Depending on your Companion device and Zwifting setup, though, the app’s connection to your active Zwift session may not be stable. This is annoying at the best of times, and race-ending if you’re pairing your devices through Companion!

Several months ago, we published How to Ensure Reliable Companion App Connection when Zwifting. (If you’re having troubles maintaining a steady connection between the game and your Companion app, I highly recommend reading this post.)

Then just a couple of weeks ago, our friend Mike Hanney at Zwiftalizer posted a helpful video with a few more tips that are definitely worth sharing. Watch it below, or scroll down for a summary:

Router Settings

• Turn off 2.4 GHz
• Set up media prioritization (aka “Quality of Service” or “Packing Shaping”)
• Get all your neighbors to turn of 2.4 GHZ as well

Phone Settings

• Turn off Cellular Data for Companion App and/or disable Wi-Fi Assist on your phone overall
• Turn on Device Connection in Companion Settings

Using Zwiftalizer To Troubleshoot Connections

Mike explains how to use Zwiftalizer‘s Connection Attempts chart to determine where in the signal chain your Companion app connection is getting dropped.

Pairing Devices In the Right Order

Zwift’s pairing screen behaves a bit oddly if you’re pairing multiple power sources (for example, a smart trainer and power meter pedals). Mike explains how to pair things up in this situation.

Companion App’s Bluetooth Dropout Device Indicator

If you’re connecting via Companion and have a dropout, the Companion app can tell you which device has dropped out. This information isn’t available anywhere else in Zwift, oddly enough, so Mike explains how to find it.

He also points you to the Trackit app, which can be used to get your signal strength from all your devices.

Questions or Comments?

Share below!

The information here is based on having personally put together over 100 dedicated Zwift PCs for members of the community, and hundreds of hours of testing and discussion with fellow nerds enthusiasts. At this point, my own PC has been rebuilt and changed at least ten times…

A warning: if you’re already happy or content with a lower level of detail and/or a low frame rate, this article is not intended for you! A better-looking, smoother Zwift will not make you faster or stronger (unless it gets you on the bike more often), it’s just nicer. We’re all paying to stare at Zwift, so why wouldn’t we want it at its best?

It’s important to note that almost all of what follows is NOT particularly good advice for PC gaming in general, because Zwift is different to most other modern games and there are diminishing returns beyond a certain point of investment. You don’t need the latest and most expensive parts. This guide is primarily aimed at those who want to use their PC solely or mainly for Zwift and want a great experience without wasting money unnecessarily. As a result, all of the CPU and GPU recommendations are based on desktop versions of the parts mentioned. I wouldn’t recommend buying a gaming laptop for Zwift, on the basis of poor value for money. If you absolutely must have portability then the same guidance applies, just be aware that mobile components are universally less powerful than their desktop counterparts with the same or similar model name – sometimes significantly so.

Changelog

This is the third major revision of the Ultimate Guide. For those already familiar with it, the main changes are:

• Updated specification guidance going into 2024.
• Further clarity on what causes the frame rate to drop in Zwift.
• Changes to the settings tweaks required for optimum performance.
• Details added for what’s needed to achieve specific targets at all times.
• Omitted references to the absurd graphics card pricing situation in previous years.
• Numerous edits and corrections to wording and grammar.

TL;DR – Key Components for Best Performance in Zwift

Processor: Ideally, use a CPU with strong raw (single thread) performance to combat the frame rate drops when it’s busy. Zwift doesn’t take advantage of high-end CPUs with many cores, so don’t waste your money on an expensive, top-tier model. Large performance improvements brought about by Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake architecture mean the choice is simpler than you may expect: if you want 60fps as often as possible, then go for an i3-12100F. I own this quad core CPU and it’s superb at keeping frame rates high in Zwift, only ever dropping below 60fps in extreme circumstances. If you don’t mind the frame rate dropping as long as it stays over 30fps, then just save the brass and build with a 4th generation Haswell CPU. Whilst the dual-core i3-41X0 range represents by far the best outright value for money for Zwift, changes in 2023 mean that the game works better on a quad-core CPU, so a 4th gen i5 or Xeon is a better idea. Notwithstanding bargain deals, virtually every CPU in between ends up a poor value because they’re either not as good as 12th gen, or too expensive compared to 4th gen. Note that the 13th and 14th generation Intel CPUs are merely refreshes of 12th gen, so aren’t worth spending more money on.

• Performance/New: Intel Core i3-12100F
• Value/Used: Intel Core i5-4XX0, or equivalent 4th gen Xeon E3-12XX V3
• Ultimate: Intel Core i5-12600KF

Graphics card: For Ultra profile, look for a mid-range Nvidia graphics card of GTX 900 series or newer with at least 2GB of VRAM. Remember that without a strong CPU as mentioned above you’ll see the same frame rate drops no matter what graphics card you have, so don’t waste money on something really expensive if your CPU will just hold it back anyway. Don’t even bother with the 1080p Game Resolution setting, all the graphics cards listed here are capable of at least 1440p which looks better on a 1080p display. In fact, the 1440p Game Resolution setting is the sweet spot for Zwift. Running the game in 4K does look a tiny bit sharper but requires a far stronger graphics card to hold a consistent 60fps everywhere, and the return on investment isn’t worthwhile.

• Ultra profile, 1440p resolution: Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, 1050 Ti or 1650
• Ultra profile, 2160p (4K) resolution: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980, 1060, 1650 SUPER or higher
• Ultimate: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 or higher, including any GeForce RTX graphics card

Display: To ensure the smoothest experience in all circumstances, an adaptive sync display (with compatible graphics card) works best to iron out frame rate swings. Any big TV is immersive, but you’ll almost certainly encounter stuttering at some point unless your CPU and graphics card are both strong enough to keep the frame rate consistently high.

• Smoothest: Freesync, G-Sync Compatible or G-Sync monitor
• Most immersive: Huge TV or ultrawide monitor
• Ultimate: 120Hz 4K adaptive sync TV with HDMI 2.1 and RTX 3000 series graphics card

Memory: 8GB of DDR4 (or DDR3, depending on the CPU platform chosen) is the minimum requirement for system RAM in Zwift and more capacity than this doesn’t improve anything. In fact, the game typically uses less than 3GB during a ride. You absolutely do not need 16GB as other modern games demand, though it’s worth having 12GB or more if you plan to multitask or run something like Sauce alongside the game. RAM speed and latency don’t matter much to Zwift, so just grab the best value deal you can find. This may well be a 16GB kit if you are buying new.

