Now gaming computers are becoming increasingly popular. And now they are becoming more and more diverse, so everyone can purchase both a low-cost gaming assembly from 40 thousand rubles, and a system with high performance for 500 thousand rubles and more. But many still don’t know what is more important for games - a processor or a video card.
Key components
Assembling a computer is an interesting thing, but it requires certain knowledge. For the gaming system, all components are important, but still it is worth paying more attention to something.
It is important to choose a good video card that will be able to cope with the graphics of the games, as well as the processor, which has recently become significantly more influential both on the operation of the graphics adapter and on the system as a whole.
You will also have to take a closer look at the RAM capacity of 8 GB (ideally 16 GB), as well as a capacious hard drive. If it is possible to purchase an SSD, this is ideal for gaming systems. And in this case, it is enough to simply install the system on a solid-state drive, and everything else will work faster.
Finally, it is equally important to calculate the power consumption of the system and select the power supply of the required power.
Video card Nuances
In the question of what is more important for games, a processor or a video card, it is worth starting to figure out what each of the components does and what they are responsible for. About it further.
The video adapter converts the graphic information into that which can be displayed on the monitor screen. Previously, the monitor matrix was directly responsible for such tasks, and the video card only generated a video signal, but now the GPU takes on a lot.
The accelerator forms a graphic image, and also performs additional processing. Thanks to the tasks of the video card, the load from the central processor is removed.
CPU
This is a component of the system, which is popularly called the "brain." He follows machine instructions. Also working on information processing. Thanks to him, all other components communicate with each other and collaborate.
What is more important for games processor or graphics card? It’s worth mentioning right away that the first component plays an important role here. Now it has even become as important as the graphics card.
The role of the CPU is crucial. The chip is responsible for processing and calculating commands, generating objects, implementing the behavior of objects and in-game characters, and then sends all the necessary instructions to other devices.
It is after this that the video card begins to implement all the instructions of the processor: it processes the image, is engaged in rendering, model generation, calculation of visual effects, etc.
Variety of games
Many developers in the past focused on the graphic component, so the video card played a big role. Recently, some projects require a more powerful processor and are more loyal to the characteristics of the graphics adapter. But this is not the most important thing! Much more important is that a bad choice can ruin the performance of the system.
Difficulty of choosing
On the issue of which processor or video card is more important for games, attention should be paid to compatibility. The fact is that the main thing is to choose devices that are suitable for each other.
For example, if you buy a budget processor, but buy a productive video adapter for it, you need to understand that the chip simply cannot cope with a stronger companion. Therefore, in this matter, the balance of technical characteristics is much more important.
Example
To understand the tasks of a video card and processor for games, a clear example is distributed on the Internet that will help you understand that both components are important for a gaming system.
Suppose a bullet flies into a barrel, which will explode afterwards. The processor is the first to enter the business: it calculates the trajectory of the projectile, as well as how the barrel should respond to the shot. As a result, the chip will give the command that the bullet should break through the barrel and detonate it.
Now the video card starts to work. She is engaged in the calculation of polygons, texture mapping, rendering and effects. Thus, the player sees the animation of the bullet’s flight, after a collision with the barrel, an explosion occurs, which is also traced by the video adapter.
As you can see, the processes are dependent on each other, so if one of the components is weak, the second will not be able to do the work for it. Somehow, the picture will suffer from the brakes.
Monitoring
To personally verify the role of each component, you can check the load of the processor and video card in games. To do this, you will have to download a special utility. MSI Afterburner is best suited for this task, although you can choose the one that is more convenient for you.
MSI Afterburner is a universal program that can be downloaded for free. It works with many indicators, so it helps not only to find out the video card and processor load in games, but also monitors temperature, frequencies, memory and more.
In order to start working with the utility, you need to download and install it. Next, go to the program settings, in the "Monitoring" tab. At the bottom there is a list of parameters that can be checked. You can choose what you need. After that, you can check the box next to the option "Show in OED", thanks to which you can view these values during the game. If you enable this option, you will not need to minimize the game to find out the performance of devices.
Now you can go to the "OED" tab to adjust the indicators in the overlay. Below, click on the "Advanced" button. A new window will open in which you can customize the design of indicators. Here you must remember to set the switch to the “ON” position. Below you can set all the necessary parameters to configure their display.
Other programs
Monitoring the temperature of the processor and video card in games can be carried out using other programs. For example, you can download Nvidia Monitor. But this option can only be used if the video card is based on Nvidia.
There are universal utilities HWiNFO, AIDA64, EVGA and more. Programs help to collect all the indicators of system components, analyze problems and errors. Thus, it will be easy to identify PC elements that require replacement or diagnostics.
The advantage of MSI Afterburner is that the program allows you to track all the performance of the processor and video card during the game processor.
conclusions
Gaming systems now require careful selection of not only the video card, but also the processor. This is because new generations of chips help unleash the maximum performance of graphics cards. Therefore, many productive processors paired with weaker graphics cards work almost at the level with systems that have a powerful graphics card, but a weak processor.