Does Your CPU Matter For 4K Gaming? The Answer Might Surprise You.

Key Takeaways

A capable CPU is needed to support your GPU at any resolution.
Games become more GPU-dependent at 4K, but you might still need a high-end CPU to achieve your desired FPS.
A high-end CPU will help you boost your FPS when you inevitably dial down in-game settings at 4K resolution.

When you’re buying or building a new gaming PC, getting the right CPU and GPU will be the most important decision you need to make. Most PC users know that the graphics card has the most impact on gaming performance, but even your CPU plays a huge role — not just in preventing a bottleneck, but also in supporting CPU-heavy titles. But the bigger question that many gamers wrestle with is how much the CPU actually matters when you move to higher resolutions.

At 1080p and 1440p, PC builders usually pair a powerful 6-core or 8-core CPU with their GPU. Whereas at 4K resolution, they don’t always go for a high-end CPU, as the conventional understanding is that the CPU doesn’t matter as much when gaming at 4K. Let’s clarify the various ways in which the CPU can affect your gaming performance at 4K, and whether you need to reassess your CPU choice if you’re really considering 4K resolution for gaming.

Don’t buy these 5 CPUs if all you’re doing is gaming

There are some CPUs you should stay away from if gaming is your only priority

How does your CPU affect gaming performance?

Let’s get the basics right

Gaming as a workload isn’t just dependent on your GPU alone — you also need a capable CPU to send data to the GPU. If the CPU is too slow compared to your GPU, or it’s occupied due to other workloads, it can become a bottleneck and prevent your GPU from delivering the frame rate that it’s capable of. Hence, to extract the most out of your GPU, you need sufficient CPU power.

The best gaming CPUs not only support your GPU to maximize gaming performance, but also handle CPU-intensive gaming demands such as dense open worlds, complex physics calculations, AI calculations, and more. Some games are fundamentally more CPU-intensive than others — strategy games like Crusader Kings IIIcity builders like Cities Skylinesand even racing sims like Assetto Corsa Competition.

Generally, as you scale to higher resolutions, games rely more and more on GPU performance instead of the CPU. So you need a high-end GPU for 4K gaming, but you might be able to get by with the same 6-core processor you were using at 1440p or 1080p. But, does this make a CPU upgrade completely irrelevant for 4K gaming?

Realistically, yes you do

The best GPUs for 4K gaming might be doing most of the heavy lifting since you want to dial all in-game settings to 11 to get the maximum eye candy in your AAA titles. And you obviously should do that, considering that you likely have spent at least $800-$1000 for a true 4K-capable GPU. But, inevitably, in most of the latest and heaviest titles, you’ll find yourself slightly lowering in-game settings or enabling upscaling to get that extra FPS boost to reach 60+ or 100+ FPS.

This is when a high-end CPU will prove mighty useful instead of one that’s less powerful. That’s because a relatively lower-end CPU will hit an FPS ceiling much sooner than a high-end chip when you lower in-game settings and are waiting for that performance bump. Even though your flagship-grade GPU is capable of pumping out more frames (due to the lowered settings), the less powerful CPU is holding it back.

In such cases, the upgrade to an 8-core CPU or, say, one of the Ryzen X3D processors will enable you to hit your desired framerate to a much better extent. The latent performance of a high-end CPU that remains inconsequential in most cases, becomes crucial when you want to optimize your settings to get as many FPS as you can at 4K.

Best CPUs for Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 in 2024

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is a beastly GPU, so you’ll want a similarly powerful processor to pair it with.

You might want to rethink your CPU for 4K gaming

Although pairing a high-end CPU with a high-end GPU for 4K gaming might seem obvious, many gamers sensibly save money with a mostly sufficient 6-core chip. And while this is a reasonable decision, once you start to dial down in-game settings or enable upscaling (which is honestly much-needed at such a demanding resolution), you begin to see the importance of a more powerful CPU.

Hence, if you have the budget to spare and like to play incredibly demanding AAA titles at 4K resolution, it might make sense to consider a high-end CPU to partner with your 4K GPU.