{"id":23704,"date":"2023-08-21T21:21:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T19:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/g100.us\/?p=23704"},"modified":"2023-08-21T21:21:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T19:21:46","slug":"fix-pc-bottlenecks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Bottlenecking My PC and How Do I Fix It?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Ever asked yourself, \u201cWhat is bottlenecking my PC\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve come to the right place, and I\u2019m here to help you identify and fix whatever your bottleneck happens to be.<\/p>\n<p>Not all bottlenecks are made equal, so your options to alleviate them may be limited based on the hardware and software in question.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll address these concerns as we go along, though\u2014 let\u2019s get into it!<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_39 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-66844147afc83\" class=\"cssicon\"><span style=\"display: flex;align-items: center;width: 35px;height: 30px;justify-content: center;direction:ltr;\"><svg style=\"fill: #7f11e0;color:#7f11e0\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #7f11e0;color:#7f11e0\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\" \/><\/svg><\/span><\/label><label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-66844147afc83\" class=\"cssiconcheckbox\">1<\/label><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-66844147afc83\" checked><nav><ul class=\"ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 \"><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#What_Is_Bottlenecking_My_PC_and_How_Do_I_Fix_it\" title=\"What Is Bottlenecking My PC and How Do I Fix it?\">What Is Bottlenecking My PC and How Do I Fix it?<\/a><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-3\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#Identifying_a_CPU_Bottleneck\" title=\"Identifying a CPU Bottleneck\">Identifying a CPU Bottleneck<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#Identifying_a_GPU_Bottleneck\" title=\"Identifying a GPU Bottleneck\">Identifying a GPU Bottleneck<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#Identifying_a_RAM_Bottleneck\" title=\"Identifying a RAM Bottleneck\">Identifying a RAM Bottleneck<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#Identifying_a_Storage_Bottleneck\" title=\"Identifying a Storage Bottleneck\">Identifying a Storage Bottleneck<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#Youve_Identified_Your_Bottlenecks_What_Now\" title=\"You\u2019ve Identified Your Bottleneck(s): What Now?\">You\u2019ve Identified Your Bottleneck(s): What Now?<\/a><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-3\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#How_To_Fix_a_CPU_Bottleneck\" title=\"How To Fix a CPU Bottleneck\">How To Fix a CPU Bottleneck<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#How_To_Fix_a_GPU_Bottleneck\" title=\"How To Fix a GPU Bottleneck\">How To Fix a GPU Bottleneck<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#How_To_Fix_a_RAM_Bottleneck\" title=\"How To Fix a RAM Bottleneck\">How To Fix a RAM Bottleneck<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#How_To_Fix_a_Storage_Bottleneck\" title=\"How To Fix a Storage Bottleneck\">How To Fix a Storage Bottleneck<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#FAQ\" title=\"FAQ\">FAQ<\/a><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-3\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#Is_Thermal_Throttling_The_Same_as_Bottlenecking\" title=\"Is Thermal Throttling The Same as Bottlenecking?\">Is Thermal Throttling The Same as Bottlenecking?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#Does_Increasing_RAM_Reduce_CPU_Bottlenecking\" title=\"Does Increasing RAM Reduce CPU Bottlenecking?\">Does Increasing RAM Reduce CPU Bottlenecking?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#Are_HDDs_Always_a_Bottleneck\" title=\"Are HDDs Always a Bottleneck?\">Are HDDs Always a Bottleneck?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/fix-pc-bottlenecks\/#Over_to_You\" title=\"Over to You\">Over to You<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Is_Bottlenecking_My_PC_and_How_Do_I_Fix_it\"><\/span>What Is Bottlenecking My PC and How Do I Fix it?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Identifying_a_CPU_Bottleneck\"><\/span>Identifying a CPU Bottleneck<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>A CPU bottleneck occurs when your CPU is too weak to keep up with another component in your PC, usually your GPU, and therefore bottlenecks other components (doesn't allow them to reach their full potential)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>CPU bottlenecks occur most frequently in gaming-oriented PCs, where it\u2019s relatively common for gamers (especially on a budget) to spend most of their performance-money on a powerful graphics card that is then held back by a weaker CPU.<\/p>\n<p>CPU bottlenecks can occur in other workloads as well, though. Take GPU rendering for example, a CPU with slow core-frequencies (as found in Threadripper CPUs that offer many PCIe Lanes) will often bottleneck a multi-GPU setup, especially when a 3D scene is being prepared and uploaded for rendering.