re: PC Discussion - Gaming, Performance and Enthusiasts

Entirely depends on the games he plays and how much they rely on CPU. CPU-hungry single-threaded games are likely to present a problem. Easiest way to know is to check your GPU usage in game. If his frame rate is under 60 (or is otherwise at its highest possible) but the game isn't using above 90% GPU, he probably has a bottleneck. The higher the resolution, the less likely there will be a bottleneck because it puts more load on the GPU -- doesn't necessarily imply a higher frame rate though. For example, if you play at 1080p and can only get 50 fps but your GPU is sitting at 60% usage, your CPU is probably bottlenecking. But if you move up to 1440P, you may still get 50 fps but your GPU could be at 80% usage (just pulling numbers out of my arse), and then at 4K you may be struggling to maintain 30fps, but your GPU usage is at 95-99%, meaning the CPU is not the problem in that particular scenario -- that is, until you upgrade your GPU again.