Storage: A 120GB SSD is easily enough storage for a PC with Windows and Zwift, which together take up around 40GB of space. The game can take a while to apply updates and load worlds, so be sure your system is running entirely on an SSD rather than a mechanical HDD. In normal usage, starting the PC, loading Zwift and getting to the pairing screen should take a minute or less – even on budget hardware.

Operating system: Windows 10 is the easiest operating system to recommend for the foreseeable future, ideally clean installed onto the SSD from scratch. Installing as little extra software as possible ensures maximum stability. There is no performance or stability benefit to running the game on Windows 11.

Settings: For smoothest performance it’s important to enable triple buffering and threaded optimisation in the Nvidia Control Panel, and disable video screenshots in the Zwift settings menu, should they be available for you.

Note that whilst AMD graphics cards perform far better at OpenGL (which Zwift runs on) these days, it’s still much easier to recommend Nvidia. AMD or Intel graphics cards will certainly work, but Nvidia is a known and stable route. If AMD is the only choice, go with an RX 580 and above. You will be able to use adaptive sync with a Freesync monitor.

Further Reading – The Basics

Graphics in Zwift are determined by just two variables; the profile and the Game Resolution. Beyond manually tweaking some aspects of the configuration files which can introduce instability, only the Game Resolution is determined by the user, via the in-game settings menu.

The PROFILE is the level of detail determining polygon count – foliage, depth of field, texture resolution, reflections, lighting and shadows, and environmental elements such as water effects and wildlife seen – and the profile is assigned automatically by the game. What you see is based on your computer’s graphical ability and cannot be changed. For computers such as normal laptops using integrated graphics (without a dedicated/discrete GPU), you will almost always see the Basic detail profile. This is the lowest tier of graphics in Zwift and is the same as phones, most tablets and all Apple TV models. The profile any given piece of hardware receives is chosen by Zwift HQ.

These profiles increase through Medium and High (as assigned to Apple M laptops and Macs), up to Ultra for mid-range graphics cards and above. Zwift HQ assesses every graphics card and decides on a profile for it, hence the reason why some people with newly released graphics cards sometimes see less detail than they are expecting for a while. Almost all consumer graphics cards from 2015 onwards receive Ultra profile, so in this respect there’s literally no difference between a GTX 960 and an RTX 4090 costing many, many times as much. What’s actually on screen in terms of features and detail is exactly the same.

The GAME RESOLUTION determines how sharp the game appears on screen, and is accessed via the in-game settings menu. It’s not affected by your physical output resolution, it’s the internal render resolution within the game itself. This ranges from 576p through to 2160p (4K). Rather unhelpfully, these options use the same naming scheme so it’s understandable why some people get confused between the two, for example when considering the capabilities of the Apple M devices which have been assigned High profile, not Ultra. Selecting the higher resolution options and hoping to maintain 60fps+ in the most demanding areas will require a stronger graphics card, but it won’t change the graphics you see – that’s based on the profile which is automatically determined.

Higher resolutions are increasingly sharper and cleaner in terms of reduced jaggies. Note that you’re not limited to the physical resolution of your display – for example with a 1080p TV or monitor, the 1440p in-game setting is ideal because it looks better with negligible impact on performance – just be aware that going up to 2160p (4K) has significantly higher demands to hold high frame rates. This is most notable in areas of dense foliage such as the Watopia jungle, Titans Grove, New York and the Yumezi section of Makuri Islands. Dust clouds when following a large group are particularly taxing, and can bring even the highest end graphics cards to their knees.

To recap, profile and resolution in Zwift are two separate things. To see the Ultra PROFILE you will simply need any mid-range Nvidia graphics card from 2015 or newer in your PC. To be able to select the highest RESOLUTIONS in the game’s settings menu and maintain 60fps as often as possible, the demands on the graphics card increase, particularly in areas of dense foliage.

Which Graphics Card?

Choosing a graphics card is easier to determine than it may appear, given that the profile is automatically selected and all mid-range graphics cards and above get the highest amount of detail with Ultra profile. All you really need to consider – aside from your budget of course – is the resolution you want to use, and whether you want to use adaptive sync (more on that later). The resolution you choose from the in-game settings menu doesn’t change what you see on screen, in terms of features and visual effects. It just looks sharper, that’s literally it.

Assuming Ultra profile at 60fps is the target, then for the 1440p Game Resolution setting an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, 1050 Ti or 1650 is typically fine. These graphics cards are from three different generations but all are good for 1440p which looks great on a 1080p TV or monitor. If you want to hold 60fps at all times in 1440p, you will need to step up to a GTX 980, 1060 or 1650 SUPER to cope with the most demanding spots in the game.

For the 2160p (4K) Game Resolution setting you’ll want at least an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980, 1060 or 1650 SUPER. Again, these are all different generations, and are broadly similar in terms of Zwift performance at 4K. Anything higher, including any RTX model, just provides more headroom. The higher up each range you go, the more likely it is that your frame rate will stay at 60fps in the most graphically demanding areas. For example a GTX 1070 would stay at 60fps more often than a GTX 1060, and an RTX 2060 even more often. There are diminishing returns of course, so be sensible. Spending more and more on the graphics card doesn’t make sense if your CPU is going to hold it back regularly – say if big group events are your favourite thing to do on Zwift. Don’t worry about VRAM capacity, there’s no noticeable benefit in Zwift to having more. If you want to hold 60fps at all times in 4K, you will need at least a GTX 1080 Ti, or RTX 2070, 3060 or 4060 to cope with the most demanding spots in the game. Most of the time this tier of graphics card won’t even be trying so I would strongly recommend you DON’T buy any of them purely for Zwift, but it typifies the absurd variances in demand throughout the game’s many worlds and areas.

Bear in mind that the GTX series cards mentioned above (GTX 1050 Ti excluded) are out of production, so you’ll need to trawl the used market. Keep your eyes peeled and try to grab something to suit your needs at a reasonable price; there’s really no need to buy any brand new graphics card for Zwift. Despite the supply situation being back to normal after recent years of crazy pricing, the market for decent low and mid-range graphics cards has essentially disappeared. New and current cards are either overpowered, overpriced, or both. Buy used for Zwift.