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Identifying_a_GPU_Bottleneck\"><\/span>Identifying a GPU Bottleneck<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>A GPU bottleneck is when your GPU is failing to keep up with another component in your PC, usually the CPU, and therefore bottlenecks other components (doesn't allow them to reach their full potential)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>GPU bottlenecks can be a little harder to spot, especially in games, where if you have a powerful enough CPU, you can usually take some pressure off of the GPU by lowering graphics settings, thus increasing FPS more in line with the CPU\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>GPU bottlenecks can also occur in other workloads, such as when you enable many viewport features in e.g. 3D Software such as Anti-Aliasing, Anisotropic filtering, SSAO, depth of field, and the CPU has to wait for the GPU to update frames, ultimately slowing down your viewport considerably.<\/p>\n<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23709\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck.jpg\" alt=\"What is a Bottleneck\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck-1024x540.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck-1536x810.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23709 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%202048%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"What is a Bottleneck\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%202048%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck-1024x540.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck-1536x810.jpg 1536w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-a-Bottleneck.jpg\"><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Identifying_a_RAM_Bottleneck\"><\/span>Identifying a RAM Bottleneck<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>A RAM bottleneck is when your RAM is simply failing to keep up with your tasks (is too slow or too low-capacity), usually multi-tasking and editing\/rendering workloads<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>RAM capacity falling short forces your PC to fall back on a \u201cpaging file\u201d, which is stored on your drive (SSD\/HDD) instead of within your much faster RAM.<\/p>\n<p>This results in performance degradation and extreme slow-downs, whether you\u2019re running out of RAM by pushing your browser to its limits or running out of RAM with huge project files in your video editor of choice.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Identifying_a_Storage_Bottleneck\"><\/span>Identifying a Storage Bottleneck<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>A storage bottleneck is when your storage is causing your operating systems and applications to load at slowly, and even delays the loading of vital assets in games<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Slow storage is the bane of any PC\u2019s existence, to the point that one of the most common ways to revive old, slow PCs that weren\u2019t even very good on release day is simply to exchange the slow HDD with a fast SSD.<\/p>\n<p>Especially low-power \u201cnetbooks\u201d, which were horrendously slow due to very limited RAM <em>and<\/em> slow 5400 RPM HDDs.<\/p>\n<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23710\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage.jpg\" alt=\"RAM vs Pagefile virtual memory usage\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage-1024x540.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage-1536x810.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23710 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%202048%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"RAM vs Pagefile virtual memory usage\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%202048%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage-1024x540.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage-1536x810.jpg 1536w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/RAM-vs-Pagefile-virtual-memory-usage.jpg\"><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Youve_Identified_Your_Bottlenecks_What_Now\"><\/span>You\u2019ve Identified Your Bottleneck(s): What Now?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_To_Fix_a_CPU_Bottleneck\"><\/span>How To Fix a CPU Bottleneck<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Unfortunately, the only real way to \u201cfix\u201d a CPU bottleneck is going to be replacing your CPU with a faster one.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And if your CPU is too old to have a meaningfully faster replacement chip on the same motherboard socket, you may have to do a full platform replacement and replace <strong>both<\/strong> the CPU and motherboard. At <strong>that<\/strong> point, you\u2019re pretty much building an entirely new PC.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you do have a viable upgrade path for your CPU without replacing your motherboard, it\u2019s important to keep in mind that <strong>your performance gains are going to be <em>fairly<\/em> limited by your existing motherboard socket<\/strong>, <em>especially<\/em> an Intel socket where you get 2 generations maximum before they replace the socket and release new motherboards with new chipsets again.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_To_Fix_a_GPU_Bottleneck\"><\/span>How To Fix a GPU Bottleneck<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>The main way to fix a GPU bottleneck is to replace your GPU, but if your GPU bottlenecking is limited to gaming, you can <em>also<\/em> just reduce your in-game graphics settings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Heavy-impact settings like anti-aliasing, real-time ray tracing, and level of detail should all be first on the chopping block if you\u2019re hurting for GPU performance in your favorite games.