by Could your old CPU be hampering your GPU’s performance?
Updated: November 16, 2022 1:15 PM
The release of the RTX 4080 is well underway and with tens of thousands of gamers scrambling to sample the latest GPU hardware, it’s easy to forget about the other components in your system.
Now reading: Best CPU for RTX 4080
The CPU is just as important as the GPU when it comes to keeping the system stable. You don’t want to hamper the performance of your shiny new RTX 4080 with an outdated CPU, do you?
Thankfully, we’re on hand to answer the “should I upgrade my CPU for the RTX 4080” question.
What is a CPU Bottleneck?
To understand if your CPU is enough to pair with the RTX 4080, we first need to understand what a CPU bottleneck is.
A CPU bottleneck is when the CPU can’t “keep up” with the rest of the hardware in high load scenarios, in this case that’s the RTX 4080. The CPU is responsible for computation, input/output, and telling the rest of the system what to do.
The CPU has to power or call other components of the PC as needed. So when you play a game, the CPU feeds the GPU information. If your CPU is older and can’t keep up with the rendering speed of the 4080, it will cause a bottleneck.
When the CPU causes a bottleneck, the GPU has to wait for the CPU to send instructions to execute it. This is why it is called a bottleneck because, like the neck of a bottle, the flow of liquid is slowed down and constricted.
Now reading: What is a CPU Bottleneck?
How do the CPU and GPU work together?
The CPU must receive and initialize information before it can be processed by the GPU. Everything that the PC has to do is passed through the CPU first, as the CPU has to designate a component best suited for the task and designate inputs or outputs.
So all the information that a GPU gets is passed through the CPU first. That is why it is very important that you find not only the best CPU and GPU, but also the best pair that can work together efficiently.
Do I need a motherboard upgrade for the RTX 4080?
Motherboards are as much about performance as CPUs are these days. And just like CPUs, you want to get the best hardware if you want to take full advantage of the RTX 4080.
The RTX 4080 is PCIe Gen 4, which means you’ll want to make sure you’re not rocking a PCIe Gen 3 motherboard. Be careful here as we don’t recommend going lower than the top-end AM4 CPUs, but some older AM4 motherboards are PCIe Gen 3.
PCIe Gen 3 has about half the bandwidth of PCIe Gen 4, at 8 GT/s versus 16 GT/s. This means that PCIe Gen 3 compatible motherboards are theoretically only half as fast at transferring GPU data as PCIe Gen 4 motherboards. That’s why it’s important to make sure you have a PCIe Gen 4 motherboard, you don’t want to limit your 4080 through lower PCIe Generation transfer rates.
Do I need to upgrade my CPU for the RTX 4080?
The answer depends on what CPU you already have. If you have a relatively new 12th gen or 5000 series CPU then you should be fine. If your CPU is old, consider an upgrade.
We recommend that you upgrade your CPU if you are using a CPU lower than the 12600K for Intel and the 5600X for AMD. These CPUs are what we would consider “bottom of the barrel” for CPUs to interface efficiently with the RTX 4080.
Upgrading your CPU ensures that your 4080 is well supported by your other hardware and that there are few to no bottlenecks.
