In this article
What is a CPU bottleneck?
A CPU bottleneck happens when your processor cannot feed frames to your GPU fast enough. Your GPU sits idle waiting for the CPU to finish its calculations, and your in-game FPS is limited by the CPU rather than the graphics card. You end up paying for a powerful GPU that never runs at full speed.
How to check for a bottleneck
The fastest way is our free PC Bottleneck Calculator — enter your CPU and GPU and it tells you instantly. Alternatively, monitor your CPU and GPU usage in-game using MSI Afterburner with the RivaTuner overlay. If GPU usage is consistently below 90% in demanding games, your CPU is holding it back.
PC Bottleneck Calculator
Enter your CPU and GPU to check for bottlenecks in seconds — free
Common bottleneck combinations in 2025
The most common bottlenecks we see are old Intel 8th/9th gen processors paired with new RTX 40-series cards. An i7-8700K with an RTX 4070 will bottleneck heavily at 1080p. Similarly, a Ryzen 5 1600 paired with an RTX 4060 Ti will cap your performance well below what the GPU can deliver. At 1440p and 4K, bottlenecks matter less because the GPU becomes the limiting factor naturally.
How to fix or avoid it
If you already have a bottleneck, you have three options. First, play at a higher resolution (1440p or 4K) — this shifts the load to the GPU and reduces the bottleneck effect. Second, enable your game engine settings that are more CPU-light (lower NPC count, draw distance). Third, upgrade your CPU — but only if the bottleneck is above 15-20%, otherwise the FPS gain will not justify the cost.
Summary
Run our Bottleneck Calculator before every GPU purchase. If your bottleneck is under 15%, go ahead and upgrade the GPU. If it is above 20-25%, consider upgrading both CPU and GPU together for the best performance per dollar.