Tech Olive

For those needing a PC upgrade soon, it would be nice to see what is the best item to upgrade. It can often become a little confusing, whether you want that new processor or a better video card. In this article we will explain some quick tips to help you get the biggest improvement gaming-wise with your next upgrade. To do so, you’ll need to figure out where you are being bound.

Being bound, or bottle necking, simply means that a certain piece of hardware (CPU, GPU, or RAM) is the slowest in your system and it would be most beneficial to upgrade that piece of hardware first. It’s the “weakest link” theory. Your PC is only as powerful as your weakest component.

The first test determines whether you’re System bound or GPU bound. Start up a game that can give you good, reliable FPS (Frames Per Second) numbers with a wide range of graphical settings. Something like CoD4 or CS: S (with its built-in FPS test). Run through the test with low graphics (and a low screen resolution), then medium graphics (and a medium resolution) and finally on high graphics (and a high resolution) and record your FPS each time using a program such as Fraps or Xfire.

If your results plot out something like this, than you’re GPU bound and it’s best to upgrade your GPU first.

If your chart looks more like this, than you’re System bound and we’ll need to dig deeper to find the culprit of your performance woes.

Assuming that you have determined that you’re System bound, the next task is to figure out exactly which piece of hardware is holding you back. The test is simple enough: How much ram do you have? If it’s less than today’s standard of about 4 GB, then a trip to the parts store and $30 later, you’re upgraded.

Unfortunately, if you’re not GPU bound and you’re not RAM bound, the one other significant FPS effector is your CPU and it would be best to upgrade that next.

Hope this short little article helped you decide your next gaming rig upgrade!