If you wish to use adaptive sync for the smoothest experience, you can get the best from an affordable Freesync or G-Sync Compatible monitor with a GTX 1000 series or newer graphics card, with DisplayPort. Using adaptive sync on older generations of Nvidia graphics cards such as the GTX 900 series requires an expensive dedicated G-Sync monitor. If you want to utilise adaptive sync (VRR) on a modern 4K TV with HDMI 2.1, then you’ll need an RTX 3000 series card onwards.

It’s worth noting at this point that whilst AMD graphics cards offer really good value for regular gaming and Intel cards are now available, they don’t perform any better at Zwift than the Nvidia equivalents. If you only have AMD graphics cards to choose from, then an RX 580 and above should be okay and you will be able to utilise adaptive sync with a Freesync monitor. But it’s easier to stick to Nvidia for known, stable results in Zwift.

The CPU Bottleneck

Here’s where it gets a bit more complicated. In a solo ride, in a relatively quiet area of say Watopia or London, virtually any decent graphics card will be able to hold 60fps in Ultra profile without much bother at all. However in a big group ride, following a popular RoboPacer or around busy spawn points, you will find that the frame rate tanks below 60fps and for most setups this means the experience starts to stutter. This is irrespective of the graphics profile assigned, and resolution selected. The impact can vary in significance, from being barely noticeable right down to making Zwift an expensive slideshow. The unfortunate truth is that this behaviour happens to everyone and it’s not the graphics card which is struggling. It happens because Zwift is very limited in how effectively it utilises the CPU in a system. Constantly redrawing lots of riders with all their combinations of bike, avatar and jerseys etc is inefficient and very many calculations are performed constantly on the CPU. This process doesn’t take advantage of modern CPUs with multiple cores and hyperthreading. It all relies on raw processing power; how much work the CPU can do in the shortest time possible.

What helps to prevent the frame rate dropping in these circumstances is not a stronger graphics card as many believe, but a CPU that can process the rider data and send it to the graphics card more quickly. This is almost always an Intel CPU; whilst AMD’s Ryzen series of CPUs are often good value and provide a great upgrade path because most Zen generations can normally be installed in the same motherboard, up until the the 5000 series CPUs, their single thread performance has trailed behind the Intel equivalents. In addition, because Zwift doesn’t benefit in any way from high core and thread counts, there’s no benefit to buying more than a quad core CPU.

This unique combination of requirements means the 12th generation Alder Lake Intel Core i3-12100F is the standout option for anyone looking to build with new parts. It’s relatively cheap and runs Zwift brilliantly, keeping the frame rate at 60fps in all but the most extreme of circumstances, such as the start of huge group events. It works perfectly well on a lowest tier H610 chipset motherboard, and there’s no need to spend more. Ryzen CPUs have been excellent for value over the last few years and a lot of what you’ll see online will recommend them for gaming PC builds, but for Zwift in particular, the 12th gen Intel CPUs are outstanding. The i3-12100F beats even flagship i7 and i9 CPUs from previous Intel generations and many of the very best Ryzen models when it comes to single thread performance, making it the obvious choice if you’re looking to build or upgrade a PC for Zwift without wasting money unnecessarily.

As the game gets more popular with more riders online at once, and popular features such as RoboPacers meaning there are large groups active in the worlds at all times, the benefit of a strong CPU increases. This is irrespective of the graphics card you use, whereas even the best graphics card will always be held back in Zwift by a weaker CPU when it’s busy. If you’re wanting to go down the AMD route, a Ryzen 5 5600 with B550 chipset motherboard is a good value option.

If you want to ensure higher frame rates all the time, consider an i5-12600KF. Though getting the very best from this CPU typically involves using an expensive enthusiast-tier motherboard and adequate cooling (as well as needing the patience to find stable overclock settings), even in standard trim without any overclocking it is a beast. Paired with a B660 chipset motherboard, the frame rate will always stay high in Zwift when CPU would usually be the limiting factor. For most people however, there’s simply no need to go down this route over an i3-12100F for Zwift. Higher tier 12th gen models exist but the returns diminish rapidly. 13th and 14th gen CPUs are the same underlying architecture so aren’t worth spending more money on.

Note that both the i3-12100F and i5-12600KF need to be used with a dedicated graphics card (denoted by the ‘F’ suffix); they do not have integrated graphics which makes them cheaper to buy. If the 12th gen CPUs are too expensive, more budget-friendly options are detailed later in the guide. To help demonstrate the impact of being CPU limited, and with analysis courtesy of the excellent Zwiftalizer.com, here are two examples from popular Tour de Zwift group events. It can be clearly seen that as the number of riders nearby (and therefore data transferred, represented in yellow) increases, the frame rate in blue decreases.

In both examples the frame rate drops down from the desired 60fps as the pen populates and the event begins, before recovering back to 60fps once the field becomes suitably stretched. Despite the frame rate becoming lower than desired, the GPU utilisation during this period is much lower than expected, because it’s being limited by the CPU. Only 100 of the nearest rider avatars are ever rendered on screen in Zwift, doubly confirming that the low frame rate is not caused by too much load on the GPU.

Note that there are two distinct differences between these PC configurations – in the second screenshot a substantially weaker graphics card is used and the resolution setting has been dropped from the very highest (4K) to the very lowest (576p). Despite these changes, the behaviour is exactly the same on both examples, because the CPU used for the tests is the same and so the limiting factor is unchanged.

The game needs to visualise the constantly changing live positions, speeds and drafting physics of potentially thousands of other riders at the same time, and most of these calculations are done at the client end – on our systems. The graphics card’s GPU becomes severely under-utilised whilst this is going on because it’s waiting for instructions from the CPU, and so the frame rate drops. It may seem counterintuitive but it’s preferable for a GPU to be working at a high utilisation in games, that way you’re getting the maximum out of it. Utilisation being low means it’s being stopped from working its hardest by some other aspect of the system – a bottleneck. Or to put it the other way around, if GPU utilisation was at 100% (the graphics card trying its best) and the resultant frames rates were lower than desired then it would be clear that upgrading to a stronger graphics card would improve performance, but that’s often not the case in Zwift. Likewise, reducing the Game Resolution setting does not help when the CPU is the limiting factor. So you should be careful not to spend too much money on a graphics card, because that’s not necessarily where the bottleneck is in a given situation in Zwift.