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_To_Fix_a_RAM_Bottleneck\"><\/span>How To Fix a RAM Bottleneck<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Yeah, there\u2019s no way around it: if you want to fix a RAM bottleneck, you\u2019re just gonna have to buy more RAM.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While there <em>are<\/em> ways to reduce your RAM usage, <strong>a proper RAM bottleneck<\/strong> (especially in productivity applications) <strong>can only be subverted by throwing more RAM at the problem<\/strong> or making drastic compromises to the scale of your existing and future projects.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_To_Fix_a_Storage_Bottleneck\"><\/span>How To Fix a Storage Bottleneck<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>So, <em>can<\/em> a storage bottleneck be fixed without just buying a newer, faster drive?<\/p>\n<p>Well, there\u2019s a little bit more nuance to this one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For example, if you\u2019re using an HDD as your main system drive...yeah, that\u2019s bottlenecking your whole system until you replace it with an SSD<\/strong>. <em>However<\/em>, using BIOS options like Fast Boot can help alleviate <em>some<\/em> of the HDD downsides, like slower OS boot times.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, periodically defragmenting your hard drive can help improve its performance, and adding more RAM to an HDD-constrained system can help minimize the usage of the slow paging file as much as possible, improving the user experience.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Once you\u2019ve moved up to SSDs, storage bottlenecks become exponentially less likely, but not <em>impossible<\/em>.<\/strong> Modern games are beginning to implement DirectStorage technology, for example, and those titles are going to <em>require<\/em> NVMe SSD speeds to function properly.<\/p>\n<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23711\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison.jpg\" alt=\"SSD Speed Comparison\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison-1024x540.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison-1536x810.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23711 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%202048%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"SSD Speed Comparison\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%202048%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison-1024x540.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison-1536x810.jpg 1536w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-Speed-Comparison.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Entry-level SATA SSDs won\u2019t necessarily cut it for every application, but for general PC usage, they\u2019re exponentially faster than an HDD and most NVMe improvements are going to be intangible without heavy optimizations in play.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Plus, if you\u2019re doing a lot of heavy-duty video editing with large, high-resolution video files, an <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/benefit-m2-nvme-ssd\/#How_Does_an_NVMe_SSD_Improve_Rendering_Performance\"><strong>NVMe drive <em>is<\/em> going to give you a better experience<\/strong><\/a><strong> than a SATA SSD<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>As fast as SATA SSDs are compared to HDDs, they\u2019re still limited by the same SATA standard\u2014 NVMes getting access to the same PCIe bandwidth enjoyed by graphics cards enables some truly absurd storage feats in the correct workloads.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Thermal_Throttling_The_Same_as_Bottlenecking\"><\/span>Is Thermal Throttling The Same as Bottlenecking?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Not really.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thermal throttling can be responsible for worsening a CPU or GPU bottleneck, but realistically thermal throttling really just means your PC doesn\u2019t have adequate cooling.<\/p>\n<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23712\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling.jpg\" alt=\"What is Thermal Throttling\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling-1024x540.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling-1536x810.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23712 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%202048%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"What is Thermal Throttling\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%202048%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling-1024x540.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling-1536x810.jpg 1536w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/What-is-Thermal-Throttling.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Doing what you can to <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/thermal-throttling-guide\/\"><strong>fix your thermal throttling<\/strong><\/a> should help alleviate the performance issues you experience as a result, though, which may well relieve the bottleneck in your application of choice.