How a bottleneck calculator for your GPU and CPU works

Bottleneck calculators estimate whether a computer’s CPU or GPU is likely to limit the other component’s performance. They can help people plan a PC build or decide what to upgrade, but their scores are only rough guidance and should not be treated as a diagnosis.

These tools compare selected CPU and GPU specifications at a chosen resolution, commonly 1080p, 1440p or 2160p; a score around 10 per cent or less is generally presented as a good match. Because calculators rely on specifications rather than measurements from a user’s actual PC, they miss differences between individual components, games and workloads. Performance monitoring software provides more reliable evidence when troubleshooting.