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.

 

 

CPU and GPU Bottleneck 

One thing you should know is that regardless of whether the type of game you choose is more inclined to CPU or GPU consumption both are prone to a situation known as a bottleneck, which occurs when one of these components limits the performance of the other. Understanding how the bottleneck occurs in the CPU and GPU is important so that you can apply the corresponding measures to solve this problem and optimize your gaming experience.

CPU Bottleneck

This occurs when the CPU can't meet the demands of a game, limiting the performance of the GPU as well. Let's see what are the signs that indicate the presence of a CPU bottleneck:

• High CPU utilization (90% or more) while GPU utilization remains low.
• Frame rate drops or stutters in CPU-intensive scenarios (e.g., large battles in real-time strategy games).
• Inconsistent frame times that reduce the smoothness of the game.

GPU Bottleneck

A GPU bottleneck is said to exist when the graphics card cannot cope with the visual demands of the game, which you can see from the following indicators:

• GPU remains in use above 90%, while CPU usage is relatively low.
• Inability to maintain the desired frame rate at higher resolutions or graphics settings.
• Significant performance improvements when reducing graphics settings or resolution.

 

 

How to Choose the Right Component for Your Gaming Preferences?

You have the budget for a hardware upgrade, but you’re undecided whether to prioritize the CPU or the GPU. To get out of this loop just consider the types of games you play most often. That being said prioritize a CPU upgrade if you mainly play:

• Strategy games (RTS, 4X).
• Simulation games
• MMORPG
• CPU-intensive open-world games

A powerful, multi-core CPU will benefit these genres by improving AI calculations, physics simulations, and overall game logic processing.

On the other hand, prioritize a GPU upgrade if you primarily enjoy:

• First-person shooters
• Visually intense open-world RPGs
• Racing simulations
• Virtual reality games

Having a high-performance GPU will allow you to play these games at higher resolutions, giving you better visual quality, as well as smoother movements and transitions.

 

Wrapping Up: CPU-Intensive vs GPU-Intensive Games

As you’ll see, the difference in the resource consumption of the games is remarkable depending on the modality in which they have been developed. Strategy, simulation, MMO, and open-world games with complex AI have a high dependency on the CPU in their execution.

Meanwhile, first-person shooter (FPS), open-world role-playing, racing, and VR games depend mainly on the GPU to enable the execution of their elements and dynamics. By being aware of this you’ll be able to find the ideal balance when upgrading one of these components so that they both match the demands of the game and take full advantage of their capabilities to provide you with an optimal gaming experience that meets your expectations.