It’s worth noting here that since its launch and to date, the whole of Makuri Islands and particularly Neokyo is inexplicably CPU limited at all times, even when there are no other riders around. This behaviour is different to every other world on Zwift. So if the frame rate is much lower than you are expecting on Neokyo, it’s almost certainly because your CPU isn’t strong enough, not your graphics card.

Also worth mentioning is the video screenshots feature, which has been rolled out to many systems (based on their age) and adds a lot of extra CPU load at all times. To ensure best frame rate performance, I highly recommend you disable video screenshots in the game settings menu. The clips produced by this feature are of questionable quality anyway, and specialist screen capturing software such as OBS is far superior for this purpose.

Mitigation with Adaptive Sync

Whilst there have been promising comments made suggesting this fundamental behaviour of Zwift performance may improve in future, all we can do is mitigate it for now. The only ways to retain a smooth performance are to have a CPU and graphics card that are both strong enough to prevent the frame rate dropping too far, or to accept that the performance will always suffer in certain circumstances and use your display to address it with adaptive sync technology. For several years, Freesync support has been available on Nvidia graphics cards for its GTX 1000 series graphics cards onwards, when using a DisplayPort cable (it won’t work over HDMI). Previously you needed to buy a high end dedicated G-Sync monitor but this is no longer the case with more recent graphics cards. Likewise, if you want to run Zwift on a big screen and always have the smoothest experience, HDMI 2.1 TVs are becoming more affordable and can usually utilise adaptive sync technology (often referred to as VRR). This requires an RTX 3000 series graphics card onwards.

Adaptive sync allows you to smooth out frame rate drops at the other end of your system, by ironing out the stuttering associated with mismatched frame rates and refresh rates. When adaptive sync is operating, a display automatically adjusts its refresh rate in real time to match your frame rate – smoothing out all the fluctuations. On a typical TV or fixed refresh rate monitor, a drop in frame rate results in a mismatch which introduces stuttering.

This makes adaptive sync a great solution for a game ‘on rails’ like Zwift, where the frame rate can change by a large amount purely due to the circumstances of the ride. It removes the stutter, and there’s no tearing. Ideally you want a wide enough adaptive sync range to allow for every eventuality you will encounter, so check the specifications of any monitor you are considering using. On 144Hz gaming monitors you’re basically covered no matter what, because even below the adaptive sync range, Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) kicks in to avoid stuttering.

Whilst Freesync now works with Nvidia graphics cards in addition to those from AMD, unless a Freesync monitor is officially certified as ‘G-Sync Compatible’, then you won’t know if adaptive sync will work correctly with an Nvidia graphics card until you try it. So be sure to check online reviews or Reddit and the likes to see how other people got on; you’ll normally find someone somewhere has tried the particular monitor model and reported back.

Most of them work just fine even without certification, but it’s worth checking before spending your money. High end dedicated G-Sync monitors will always work perfectly, even with older graphics card models such as the GTX 900 series.

Overall Summary

• The frame rate your system is capable of always suffers when it’s busy with other riders around you, and how severely this impacts the experience depends on the strength of the CPU, not the GPU.
• A 12th generation Intel i3-12100F is good enough to maintain 60fps in all but the most extreme of circumstances.
• It’s not necessary to buy the latest and greatest graphics card, and there are hugely diminishing returns.
• You DO NOT need to spend mega money on a gaming PC to get a great experience in Zwift, so don’t!
• Spend your money in the right places if you want to mitigate stuttering issues caused by frame rate drops.
• This is easily done with an adaptive sync monitor, but is also possible with modern TVs and the right GPU.

Nvidia Driver Settings

There are very few options in the Nvidia Control Panel which improve the Zwift experience, and the most important one is to enable triple buffering which is disabled by default. This setting allows the frame rate in Zwift to be truly variable, rather than dropping hard to 50% refresh rate – usually 30fps on a typical TV or monitor – and sometimes being stuck there. This hard drop behaviour is caused by Vsync, which Zwift uses as standard. Disabling Vsync introduces tearing, so keep it enabled in tandem with triple buffering for the best results. The other thing to change from default is to enable threaded optimisation, which is vital on dual core CPUs for ensuring best performance. It’s worth noting that I have seen no evidence whatsoever that the Nvidia driver version used has any bearing on stability or performance when it comes to Zwift. So just let Windows manage updates and don’t worry about it.

System RAM and Storage

Zwift requires 8GB of system RAM, and typically uses less than 3GB when you’re riding. If you’re streaming and/or heavily multitasking then 16GB may be more suitable, but it’s absolutely not necessary for Zwift alone, and adding more RAM doesn’t help performance. Likewise, RAM generation, speed and latency doesn’t affect much in Zwift so just go for the best value deal you can find. You will need DDR3 for a 4th gen system, and DDR4 for anything newer. Don’t bother with DDR5, save the money.

Nobody likes waiting for updates or the game to load, so be sure to install both Windows and Zwift on an SSD. These are extremely good value because they absolutely transform the general performance of any computer. If your system will only be used for Zwift, a 120GB SSD is plenty of space. With an SSD, Windows typically starts up in around 15 seconds, Zwift updates take a few minutes at most and the game loads to the pairing screen in under a minute even on the lowest end hardware mentioned in this guide. If you’re usually waiting longer than this and don’t already have an SSD, I strongly recommend buying one to replace your HDD.

Whichever storage type you use, ideally you should clean install Windows 10 from scratch before downloading Zwift. All in this should take less than an hour, depending on your internet connection speed. I would also recommend allowing Windows to install and manage the Nvidia driver and Control Panel, because there’s no benefit to doing so manually. Uninstall OneDrive and don’t be tempted to add extra antivirus software, which will only slow the PC down and provide no advantage over the built in security features which are excellent and free. The less software you can have on your Zwift PC, the more likely it is to be stable, and it makes troubleshooting easier.

Building on a Budget

If you’re not willing or able to stretch to a modern 12th generation CPU for Zwift, then the next best option is to drop down to 4th generation Haswell architecture. This isn’t to say that the CPU generations in between the two don’t show any improvement, it’s just that the incremental steps up in performance are nowhere near enough to justify the extra cost versus just going straight to 12th gen. Even flagship CPUs from previous generations aren’t as good at Zwift as the i3-12100F, despite often costing many times as much and normally requiring expensive motherboards and enhanced cooling solutions to get the most from them through overclocking. So if 12th gen is too expensive then you’re better off accepting the frame rates will drop when it’s busy and go for something older at the best price to performance ratio. If you’re using an adaptive sync display then the impact is far less obtrusive anyway.

