We all know that GPU is the main requirement for a good gaming experience, but what about the CPU? Is it really important for gaming? In this article, we decided to dig deep and find out whether common CPU frequencies such as 2, 3, and 3.5 GHz are enough for solid gaming.
After conducting an in-depth analysis of various reports, I would summarize it as follows:
While a 2.2 GHz CPU may be enough for some games, it is certainly not ideal. On the other hand, 3 and 3.5 GHz CPUs are adequate for a good gaming experience in most cases. However, the frequency alone is not the only parameter to consider.
Now let’s see how clock speed affects gaming and how these three common frequencies compare in terms of FPS. Let’s dive right in.
Does GHz affect FPS?
The importance of the CPU in gaming is primarily determined by the type of game being played.
To begin, if you want to play any PC gaming, you will need a CPU. The CPU is the ‘brain’ of your machine. Everything the computer accomplishes is thus tied to the CPU in some way and will be influenced by CPU speed.
As previously said, the type of game being played is critical. There are games that are primarily visual in nature and do not necessitate a lot of computing power. Consider a current, visually appealing online multiplayer FPS (First Person Shooter) game. If you’re playing online, all of the ‘characters’ in the game are controlled by real people.
As a result, the CPU doesn’t have to do anything in this case, while the GPU will be used significantly more to keep the nice images.
If you’re playing a game that requires greater processing power, the CPU’s part becomes more significant. So, for example, if you are playing an RTS versus the computer, the CPU will be used considerably more because the computer must perform frequent and intensive computations to decide what to do with its units in order to beat you. Often, the graphics in these games are not as polished as those in less CPU-intensive titles.
However, keep in mind that in most circumstances, the GPU is significantly more vital to the gaming experience than the CPU. Most games demand far more computing capacity to process aesthetics than to process AI behaviors.
Here are some notes about CPU speed and FPS:
- Increasing CPU clock speed may increase FPS to the point where the CPU is feeding frames as fast as the GPU can process them.
- Increased CPU clock speeds will not result in an improvement in FPS once the CPU can feed the GPU all the data it requires when it requires it.
- The core count can also affect FPS.
- High graphics settings and/or high resolutions will, maybe counterintuitively, reduce the demand on the CPU
- There’s a point at which more FPS is not improving visuals, and it is related to monitor refresh rate and perhaps some other factors.
Also, the GHz-FPS connection is not 100% efficient, so increasing the frequency by 10% will not result in a 10% gain in performance.
The performance boost from 3.2GHz to 3.4GHz is 6.25%. In a perfect world, gaming performance would increase by 6.25%. In practice, performance improvements will range from 0% to 3%.
Is 2.2 GHz good for gaming?
Before we analyze various 2.2 GHz CPUs, I would like to briefly follow up on the previous excerpt. Namely, clock speed is not the most important CPU aspect in gaming. The number of cores and the processor’s IPC are probably more critical.
Ok, that’s enough theory. Now let’s see what the real-world gaming experience is on 2.2 GHz CPUs.
Report 1)
Specs
Intel Core i3-2330M 2.2GHz
Nvidia Geforce 410M 1GB
4GB DDR3
Windows 10
500GB HDD
Game: GTA V
Average FPS: 20-30
Report 2)
Specs
CPU: Intel Core i5 5200u 2.2 GHz
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 940M & Intel HD Graphics 5500
Ram: 12.0GB DDR3
Storage: 500GB HDD
| Game | FPS |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 11-17 |
| GTA V Story Mode | 40-55 |
| PUBG | 25-30 |
| Star Wars Battlefront 2 | 40-50 |
Some 2.2 GHz processors are good for gaming, while others are not. For instance, a 2.2 GHz 4-core processor is better than a dual-core 2.2 GHz for gaming.
Report 3)
Specs
CPU: Intel i7 2720qm 2.2GHz
RAM: 8GB
GPU: Geforce GT 550M
| Game | FPS |
| Fortnite | 50-70 |
| GTA V Story | 40-60 |
| CS:GO | 50-65 |
| LoL | 90-120 |
As we can see, we cannot analyze gaming performance by simply looking at CPU clock speed. If these configurations had a better GPU, the FPS would be higher without any doubts. However, we can say that if you want to get more performance for free, try overclocking your CPU and see the results.
Is 3 GHz good for gaming?
3 GHz doesn’t tell you anything about how a processor will perform in a specific job, such as gaming. There are numerous CPUs that operate at 3 GHz. Some are excellent for gaming, while others are useless for anything other than viewing YouTube and checking email.
Furthermore, any gaming PC is only as good as its GPU, which is at least as vital as the CPU for a gaming PC, yet you don’t mention a GPU at all. In any event, it’s far more difficult than “is a 3.1 GHz processor suitable for gaming?” What processor are you referring to?
