It’s obvious that you love to play online games. And, there are three different platforms where you can play your favourite games — your computer, any gaming consoles like Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox and others, and on mobile. Most high definition games are synonymously known as CPU intensive games. 

The concept of mobile games are popular nowadays, but it doesn’t match the clarity that you get on the PC or Console. Now, coming to some of the main facts, every game, no matter where you play them, uses CPU resources. To some extent, the I/O intensive processes also play their role. And, you will come to know about all of them in detail. 

What is CPU and I/O Intensive?

Whenever you give an instruction to a computer, the processor does its job and gives you the result. In short, it is known as the CPU cycle. While the process goes on, the volatile memory, as well as the non-volatile memory, also participates. And, this is known as the CPU cycle. More cycles consume more resources. Thus, you can call it a CPU intensive cycle. 

When any instructions like the copy, cut, paste, scan are running, the non-volatile and external storage devices are involved. The larger operations with the storage devices are generally called I/O intensive cycles. The CPU and I/O intensive processes are very much interrelated. 

Several high-level permutations, combinations, computations, meteorology programs and other types of high-end scientific applications are involved. A lot of computer experts and researchers have coined the computer-intensive process as grid computing. 

The Best CPU Intensive Games

Previously, computer games used to run on a normal configuration. If you look at the high-end games now, you can easily see that most of the games solely depend on and use the entire GPU of a system.

So, the details of the games that are given below are CPU intensive, as well as uses most of the GPU resources to run. In addition to that, you will also get vital information regarding what CPU you should use to play the respective games.

1. Total War: Warhammer 2

It’s the second part of the Total War game series designed and developed by Creative Assembly. It’s a strategy game where you have to control your empire. Furthermore, sometimes you have to fight and protect your empire from enemies. Now, you must understand that the gameplay is split into two parts — The first one is building up an army with an arsenal of weapons, and the second one is to fight for the sake of your empire. 

The game is fantastic. In addition to that, several gamers like you might be interested in increasing the FPS of the game. So, the analysts have stated you can opt for the AMD Ryzen 9 3900 XT CPU. After installing this, one of the most CPU intensive games, Warhammer 2 will be smooth as ever. 

2. Rainbow Six Seige-Single Core

The game comes directly from the desk of the developers of Prince of Persia. Yes, you guessed it right, it’s Ubisoft. The game was released in 2015 and became one of the most popular online tactical shooter games of all time. In the game, you have to fight, shoot the enemies, rescue the hostages, diffuse bombs and more. 

The game doesn’t consume heavy system resources, as well as the GPU. A few gamers call it one of the CPU intensive games. If you want to increase the smoothness of the game even with low system resources, then AMD Ryzen 3 3300X is the best. 

3. The Shadow of Tomb Raider

Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider. Have you watched the movie series starring Angelina Jolie and its sequel by Alicia Vikander? Yes, the game is based on the movie series. For Lara’s quest for Paititi, she has to explore all the tropical regions of America. Paititi is the forgotten city of Inca. Several weapons are available in the game. 

It is one of the most CPU intensive games amongst the Tomb Raider series. Whenever the fight takes place, the resource usage of the CPU increases to 20% higher than that of normal time. In such scenarios, the game might lag a little bit. So, how to fix it? The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 will do the perfect job. 

4. The Far Cry 5 (Single Core)

As expected, this game comes straight from the desk of Ubisoft. Hope County, an imaginary place somewhere in Montana. Doomsday cults are present with a leader. When you play the game, you will be appointed as a deputy sheriff and who gets trapped. While trapped inside the hostile territory, you have to build the armed forces and free everyone from the leader’s reign of terror. 

Far Cry 5 is based on a single-core computing unit. While its cores and threads are based in multiple computing units. In addition to that, there is also a tweak of Artificial Intelligence to make the game more interactive. So, Far Cry 5 is one of the CPU intensive games, and the gaming experts have suggested Intel Core i5-10600K is the best CPU. 

CPU vs GPU — Experience the Difference in your Game

GPU mainly takes care and focuses on the graphics part. Whereas the CPU does all the logical and mathematical calculations. Some games like the Witcher, Far Cry 5, Borderlands require high-end graphics. Most of the games are now based on the full HD resolution, 1080p. If the resolution is pushed to 2K semi UHD or 4K UHD, then the interference of the GPU takes place. In this type of scenario, the game uses more GPU resources than the CPU. 

Frequently Asked Questions: 

Are games CPU or GPU intensive?

In many circumstances, GPU is very vital part of the gaming system, and in particular forms of gaming it is more crucial than CPU.  
GPU is single chip processor used mostly for managing and improving the performance of video and graphics.

Can CPU affect FPS?

Your CPU’s capacity will influence your FPS but your GPU will have higher impact on FPS. You need to balance the CPU with the GPU so there is no bottleneck. Although CPU will not have as much impact, it is still vitally necessary to have decent CPU.