If you are facing bottleneck issues in your PC, you must fix it. But why? You do not want your PC to be slow, lagging, unable to perform tasks, have low frame rates, unable to multitask, isn’t it?
It doesn’t matter if it’s a CPU bottleneck, GPU bottleneck, or any other components causing the bottleneck issue in your PC, it must be fixed to let the other components perform better. Also, in the long run, it will hamper all the components of the PC.
You can use a bottleneck calculator to know if the exact problem is in your PC, or if you’re going to make a new PC, you should use a bottleneck calculator to avoid any bottleneck issues in the future.
But before jumping to how you can avoid bottlenecks on your PC, let us first understand the main causes of a bottleneck on your PC to tackle the problem in a better way.
Common Causes of PC bottlenecks
There are a number of components in a computer and so there can be a number of reasons and causes of a bottleneck in your PC.
Any component can be a reason for the bottleneck. If you want a new PC, it is always good to take the help of a bottleneck calculator. Here are the common causes of a bottleneck in your PC:
- CPU can be a reason for bottleneck. CPU bottleneck occurs when the processor (CPU) is not powerful enough while the other components of the PC are powerful. This will create a bottleneck as the CPU is unable to render the data as fast as the other components are able to do.
- GPU can be a reason for bottleneck. GPU bottleneck occurs when the graphics card (GPU) is unable to perform as fast as the CPU and other components are rendering the data as the GPU is not compatible and fast.
- RAM can be the reason for the bottleneck. RAM bottleneck occurs when the PC doesn’t have enough RAM storage. In this case, the PC will use a slower storage like SDD or hard drive which will delay the data transfer and slow your computer.
- Network instability can also cause slow performance of your PC or game, and this will create a bottleneck.
- If the cooling in the PC is not good enough, it will hamper the performance of the component and make the PC slow, this will create a cooling bottleneck.
These are some of the common causes of bottlenecks in a PC. There are some other causes of a bottleneck as well like:
- Storage
- Power Supply
- Software
- Network
How to Upgrade Your PC to Avoid Performance Bottlenecks
First thing first, you should check the reason for a bottleneck in your PC then only you can think of upgrading any component.
But how? You can use the Bottleneck calculator, task manager, MSI Afterburner, or HWMonitor to check which component is causing the bottleneck.
Once you know the cause, and the percentage of bottleneck caused by the component, take the steps.
If the bottleneck percentage is less and not significant, it can be solved by just optimizing the settings.
If the bottleneck percentage is high, you should consider replacing and upgrading it.
For example, if the cause is CPU, upgrade it to a better and more powerful CPU which is also compatible with GPU and other components.
If the PC is using more than 70-80% of the RAM, the cause is RAM, try to add more RAM. Usually, 16 GB is good for a PC nowadays, but 32 GB is better if you do heavy multitasking.
Similarly, if your PC gets heat up quickly, you should add a better CPU fan.
How to Optimize PC Settings to Avoid Bottlenecks
Apart from upgrading, you can also try to optimize the PC settings, sometimes this also solves the problem.
But how can you do it? Once you know the cause of the bottleneck, try to optimize the settings of those components.
If CPU is the Cause: from the control panel, set your power supply to “high performance”. This will allow the CPU to run at its full potential.
Disable all the non-essential background software from the task manager.
If GPU is the cause: update the drivers of the GPU and lower the graphics settings of the games. You can also enable G-Sync or Free Sync of the screen if there is an option.
If RAM is the cause: disable all unnecessary startup programs in the task manager and set the virtual memory to a higher value from the system properties if the RAM is running low.
If the Network is the cause: try to update network drivers and use a wire ethernet connection as a wired is better and faster.
If Cooling is the cause: open the CPU cabinet and clean it, remove the dust, and use a better cooler fan to ensure better airflow.
Apart from these, keep a regular check on the PC, try to run disk check-ups, remove temporary files, and system cache, use anti-virus, etc.
Doing all these settings will help optimize your PC to perform better.
To Wrap Up
If you are facing a bottleneck issue, try to know the reason and cause by using a bottleneck calculator, task manager, or MSI Afterburner, and then optimize your PC accordingly.
If this solves the issue then well and good, if not, then upgrade the components causing the bottleneck.
References:
- https://www.lenovo.com/in/en/glossary/what-is-pc-bottleneck/#:~:text=The%20most%20common%20cause%20of,resources%20than%20you%20have%20available.
- https://www.pcworld.com/article/1955495/pc-bottlenecks-cpu-or-cpu-limiting-gaming-performance.html
- https://gatling.io/blog/performance-bottlenecks-common-causes-and-how-to-avoid-them#:~:text=To%20repair%20or%20avoid%20a,sudden%20increase%20in%20memory%20usage.
- https://www.userbenchmark.com/page/guide
- https://www.lenovo.com/in/en/glossary/cpu-bottlenecking/#:~:text=You%20can%20also%20reduce%20the,the%20CPU%20and%20improve%20performance.
- https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tech-takes/what-is-pc-bottleneck