Blogs
The calculator produces a figure. These guides explain how to interpret it, what is limiting your performance, and which upgrade is worth the money.
Why Resolution Changes the Bottleneck Answer Completely
The same two parts can be CPU limited at 1080p and GPU limited at 4K. Here is the mechanism, and why any calculator that ignores resolution is guessing.
Read more1% Lows vs Average FPS: Why the Number Nobody Quotes Matters More
Two PCs can both average 120 frames a second and feel completely different. The number that explains the difference is the one nobody quotes.
Read moreAre Bottleneck Calculators Accurate?
An honest account of what our number is built from, where it is reliable, and the four situations where you should ignore it entirely.
Read moreShould You Upgrade Your CPU or GPU? How to Pick the Right One
One of the two purchases will raise your frame rate and the other will do almost nothing. Here is how to work out which is which before you spend the money.
Read moreDoes RAM Speed Cause Bottlenecks? The Free Fix Most People Miss
Memory is the most commonly overlooked cause of a CPU limit, and the cheapest to fix. Usually it costs nothing but a BIOS setting.
Read moreIs My GPU Being Held Back? A Five Minute Test With No Calculator
A five minute test on your own machine that beats any estimate, including ours. All you need is an overlay and one graphics setting.
Read moreVRAM Bottleneck: Why Running Out of VRAM Is Not the Same Thing
A card short on video memory fails in a completely different way from a card that is simply too slow, and the fix is different too. How to tell the two apart, and how much VRAM you actually need.
Read moreCPU vs GPU Budget Split: How to Avoid a Bottleneck
How to split a PC budget between the processor and the graphics card at 1080p, 1440p and 4K so neither part holds the other back, with ratio tables and worked examples.
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