Surely, you’re excited thinking about the titles you’ll play on your gaming PC and the hours of entertainment you’ll have passing scenarios and fulfilling missions. However, you should know that depending on the type of game you choose and its characteristics, it’ll consume more CPU or GPU power.

For this reason, it’s important that through this post you know which are the CPU-intensive and GPU-intensive games so you can make a wise decision about the configuration of these components and the titles you choose to play.

You’ll also learn about bottlenecks and how this issue affects both the CPU and GPU when they do not respond correctly to the demands of the game. Join us.

 

 

CPU and GPU Function in Gaming

Before we dive into specific types of games, it’s essential to understand the functions of the CPU and GPU in games:

CPU (Central Processing Unit):

• Handles game logic, AI behavior, and physics calculations.
• Manages game systems and interactions.
• Coordinates data transfer between components.
• It’s crucial for multitasking and background process execution.

GPU (Graphics Processing Unit):

• Renders graphics and visual effects.
• Processes complex calculations for 3D environments
• Manages texture mapping, shading, and anti-aliasing.
• Responsible for displaying the final image on the screen.

 

 

CPU-intensive Games

Due to the reliance on complex computation and AI behavior, certain game genres tend to be CPU-intensive. Simulation and strategy are prioritized in these games. Let's see which types of games are the most CPU-intensive:

Real-time Strategy (RTS) Games: Games such as StarCraft II, Total War: Warhammer, and Civilization VI are known to be very CPU-intensive as they require the processor to manage large numbers of units, calculate AI decisions, and process complex game mechanics simultaneously. The CPU must handle resource management, unit movements, and battle simulations, often involving thousands of individual elements.

Simulation Games: Running such games (Skylines, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and BeamNG.drive) places a heavy load on the CPU. These games simulate intricate systems, from city infrastructure to realistic flight physics. Here the CPU is responsible for processing and calculating interactions such as traffic flow, population growth, and resource distribution in city builders. This component also handles complex damage models and soft-body physics in vehicle simulators.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMO): In these games, the CPU is used much more than the GPU because the gameplay takes place in a shared world where it’s required to process data from numerous players, as well as manage complex internal systems, NPCs and AI-controlled monsters. The CPU also manages quest tracking and the constant updates that a persistent online world requires.

Open-world Games With Complex AI: While open-world games are often associated with GPU demands, titles that include complex AI systems and numerous NPCs can be CPU-intensive. Games such as Grand Theft Auto V or Watch Dogs: Legion require the CPU to handle NPC behaviors, traffic simulations, and dynamic world events, in addition to rendering vast environments.

 

 

GPU-intensive Games

Aspects such as visual fidelity, high resolutions, and complex graphical effects are prioritized by GPU-intensive games. The graphics performance in these games is beyond average, requiring a powerful GPU to maintain smooth frame rates (FPS). Let's take a look at the types of games that place the most load on the GPU:

First-person Shooters (FPS): Here we find titles such as Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Doom Eternal that have a high dependency on the GPU due to their high frame rates during action and detailed scenarios, as well as complex particle effects and advanced lighting. Plus, these games rely heavily on the GPU to maintain smooth performance at high resolutions and refresh rates.

Open-world Role-playing Games: Known for their stunning visuals, as well as their vast and detailed worlds, titles like Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3, and Red Dead Redemption 2 push the GPU to its limits. And it's no wonder considering that these games feature high-resolution textures, complex lighting systems, and dense environments full of objects and NPCs. It's not as if the CPU in these games takes a break, but in comparison to the CPU, the GPU takes most of the workload in rendering these visually rich worlds.

Racing Games: Modern racing simulators such as Forza Horizon 5 and Project CARS 3 rely heavily on the GPU because they feature detailed car models. Plus, they feature realistic environments, advanced lighting, and weather effects. All these elements are rendered by the GPU at high frame rates so that you get a smooth and immersive racing experience.

Virtual Reality Games: In this type of game, the need for high resolutions and frame rates to maintain the immersive feeling makes the GPU more involved in their execution. This is why titles such as Half-Life: Alyx and Beat Saber require a powerful GPU capable of rendering two independent high-resolution images (one for each eye) at a minimum of 90 frames per second.