[SOLVED] Higher Graphical settings means more pressure on GPU and less on CPU?

[Yeldur]

I've been posed this before by other people, however, I'm not sure if this actually rings true. Logically to me I feel like it makes sense, however, despite my research I've not been able to find a clear cut answer, so I'm curious to see the consensus here (Or better yet, for someone to tell me whether it's true and if so, how that is the case?)

The question is simple:

Does setting my graphical settings higher place more burden on my GPU and as a direct result cause LESS pressure to be placed on the CPU (Leading to a higher framerate?)

An example would be, John has a good GPU but his CPU is a bit lacking, he compensates for the worse CPU by raising his graphical specification causing his CPU to take less load and as a result the game runs faster and at a higher framerate.

 

[poorbugger]

I've been posed this before by other people, however, I'm not sure if this actually rings true. Logically to me I feel like it makes sense, however, despite my research I've not been able to find a clear cut answer, so I'm curious to see the consensus here (Or better yet, for someone to tell me whether it's true and if so, how that is the case?)

The question is simple:

Does setting my graphical settings higher place more burden on my GPU and as a direct result cause LESS pressure to be placed on the CPU (Leading to a higher framerate?)

An example would be, John has a good GPU but his CPU is a bit lacking, he compensates for the worse CPU by raising his graphical specification causing his CPU to take less load and as a result the game runs faster and at a higher framerate.

It's not that the game will run faster at higher framerate. If your cpu is a bit lacking already, you're already seeing the highest frames you can get if your gpu is good. Like if you're running low settings at 60fps, running it high wont get you any higher than 60fps anyway because the cpu can only process so much frames. In some games, the graphical settings will impact the cpu as well.

 

[Yeldur]

It's not that the game will run faster at higher framerate. If your cpu is a bit lacking already, you're already seeing the highest frames you can get if your gpu is good. Like if you're running low settings at 60fps, running it high wont get you any higher than 60fps anyway because the cpu can only process so much frames. In some games, the graphical settings will impact the cpu as well.

Gotcha, I figured that might also be the answer, I suppose that makes sense because obviously it requires them to both work "in tandem" so to speak.

 

[dotas1]

@poorbugger is correct. If I may add, there are occasions that the cpu will have less work to do when graphic quality is higher.
That occasion is if the GPU is not much better than the CPU so when you raise the quality, the GPU will struggle to produce the max frames achievable from the CPU, resulting in lower frames than max. So yeah the CPU might get a little slack there.

 

[Yeldur]

@poorbugger is correct. If I may add, there are occasions that the cpu will have less work to do when graphic quality is higher.
That occasion is if the GPU is not much better than the CPU so when you raise the quality, the GPU will struggle to produce the max frames achievable from the CPU, resulting in lower frames than max. So yeah the CPU might get a little slack there.

I see, so essentially the GPU CAN pick up a bit of slack from the CPU, however it's not going to outright increase frameright by simply raising graphical settings. Good to know, thanks guys.