With this in mind, by far and away the best value option remains the 4th gen platform. Whilst dual core CPUs with hyperthreading such as the i3-41X0 range are still good enough to keep frame rates above 30fps at worst, changes to the game in 2023 mean it does benefit from having a quad core CPU. Look to buy (or upgrade to) an Intel Core i5-4XX0, or 4th gen Xeon E3-12XX V3 which fit in the same motherboards without issue and are usually cheaper than their equivalent consumer counterparts whilst performing just as well. With any of these 4th gen CPUs, the frame rate will drop to 30fps at worst when there are a lot of other riders around. When you consider how cheap and readily available the 4th gen platform parts are, this is outstanding value for money and being prudent on the CPU may allow you to buy a better graphics card.

To save even more money, look for an ex-office desktop PC with any of the aforementioned CPUs already installed and ready to go, or upgrade one accordingly. There are loads of these systems available cheaply on the likes of eBay. Ideally get one without proprietary power connectors inside, which makes upgrading the power supply much easier if required. Good examples are the HP ProDesk 400 G1 MT, Dell Inspiron 3847 and Acer Veriton M2631G. Bring it up to spec in accordance with the rest of this guide – 8GB+ of system RAM, 120GB SSD and clean install Windows 10 – then add a suitable graphics card based on the resolution and frame rate targets you’re looking for. I find repurposing cheap old PCs like this for Zwift particularly satisfying; PCs that may have been otherwise destined for landfill. Helping to reduce e-waste whilst getting fantastic results on this platform at low cost feels like a win for everyone.

Whatever you decide to go for, I hope this guide has helped in some way and you manage to put together a PC which makes your Zwift experience more enjoyable. Cheers, and Ride On!

Acknowledgments

Huge thanks to J.Levie, M.Hanney, S.Louvet, M.Wozniak, S.Norman, S.Clogg, C.Peerman, and many others on the ZPCMR Facebook group for their input and help when compiling this guide.

Appendix

• zwiftalizer.com – to check PC performance from your rides and troubleshoot device dropouts
• cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html – to compare CPU single thread performance – higher is better
• browser.geekbench.com/processor-benchmarks – an alternative way of comparing CPUs
• techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/?mfgr=NVIDIA&sort=generation – to compare Nvidia graphics cards
• videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html – an alternative way of comparing graphics cards
• amd.com/en/products/freesync-monitors – to find a monitor’s adaptive sync range and filter by size etc
• pcpartpicker.com – for putting together proposed PC builds, checking compatibility and comparing prices

Well, usually.

I’m hearing from more and more Zwifters who have struggled to get their ANT+ dongles working on Windows 11. Windows 10 handled ANT+ dongles quite nicely, but Windows 11 sometimes struggles to identify ANT+ sticks as such and automagically install the ANT+ driver.

It varies based on which ANT+ stick you buy, and I don’t have a list of which sticks play nicely with Windows 11 and which do not. Instead, I can only provide simple instructions for getting your ANT+ stick set up on Windows 11 if it’s not automatically happening. Let’s go!

Method One: Windows Update

You can use Windows 11’s advanced update option to install the ANT+ driver. Here’s how:

1. From your PC’s search bar, search for and Check for updates. 
2. Click Advanced Options, then click Optional updates under Additional options.
3. Expand the list of driver updates, locate the ANT+ driver (it shows up as Dynastream Innovations), select it and press Download and install to complete the process.

If for any reason you can’t find the optional update, follow the next method to install it manually.

Method Two: Manual Driver Install

You can always install the ANT+ driver manually. It’s just a bit more hassle than doing it via Windows update. Here’s how:

1. Download the driver directly from us here. (Ideally you would be able to download this driver from an official source like the thisisant.com website, but they hide it behind a login, so we’re providing easy access to it instead.)
2. Unzip the newly downloaded .zip file and place the content into a new empty folder on your PC. 
3. Plug in your ANT USB-m stick into a USB port.
4. Open Device Manager (Start Menu > Device Manager).
5. Locate your ANT stick under Other devices or perhaps libusb-win32 devices.
6. Right-click the stick and select Update driver.
7. Select Browse my computer for drivers.
8. Browse to the folder you extracted in step 2, click OK, then Next.

Further Reference

If the instructions above aren’t working for you, here’s a page from Garmin describing how to install the ANT+ adapter driver in Windows 11, and here’s one from Wahoo with the same. (Both pages link to their respective hosted versions of the same zip file as we’ve linked above.)

Are you having other ANT+ connection issues? See our post on How to Fix ANT+ Dropouts and Other Connection Problems in Zwift.

Questions or Comments?

Post below!

Log History

You can now browse all the logs you’ve uploaded to Zwiftalizer. This is a handy feature, as Michael explains, because often Zwifters want to:

• Compare their device’s performance across multiple Zwift versions and/or
• See the performance of different devices they’ve used to run Zwift (perhaps they’ve recently upgraded their computer)

Group Event Information

If the log file you uploaded includes a Zwift event, Zwiftalizer now shows event-specific info such as:

• Name of the event
• Subgroup (Category) name
• Start time
• Braking available?
• Steering available?
• Rubber Banding v2
• Late join enabled?
• Video screenshots disabled or enabled?

Watch the Video

Michael walks you through these new features in this short explainer:

Questions or Comments?

Share below!

First, I cover the basics. Then I go over all the metrics in each chart step by step. Also, for the first time ever, I’m showing summary reports that use community data that I’ve been gathering for over two years – over two hundred thousand activities by ten thousand users. This level of in-depth research won’t be found anywhere else, folks. This is a Zwiftalizer exclusive. This happened with your help; this is your data!

Here is a sneak peek at what the video has to offer (video included at the bottom of the post)…

ANT+ vs Bluetooth Popularity

I delve into the topic of ANT+ vs Bluetooth connection type popularity among PC and Mac users, specifically looking at the trends between 2022 and 2023. I wanted to know if the increasing popularity of Bluetooth-centric gadgets like Zwift Play controls and Elite Strezo steering devices had affected Bluetooth adoption in the PC world. I won’t spoil the details here (you’ll have to watch the video for that!). I can share that the trends in usage between ANT+ and Bluetooth were fascinating. 

