The Game Rundown: Finding CPU/GPU Bottlenecks, Part 2

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We're back with Part 2 of our bottleneck exploration in a mainstream gaming PC equipped with a Core i5 and GeForce GTX 460, ready to dive into test results from ten additional games. All of the results are summarized and analyzed in our conclusion.

Minimum Frame Rates

One should always investigate minimum frame rates. What good is new and expensive hardware and high average frame rates if you experience dips down to unplayable levels? The results below only take into account the smallest value in a long sequence of numbers, and the sequences are not completely identical.

Note that minimum values only represent a small snapshot of the benchmark. They don't indicate the length of the frame rate drop, the frequency, or the cause. That makes the method of measurement one of limited use, and it should only be used as a supplement for some of the benchmarks in this article.