Normally the biggest bottlenecks are in the processor. What is generated is an amount of data greater than what the processor can handle, generating a loss of performance. Although this depends on many factors, especially when playing.
A Core i5 and an RTX 4090 without a bottleneck is possible
There are many who think that pairing an RTX 4090 with any processor that is not a Core i9 or a Ryzen 9 is absurd. Some may accept the combination with the top Ryzen 7 and Core i7 on the market. But in reality this is not necessarily so.
You may be thinking that a Core i5 will undoubtedly generate a bottleneck with an NVIDIA RTX 4090. The truth is that this may not happen and the reason is in the resolution of the game. It will depend enormously of the resolution if there is a bottleneck, since it will determine the amount of FPS.
Although it may seem absurd to you, in this combination of components that we suggest there is something of bottleneck in 1080p resolutionbut No in 4K resolution. How is it possible? Well, it has a lot to do with the ability to generate frames of the graphics card.
An RTX 4090 can generate, for example, 500 FPS in a relatively light game at 1080p resolution. But, in this same game under 4K resolution, it may not be able to exceed 120 FPS.
The higher the resolution of the game, the greater the load on the graphics card and the less in the process. This means that, effectively, we do not need a very expensive processor to play in 4K resolution. Actually, the FPS difference between a Core i5 and a Core i9 with the RTX 4090 in 4K resolution will be minimal, at most 5% in the best of cases.
Really, any 8-core processor can work for us. A great option is the Intel Core i5-13600K processor and even the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X can be excellent options in this case.
Marketing more than reality
This belief is given by the performance tests that the manufacturers of both components usually give. They always tend to associate high-end processors with high-end graphics, for example. It also happens in the rest of the product levels. This is because they seek their greatest benefit, making the user believe that the more powerful the graphics card, the more powerful the processor should be.
Really, you should always look for a certain balance between the elements. You shouldn’t put all your money on the graphics card and processor either. There are other components that are important when it comes to obtaining the best performance, such as RAM, SSD or the motherboard itself. These components are usually cut or adjusted to the maximum in favor of the others.