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Does_Increasing_RAM_Reduce_CPU_Bottlenecking\"><\/span>Does Increasing RAM Reduce CPU Bottlenecking?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>RAM capacity itself should have very little impact on how your CPU performs in applications, at least in terms of CPU <em>speed<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>What <em>might<\/em> reduce CPU bottlenecking is getting <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/ram-frequency-guide\/\"><strong>faster RAM<\/strong><\/a> or enabling XMP on your existing RAM, though, since faster RAM <em>can<\/em> tangibly impact performance in single-core tied workloads, i.e. gaming.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Are_HDDs_Always_a_Bottleneck\"><\/span>Are HDDs Always a Bottleneck?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Not necessarily!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While SSDs are easily the leading form of PC storage, HDDs still have their place as low-cost storage devices.<\/p>\n<p>HDDs <em>do<\/em> bottleneck operating system boot times, game load times, video editing performance, and overall responsiveness if you choose to install your OS on an HDD, of course. That is less than ideal in a modern PC build.<\/p>\n<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23713\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times.jpg\" alt=\"SSD vs HDD Boot Times\" width=\"1694\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times.jpg 1694w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times-1024x653.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times-768x490.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times-1536x979.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1694px) 100vw, 1694px\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23713 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%201694%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"SSD vs HDD Boot Times\" width=\"1694\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%201694%201080%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 1694w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1694px) 100vw, 1694px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times.jpg 1694w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times-1024x653.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times-768x490.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times-1536x979.jpg 1536w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2023\/08\/SSD-vs-HDD-Boot-Times.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>But<\/em>, HDDs are perfectly fine for most media <em>playback<\/em> scenarios<\/strong>. HDDs are fast enough to playback 4K HDR media without any real issues.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So for the purposes of pure media storage and playback<\/strong> (rather than <em>editing<\/em>, mind you, which is best on an SSD), <strong>an HDD <em>won\u2019t<\/em> be a bottleneck<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You just have to be conscious of how exactly you\u2019re using an HDD in a PC build to make sure it doesn\u2019t bottleneck the rest of your hardware.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Over_to_You\"><\/span>Over to You<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>And that\u2019s all, for now!<\/p>\n<p>I hope this article helped you determine what is bottlenecking your PC and, more importantly, what you can actually do to address that problem. With any luck, you won\u2019t <em>have<\/em> to upgrade your hardware to work around the bottleneck, but if you do, you\u2019ll at least know <em>what<\/em> to upgrade.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have any other questions about PC bottlenecks or PC hardware?<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Ask them in the <a href=\"#comments\">comments<\/a> below, where I or another G100 Team member will answer you as soon as one of us gets the chance to. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>If you have other inquiries or want to discuss your own PC projects, you can also head over to our <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/forum\/\">G100 Forums<\/a>, where other Enthusiasts and Experts can sound off, too.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Until then or until next time, happy computing<\/strong>! Sorry if this article is how you found out it\u2019s time to upgrade your PC.<\/p>\n<p>With any luck, you have a viable upgrade path available to you on your current motherboard and don\u2019t need to hop to a new platform to alleviate a harsh CPU bottleneck. If your PC is old enough, though...it might be just time to bite that bullet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever asked yourself, \u201cWhat is bottlenecking my PC\u201d? You\u2019ve come to the right place, and I\u2019m here to help you identify and fix whatever your bottleneck happens to be. Not all bottlenecks are made equal, so your options to alleviate them may be limited based on the hardware and software in question. I\u2019ll address these...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2339,"featured_media":23705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[74,303],"tags":[313],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2339"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23704"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23793,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23704\/revisions\/23793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}