Who runs this site
Bottleneck Calculator is built and maintained by Deepam Mishra. He writes the guides, maintains the hardware data and checks it against independent reviews when new CPUs and graphics cards launch. You can find more of his work at deepammishra.com.
Bottleneck Calculator is an independent, self-funded project. It isn't owned by, sponsored by or affiliated with AMD, Intel, NVIDIA or any retailer, and no company can pay to change how its products are rated.
The site exists because most bottleneck checkers compare synthetic benchmark scores that don't reflect gaming, and many treat a normal GPU bottleneck as a problem. We wanted a calculator that shows its working, so you can see exactly why it reached a verdict.
How the hardware data is compiled
Every processor and graphics card in the database has a gaming performance index. The indexes are compiled from published, independent gaming benchmark averages, not from a single review or from manufacturer claims.
- CPUs are rated from CPU-limited results: 1080p with the fastest available graphics card, across a spread of modern games. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the reference at 100.
- Graphics cards are rated from GPU-limited results at 1440p and 4K, so the processor doesn't skew the numbers. The RTX 4090 is the reference at 100.
- Each part also carries the specs that change real-world results: cores and threads, socket, VRAM, and how efficiently its architecture handles ray tracing.
Those indexes feed one formula that models resolution, graphics quality, upscaling, VRAM limits, RAM capacity and game type. You can read the whole thing, with the exact multipliers, in How we calculate bottleneck and FPS on the homepage.
How the data is updated
New processors and graphics cards are added once independent launch reviews are out, and existing indexes are rechecked when new drivers or game patches shift results. Every change is listed in the Data updates log on the homepage, and the date at the top of the calculator shows when the database last changed.
All pages on this site, including the popular build pages, are generated from the same data and formula, so a correction in one place fixes every page that uses it.
What the numbers mean
Results are estimates for judging balance and getting ballpark FPS, typically within about 10–15% of averaged benchmarks. A specific game can run faster or slower depending on its engine, patches, drivers, cooling, RAM speed and background software. Our editorial policy explains how estimates are made and what we will and won't publish.
Get in touch
Spotted a wrong number, or missing a CPU or GPU? Contact us. Corrections backed by benchmark data are the most useful messages we get.