ANT+ vs Bluetooth Reliability Debate Settled

I also go deep into the data to settle the often-debated topic of which technology is more reliable. Let’s just say, the data gathered from over two hundred thousand activities, logged by ten thousand users over two years, reveals a clear winner.

How ANT+ and Bluetooth Reliability Differs For Trainer Models

I also explore the reliability of wireless for various smart trainers and power meters. This part of the analysis required a careful approach to ensure fairness in comparison, considering different usage frequencies of devices. I examined everything from ANT+ connected power meters to the latest smart trainers on Bluetooth, and the insights I gathered were quite surprising. 

Most Popular Graphics Profiles and Resolutions

Finally, I go back to the subject that made me want to make Zwiftalizer in the first place, way back in 2015: graphics performance for different devices. To be more specific, I find out which profiles and resolutions Zwiftalizer users use most often, as well as which laptops, PCs, and Macs are the most popular at each graphics setting. I will give you a spoiler alert for this one right now – it’s laptops, and by a whopping 80% across the board.

Check out the video

While I’m keen to share all the specifics and outcomes of my study, I’ll hold back here because the real depth and nuance of these findings are best explained through the video. So, if you’re as interested in the crowd-sourced data as I am, make sure to check out the full video for a comprehensive understanding of the current state of fitness equipment wireless connectivity and device reliability with Zwift. Trust me, it’s an eye-opener!

Subscribe and Like to Support Zwiftalizer

Now, I have a request. Please subscribe to my new YouTube channel and give my tutorial video a like. It’s completely free and really helps promote the channel. Who knows, maybe I’ll even make a few bucks from it one day to keep the site going. Zwiftalizer is a free service. Let’s keep it that way. Eric Min, CEO of Zwift, has given his own money to my project through Patreon in the past. Zwiftalizer users and I thank you very much for years of support. This is no longer the case. It might have been a mistake due to an expired credit card, but I don’t know because he wasn’t available for comment. I also no longer get any commission from the Amazon Affiliates program. It’s my fault. A link on my homepage did not lead to a specific product page or search results on Amazon.com, which is an immediate ban for life. Read those EULAs folks; they’re not messing around.

Thank you to everyone who has made a donation via PayPal, BuyMeACoffee and Patreon. More than ever, it’s because of you that the site stays up and running.

Key Takeaways

Laptop Battery Saver mode could just be called “Frame Rate Limiter Mode”, since that’s what it does. It slows down the frame rate in Zwift to conserve your battery.

Related: How to show your frames per second (FPS) in Zwift

This setting is available under your main settings menu only on Mac or Windows laptops, and is only used when your laptop is running on battery power.

There are four options:

• Off: Max Speed
• Min Battery Saver: 30 FPS
• Med Battery Saver: 20 FPS
• Max Battery Saver: 15 FPS

Configuration changes happen in real time (no need to restart Zwift after changing), and graphic level detail (ultra, high, etc) stays the same regardless of the setting.

Questions or Comments?

Share below!

With the recent release of Zwift’s Play Controllers, the Companion app is being used more than ever as a Bluetooth bridge between your devices (smart trainer, HRM, Play Controllers, etc) and your Zwift machine (especially Apple TV). This has resulted in more chatter in the community from Zwifters struggling to keep the Companion app firmly connected to their game session.

Let’s look at how Companion connects to your Zwift session, and some simple troubleshooting/settings tweaks to ensure your Companion connection is stable.

The Basics

While Zwift (the game itself) is running (on your PC, Mac, phone, tablet, or Apple TV) it is putting out a “signal” on your local network, so any device running the Companion app under the same login will “hear” that signal and automatically pair with your game session.

Many Zwifters use Companion while they ride or run simply to interact with other riders, or perhaps to manage their active workout. If you want to use Companion as a Bluetooth bridge, though, you’ll need to have Bluetooth enabled on your phone.

Pairing Bluetooth Devices Through Companion

Connecting Bluetooth devices via the Companion app should be very simple, but it can be confusing if you don’t understand how the system works, or if your devices are already connected elsewhere. To get started:

• Make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your phone.
• Do not open your phone’s Bluetooth settings and attempt to pair your smart trainer or HRM there. You don’t need to access this screen at all.
• Most hardware only allows one Bluetooth connection at a time, so if you think your smart trainer or HRM may already be connected to another device, break that connection by disabling the device or rebooting your hardware.

Open up Zwift Companion on your phone, and start up the Zwift game on your Zwift device. (Make sure you’re signed into the same Zwift account in Companion and in the game!) You’ll soon arrive at the pairing screen, which is where all the magic happens.

To use Companion as a Bluetooth bridge, make sure phone-based pairing is the selected Bluetooth connection option on the Zwift pairing screen. (You’ll know it is if you see a phone icon at the top-right, instead of a simple Bluetooth icon).

Not seeing the phone icon? Click “Pair Through Phone” at the top-left.

Companion Isn’t Seeing My Zwift Session!

The most common Companion complaint is that the app isn’t “seeing” your Zwift session. There are a handful of causes (and fixes) for this, but it all boils down to the Companion app not “hearing” the network signals being put out by the game. Two basic things to check:

• Same Network: your phone running Companion must be on the same local network as the Zwift device. For many Zwifters, that means both devices are on the same WiFi. Depending on your network setup you may have a hardwired connection to your Zwift device and a WiFi connection on your phone. Just make sure they’re the same network.
• Same Login: make sure you’re signed into Companion with the same login as the Zwift game.

More Troubleshooting Tips

• Turn on Airplane Mode: if you find that Companion sometimes sees your active Zwift session, and other times it does not, you’ve probably got “WiFi assist” enabled on your phone. If you have WiFi connected as well as a cell signal (which is how most of us have our phones set up at home), your phone may swap between WiFi and cell signal for its data connection depending on which one it thinks will perform best. If it decides to use your cell signal you won’t be connected to your local Zwift game session. To avoid this, put your phone in airplane mode, so only WiFi and Bluetooth are enabled. (You can also turn the “WiFi Assist” option off entirely. This article explains how.)
• Try a Reboot or Reinstall: when all else fails, right? If Companion won’t connect to your Zwift session, try rebooting the Companion app, rebooting your phone, or even deleting and reinstalling Companion.
• Get the Most Recent Companion Version: make sure you’re running the latest version of Companion by going to your list of app updates.
• Firewalls/VPN/Proxy: got a non-standard network setup? You may need to open some firewall ports or make other exceptions so Zwift can function correctly. Learn more on Zwift’s support page.

