[PLUS] Optimal upgrade for Anno 1800 & Co.: The right CPU for Radeon RX 7900 XT(X)

More power, please

In issue 02/23 we dealt extensively with the “best” processor for Nvidia’s new Geforce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080. Now it’s the turn of the AMD counterparts, namely the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT. New pixel pushers are always in high demand and allow for greater graphic splendor in your favorite games. Particularly noteworthy is the access to ray tracing and upsampling features such as DLSS and FSR. What many forget is the processor, more precisely, the load that falls on the processor when you install a new GPU behemoth in the PC. Why is that important? This requires an extensive article. We have made it our task to explain to you what the complex topic of CPU and GPU limits is all about. Without this knowledge, you can end up spending thousands of dollars on new hardware without getting the maximum benefit. After the theory, we turn to the actual topic: the “best” processor for AMD’s new generation of graphics cards. Faithful PCGH readers know that such a question is far from easy to answer.

Pay attention to CPU and GPU usage

Before you think about upgrading, you need to see what hardware you are currently using. What games do you play? What resolution does your monitor have? How many fps do you need for the picture to look smooth to you? What demands do you have on the graphics? The thought of buying new hardware usually comes into play when certain software no longer delivers the desired performance. In games, for example, there are too few frames per second, in applications, for example, too long a waiting time.

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The following topics can be found in the article:

• How to pay attention to CPU and GPU usage
• 10 games in the test: Anno 1800, The Witcher 3 Next-Gen, Flight Simulator and more
• Analysis of the benchmarks
• Purchase advice per game resolution

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