Bottlenecking is one of those undying debates in PC hardware circles. And sadly, there aren’t many facts involved in many of these discussions, especially where beginners are concerned. As common as it is to misunderstand PC bottlenecks, it doesn’t justify using online bottleneck calculators that are highly problematic in more ways than one.
Fear of screwing up their build configuration often lands first-time PC builders on these websites, where wild theories and questionable data end up confusing them even more. There are many reasons PC bottleneck calculators do more harm than good and why you shouldn’t consider them for anything more than a very rough (and often very lacking) estimate.
What exactly is bottlenecking?
It’s probably not what you think
In the simplest of terms, a bottleneck is the limiting factor keeping your system from performing to its fullest potential. So, as you can rightly surmise, a modest CPU paired with one of the best gaming GPUs will cause the CPU to bottleneck, as it’ll hold the GPU back from delivering its maximum performance. But extreme pairings like an Intel Core i3-12100 with an RTX 4070 Super are not that common. The average user considers even a slightly weaker CPU paired with a stronger GPU a cause for concern.
Every PC will have one or more bottlenecks, and these bottlenecks can even change from application to application. Plus, bottlenecks exist due to components that you might not even consider. Besides your CPU or GPU, other parts, such as your monitor, storage, and power supply, can be the source of a bottleneck. After all, a 60Hz monitor or a conventional HDD are far bigger bottlenecks to your gaming performance than pairing a 6-core CPU with your high-end graphics card.
Bottlenecking is far from the world-ending concern that online bottleneck calculators make it seem.
Moreover, even in different scenes or environments of the same game, the source of the bottleneck can shift from your CPU to your GPU or vice versa, as every scene stresses your GPU or CPU differently. Hence, bottlenecking is far from the world-ending concern that online bottleneck calculators make it seem. As long as you strike a good balance between your components by consulting reviews from respected creators and publications, you don’t need to worry about bottlenecking at all.
Bottleneck calculators are lazy and wildly inaccurate
And often hilariously off the mark
Bottleneck calculators only serve to worsen the misunderstanding that regular users have around bottlenecks. Firstly, they’re awfully vague with terms like “General Tasks,” “Processor Intensive Tasks,” or “Graphic Card Intensive Tasks.” One such calculator claimed that my RTX 3080 would be utilized a maximum of 71.7% and my Ryzen 7 5700X would be utilized a maximum of 83.1% in “graphic card intense tasks.” I wonder which GPU-intensive task would yield such fanciful numbers.
It often makes hilarious recommendations, such as upgrading from a Ryzen 5 5600X to a Ryzen 9 5900 for gaming.
Secondly, it’ll often spit out hilarious recommendations like upgrading from a Ryzen 5 5600X to a Ryzen 9 5900 to remove a “10% bottleneck” when paired with the RTX 3080. Switching from one of the best AMD CPUs for gaming to a 12-core CPU for GPU-intensive workloads is something only a madman would do.
Lastly, these bottleneck calculator websites allow anyone to submit their own results to “calibrate” their calculators. This makes their entire dataset highly questionable, plus it also makes it clear that nuances such as resolution, type of game and application, and the impact of other components are largely ignored in their “calculations.”
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Here’s how to know which one you should replace first.
You might end up making horrible buying decisions
Like buying a 12-core CPU for gaming
Source: XDA-Developers
Perhaps the biggest danger these inaccurate bottleneck calculators pose is the possibility of less-informed users buying needlessly expensive hardware and gaining nothing in return. When a beginner lands on one of these sites and sees a recommendation to buy a 12-core CPU instead of a 6-core chip for gaming, they might go out and actually buy it.
When a website presents itself as a data-driven source of PC hardware advice and recommendations, the average user is likely to be swayed and make terrible purchases. If you’re more experienced than the average builder, you should make efforts to educate your less-informed friends and family members against these websites.
Take bottleneck calculators with a bucket of salt
PC bottleneck calculators should be seen as a pastime — only to be indulged in occasionally when you have nothing else to do. Those just getting into PC building would be much better served by watching and reading reviews from dependable publications and creators instead of trusting these websites for what can only be termed “highly rough estimates.”
#bottleneck #calculators
source: https://www.xda-developers.com/never-use-pc-bottleneck-calculators/