Weak WiFi? Try Mesh.

Some Zwifters have setups where their WiFi signal is weak, which can mess up your actual Zwift session and/or your Companion connection to Zwift. If you’re willing to invest some cash into improving your home network, we highly recommend getting a mesh system, which should greatly boost your WiFi coverage and speed compared to a typical single-router WiFi setup.

Read more about mesh networks for Zwifting >

Using a Personal Hotspot?

Some Zwifters who lack a strong local network simply use their phone’s cellular signal as a personal hotspot, running their Zwift session over that connection. This should work fine in terms of the Zwift game experience, although game updates may be a bit slow and could eat into limited data.

But in our experience, with this setup your Companion app won’t “see” your Zwift game session even though both would seem to be on the same “local network”. Your experience may vary – if it does, share below!

A Few More Notes

The Companion app doesn’t need to stay in focus on your phone in order for it to stay paired to your Zwift session. But it does need to stay open, so don’t force close the app!

This means you need to keep your phone powered on for any Bluetooth devices paired through Companion to remain connected. So make sure your phone has sufficient battery power to last the duration of your workout.

Questions or Comments?

Check out Zwift’s Companion app support page, or post below!

But recently my purpose-built Zwifting PC has been misbehaving. I’m not sure if it’s a problem on Zwift’s side, or a problem with my PC, but until I get it fixed I’ve been using Apple TV (the latest, cheapest model: 4K 2022 64GB Wi-Fi only) for most of my riding.

What have I learned from a few weeks of near-daily Apple TV Zwifting? Mostly, I’ve learned why so many Zwifters like Apple TV. I’ve also learned why PC users are annoyed by it. And I’ve found a few niggles that Zwift could fix that would improve the Apple TV experience for all.

Without further ado, here’s my list of Apple TV pros and cons for Zwifters.

Pros

• Stable: I haven’t had it crash or lock up yet. It just works.
• Quick booting: it goes from the startup screen (login/user selection) to the pairing screen faster than Windows, and it loads me into specific maps just a bit faster as well.
• Quick access for multi-user households: Zwift on Apple TV keeps your most recent two logged-in users signed into the game, so when you start a session you just pick a user and go. Much more efficient than Zwift’s single-login setup for PC, and really handy if you have two Zwifters in the house!
• Low price: Apple TV is the most affordable device for running Zwift, hands down. The latest Apple TV 4K actually dropped in price compared to the previous model, which is unheard of these days. I got the 64GB Wi-Fi only version from Apple for just $129USD. You simply won’t find a Zwift-friendly PC or iPad at that price.
• Auto updates: while Zwift updates typically roll out a bit slower to Apple TV (think 24-48 hours after PC), the updates install automatically. So if you don’t care about getting the latest update as soon as it drops, Apple TV is the set-it-and-forget-it winner.
• Small size: the newest Apple TV is even smaller than the previous versions, which could be held in the palm of your hand (try to do that with a PC). If space is at a premium or you just want a really clean look, the Apple TV can easily be hidden away on the back of your TV using velcro tape.

Cons

• Basic graphics: Zwift runs at 30FPS at 1080 resolution on Apple TV. On top of that, the detail level is low, so the environment doesn’t show shadows or sharper detail on certain objects like trees, rocks, and in-game kits.
  
  See if you can spot the differences in these videos: here’s a recent race on AppleTV, and another in London on my Zwift PC.
  
  It looks sharp and smooth enough if you’re not used to higher-quality visuals on a PC, but here’s the thing: Zwift could do better. The latest Apple TV has the A15 Bionic chip, which boasts 50% improved overall performance and 30% increased GPU performance over the previous model’s A12 chip. Surely Zwift could bump up the visuals without any negative effects, at least on the latest Apple TV!
• Bluetooth connection limit: Apple TV only allows 2 Bluetooth device connections in the Zwift game, so if you want to connect (for example) your trainer and heart rate monitor, that’s all you can do. If you need to pair up more Bluetooth devices (like Zwift’s Play Controllers, or perhaps a cadence or power meter) the common solution is to connect using Zwift Companion on your phone instead.
  
  I’ve found this to work reliably so far, but some Zwifters with poor WiFi connections haven’t been so lucky. Being able to connect everything directly to Apple TV would simply be smoother, but I’m afraid the ball is in Apple’s court on this one.
  
  (You can also get a Bluetooth aggregator like North Pole Engineering‘s CÔRD or WYÛR, but these don’t yet work with the Play Controllers).

Quirks

The items below didn’t quite qualify as “cons” because each one is either quite minor or has a workaround. Still, they’re worth mentioning since Zwifting on an Apple TV has some hangups in certain situations compared to Zwifting on a PC.

• No built-in workout editor: you can’t create or edit custom workouts on Apple TV, so the only way to get them there is to create and save them elsewhere (say, on a PC running Zwift). They will then auto-sync to your Zwift cloud account.
• Starting new activity requires re-pairing: whenever you end/save your activity on Zwift for Apple TV, it takes you all the way back to the login screen, instead of the homescreen where PC users are taken. The annoying thing here is that you have to re-pair your devices before you can get to the homescreen and into a new activity. On top of that, there’s currently a Play bug that makes re-pairing take an extra few clicks. Speaking of which…
• Play Controllers must disconnect and reconnect: there’s a bug with Zwift’s new Play Controllers which requires you to disconnect the controllers and re-pair them each time you go into Zwift on Apple TV.
• Messaging via Companion is a hassle: if you’ve never had a PC setup with a well-positioned table and keyboard, you may not realize what you’re missing when it comes to messaging in game. But I find messaging with Apple TV to be cumbersome and annoying, since I have to type it out on my phone instead of tapping it out on my keyboard.
• No drone camera: yeah, this may seem picky to some Zwifters, but I take a lot of in-game shots, and the vast majority of those have been taken on a PC using Zwift’s controllable drone camera view. There is no controllable drone camera on Apple TV. While we’re on the subject of Zwift pics…
• No photo/video storage unless you use Companion: photos and videos snapped in game while on Apple TV aren’t stored somewhere on your TV for future use, unless you use the Companion app to take those pics or videos, in which case they’re stored on your phone. This is officially just an “annoyance” because there’s a workaround (using Companion).
• No menu screenshots: you can only take screenshots while in an actual Zwift map – there is no way to snap one (via Companion or the Apple remote) when you’re on the homescreen or pairing screen.
• No keyboard shortcuts: this annoyance is mostly erased with the new Play Controllers, but if you don’t have those yet, getting around Zwift using only the Apple TV remote feels cumbersome and slow compared to a PC mouse/keyboard. It’s certainly doable… it’s just annoying.

