Hey everyone, I'm currently using an RTX 4060 with an i3-12100f processor and playing on a 1080p 165Hz monitor. I've scored a great deal on the i3, but I've noticed that in CPU-heavy games, my CPU usage hits 90-100%, while my GPU only goes up to 40%. I understand that playing at 1080p can really stress the CPU, so I'm wondering if switching to a 1440p monitor would better utilize my GPU and possibly give me more frames. Should I just upgrade my CPU but stick to the 1080p monitor, or should I go for the higher resolution? What do you think?
3 Answers
Just to clarify, moving to a higher resolution like 1440p won't magically increase your framerate since your CPU is still the bottleneck. It will just change how your GPU is being used. It might even make things worse if your VRAM gets taxed more than what your 4060 can handle.
Switching to a 1440p monitor likely won't give you extra frames, but it also shouldn't make your performance drop. It might even stabilize your framerates since the GPU won't be as underused. Just be cautious of VRAM limits.
With that setup, if your CPU is maxing out at 90-100% and your GPU is only hitting 40%, you'll probably be fine running at 1440p without losing framerate. Try enabling DSR in Nvidia settings to run an internal resolution of 1440p while still using your 1080p monitor. It'll give you a taste of how things would perform with the new monitor.
I always thought a GPU bottleneck means the graphics card isn’t able to perform at its full capacity. Is that not the case?