For instance, Intel Pentium G3240 3.1 GHz is not the same as Intel Core i5-2400 3.1 GHz. The first one is a dual-core processor, while the latter one has four cores. Obviously, i5 will perform much better since most of today’s games require 4-6 cores for the optimal gaming experience.
Report 1)
Specs
CPU Intel core i7 965 Extreme Edition
MB Gigabyte Mainboard x58-ud3r
Gpu Asus AMD RX570 4 GB Strix
Ram DDR3 16 GB 1600 HyperX
SSD 120 Apacer + 500 GB SATA WD
| Game | FPS |
| Batman Arkham Knight | 65-80 |
| Resident Evil 2 | 60-70 |
| Watch Dogs 2 | 40-45 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 45-60 |
| Final Fantasy XV | 50-60 |
| Battlefield 1 | 70-80 |
| Battlefield V | 60-65 |
Report 2)
Based on a previous report, I decided to configure a system with the same GPU but a different CPU. For this one, we decided to test Intel Xeon 3.2 GHz.
According to howmanyfps, these are the FPS results:
| Game (Highest Settings) | Average FPS |
| Valorant | 221 |
| GTA V | 114 |
| Warzone 2.0 | 79 |
| Apex Legends | 102 |
| Minecraft | 746 |
| Fortnite | 123 |
Report 3)
Now I did the same thing for the Intel i5-3470. Here are the results:
| Game (Highest Settings) | FPS |
| Valorant | 67 |
| GTA V | 24 |
| Warzone 2.0 | 70 |
| Apex Legends | 31 |
| Minecraft | 250 |
| Fortnite | 25 |
As we can see, for some games, the FPS difference is dramatical. However, this testing is not perfect as full specs are not known.
Is 3.5 GHz good for gaming?
As we know, CPU frequency alone will not tell you whether you have enough performance for gaming. Many distinct CPUs with vastly varied performance run at 3.5 GHz, ranging from early-generation single-core Pentium 4 CPUs to current-generation CPUs in the Intel Core and AMD Ryzen series.
A Pentium 4 would be useless for playing almost any game from the last decade, but any current-generation Core or Ryzen CPU should be able to run any game at least at 30 frames per second.
Report 1)
Specs
-CPU: Intel Core i5 4690 3.5GHz (Turbo 3.7GHZ)
-GPU: MSI Gaming X GeForce GTX 1660 6GB
-RAM: Corsair 8GB 1600MHz
-OS: Windows 7 Pro 64bit
| Game (Settings) | FPS |
| Strange Brigade (Ultra) | 85-100 |
| Far Cry 5 (Ultra) | 65-75 |
| Battlefield 1 (Ultra) | 80-90 |
| Assassin’s Creed Origins (Ultra High) | 40-45 |
| Dirt Rally 2.0 (Ultra) | 50-60 |
| Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (Max) | 60-75 |
| World War Z (Ultra Max) | 75-90 |
| Shadow of The Tomb Raider (High) | 55-65 |
Report 2)
Specs
-Intel core i5 4690k
-MSI h81m-p33
-Kingston 16 GB ram ddr3 1600 Mhz
-Gigabyte GTX 1650 4GB D5
-Samsung SSD 860 EVO 250GB
-Western Digital 1TB WD Blue
-Windows 10 home
| Game (High Settings) | Average FPS |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 81 |
| Red dead Redemption 2 | 44 |
| Need for Speed Heat | 65 |
| Death stranding | 78 |
| Valorant | 153 |
| Metro Exodus | 50 |
| AC Valhalla | 43 |
| Call of duty Black ops Cold War | 68 |
Generally, most modern CPUs with 3.5 GHz will be sufficient for most games.
Last Word
Finally, I will make one more point here. Let’s compare two processors. One is 4 GHz, and the other one is 2 GHz. Does that mean 4GHz is twice as fast? No, and here is why. I will use the analogy.
Assume you need to relocate your entire household from one area to another. You have two vehicles: one is a pickup truck with an extended bed and plenty of cargo space; it can travel at 40 mph. The other is a corvette that can reach 80 mph but has a trunk the size of a suitcase.
Which would you pick for the job? You’d choose the truck. However, the corvette is twice as fast, right?
It is impossible to estimate the difference in performance without knowing your actual requirements, but looking at clock speed just tells you how fast each cycle can be completed, not how much work is done in each cycle.
CPUUserBenchmark is a reasonably useful indicator of different CPUs’ gaming performance. It allows you to compare the performance of various CPUs for various applications by selecting their unique models.
These benchmarks tend to overestimate single-core performance, but they are nevertheless a useful indicator of gaming performance, particularly for slightly older games that don’t make efficient use of recent multi-core CPUs, and they provide a “ball-park figure” idea of performance for newer games.