settings. But you cannot make fps go any higher than what the cpu is capable of, and that old i3 isn't capable of all that much being 2c/4t. Not in anything current.

Well I'm gonna play with 720p (medium-low settings) and I'm gonna turn off those useless things, And as I said I'm gonna upgrade the cpu later

 

[Karadjgne]

You aren't listening. The Rx480 is well capable of playing maximum settings on just about every game you can play at 1080p. You'll be doing exactly NOTHING for the CPU.

So play at 720p low settings if you wish, but it would have no affect to play ay 1080p or ultra settings.

 

[TerryLaze]

I have an i3 2100, and I'm looking to get a RX 400 series or 500 series, but I heard there'll be a bottleneck if I do get one of the GPUs, so Is it possible to reduce the bottleneck by lowering the in-game resolution? Thanks for any answers

Lowering the in-game resolution will INCREASE the bottleneck because it's equivalent of having an even faster GPU...
You need to run at as high an resolution and quality as possible to reduce the bottleneck as much as possible.

Of course there might be exceptions where you will need to reduce the quality a bit to get the best FPS possible.

 

[Karadjgne]

There is NO bottleneck. The cpu will push as many frames through as it can, no matter what the gpu does. The ONLY result of lowering resolution and detail settings is that the gpu becomes even more under-utilized, but that's not going to create any more hardship for the cpu

 

[OMGitsMoha]

Lowering the in-game resolution will INCREASE the bottleneck because it's equivalent of having an even faster GPU...
You need to run at as high an resolution and quality as possible to reduce the bottleneck as much as possible.

Of course there might be exceptions where you will need to reduce the quality a bit to get the best FPS possible.

So if I use higher resolutions, Bottleneck will decrease?

There is NO bottleneck. The cpu will push as many frames through as it can, no matter what the gpu does. The ONLY result of lowering resolution and detail settings is that the gpu becomes even more under-utilized, but that's not going to create any more hardship for the cpu

What If I use medium-high settings, Still the same?

 

[TerryLaze]

So if I use higher resolutions, Bottleneck will decrease?



What If I use medium-high settings, Still the same?

Bottleneck just means that one component (the GPU for you) is much faster than another (the CPU) by making the GPU slower it will be closer to the the speed of the CPU so there will be less of a bottleneck.

But all of this is just philosophical ,if you don't have any problems you don't need to do anything.