Conclusions

Is Apple TV the device you should be using for your Zwift sessions? I can’t answer that. But I can say that many thousands of Zwifters are quite satisfied with their Zwift experience on Apple TV (more Zwifters use Apple TV than PC, after all). The release of Zwift’s Play Controllers has made it an even more appealing Zwifting device since Play can handle most of the in-game navigation once paired.

When Zwift optimizes the visuals for the new A15 bionic chipset, Apple TV on Zwift will be even more attractive. (In talking to contacts within Zwift, this is in their plans. But they’re not sharing any delivery dates.)

For now, if you aren’t fussed about having the highest framerate or sharpest graphics, don’t need to build custom workouts in game, and aren’t looking to generate hi-end photos or videos of your Zwifting, Apple TV may be the solution for you.

If you’re looking to stream/record video at higher framerates, like to create custom workouts, and want to be able to get around the game super quick (bike swap, anyone?) you may want to Zwift with a decent gaming PC instead.

Your Thoughts

Are you an Apple TV fan, or part of the PC gamer crowd? What are your thoughts on Apple TV as a Zwift platform – got any pros, cons, or quirks to add? Share below!

Why It’s Needed

This feature is designed to help you quickly and easily find the ideal combination of CPU and GPU for your needs. Whether you’re building your own PC or buying a pre-built system, the search function will save you time and effort.

This is particularly useful right now because although the prices of graphics cards went up due to high demand for mining crypto and supply chain issues resulting from COVID, prices are now mostly back to normal levels, and supply is expanding. As serious gamers upgrade their systems, there are also great deals to be had on used computer parts and graphics cards from previous generations.

Last but not least, 2023 is a great time to look at GPU options for Zwift again because AMD finally improved their OpenGL drivers, Intel released a line of graphics cards, and Apple Silicon has (almost) done away with the need for a graphics card altogether.

How It Works

Just type the CPU model code and GPU model code into the search box to find out how well a certain CPU and GPU work together:

The search function draws from a database of real user rides from 2022 and later to rank the results based on the average frames per second (FPS) and the crowding factor. Crowding is important because when it’s busy around you, the CPU has to do more work to figure out the physics, which makes the GPU wait for instructions. This is what people mean when they say the CPU is a bottleneck or that Zwift is often a ‘CPU bound’ app. The results also show details for world, profile, resolution, game client version and date.

It’s important to remember the key performance indicators we’re looking at are:

• whether or not it can consistently run at 60 FPS, and
• how often does it dip below 60 FPS

For the first, we look at Average, and for the second, we look at P1. P1 is the 1st percentile, which means that 1% of the time, the low values were equal to or lower than this number. A P1 of 60 FPS or more means that the frame rate never went below that. That’s perfect. 

Max and averages of more than 60 FPS are not always better. In fact, very high values are usually a sign that the computer is overkill for Zwift and that the user has wasted a lot of money. Also, many users keep vertical sync turned on, which typically caps the FPS at 60, whether they know it or not. This is why there are so many results at 60,60,60, which is good.

It’s important to know that Zwift uses only one core of the CPU to do most of its number crunching. This means that you don’t have to buy a pre-built gaming PC with many CPU cores. Instead, you can easily get by with a cheaper Core i3 CPU from the 12th generation or higher. But many pre-built computers don’t have a Core i3, so the options are to either spend too much or build your own with parts better suited to Zwift. 

Build Your Own PC

The results show that putting together your own PC from parts is still the way to go. Dave Higgins’ post covers this topic in great detail, and my research confirms that a 12th generation Intel Core i3 12100F and an Nvidia GTX 1650 is a great combination for getting 60 FPS at 1440 resolution and Ultra profile for all worlds (except Makuri Islands), which many builders agree is the optimal balance of quality, performance, and cost.

Why not use 4K? I think it’s overrated, and the benefits don’t make up for the extra cost. 4K means that there are 4 times as many pixels as in 1080 and 2.25 times as many as in 1440. As you might imagine, that needs a GPU that costs at least twice as much, as well as a 4K monitor or TV. I’ve never been tempted. I use a Core i5 4690K, GTX 970 at 1440, and a cheap 1080 TV. Since we’re talking about total costs, I’d recommend that everyone get the best trainer they can afford before they upgrade their graphics. 

4K has 4 times as many pixels as 1080 and 2.25 times the number of pixels as 1440:

• 1920 x 1080 = 2,073,600 pixels
• 2560 x 1440 = 3,686,400 pixels –> sweet spot
• 3840 x 2160 = 8,294,400 pixels (4 x 2,073,600)

If building your own PC isn’t for you, don’t worry. The search function can also help you check how a pre-built machine will perform, so you don’t have to spend hours researching and comparing irrelevant benchmarks (no other game has the same performance characteristics as Zwift). When you see a PC, laptop, or Mac that fits your needs, look carefully at the CPU and GPU model numbers and type them into the search to see what performance you can expect. Follow the Amazon links to check current price (USA and UK). I make money from these links, and that’s helped keep Zwiftalizer up and running for over seven years. 

Some Examples

Nvidia Cards Remain The Best Choice

Since its release in 2016, Zwiftalizer has consistently shown that Nvidia graphics cards are the best choice for Zwift on PC. This is because Zwift still uses the OpenGL graphics library on Windows, and Nvidia has the best OpenGL drivers. 

zwiftalizer.com/search/12100F+1650

Good News for AMD Radeon Card Owners

Recent tests show that AMD Radeon cards on Windows now perform 15%-20% better than they did in previous years. This is because AMD made optimizations to OpenGL drivers on Windows. This is great news for everyone with an AMD Radeon card. Make sure you have at least version 22.11.2 of the Radeon Adrenaline driver. 

In a separate improvement, Macs with AMD Radeon GPUs also got a performance boost. Zwift completed the switch from OpenGL graphics APIs to Metal graphics APIs on MacOS sometime toward the end of 2022. I recommend the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB because there are a lot of them on the used market and they work in everything from 2009 Mac Pro Towers, in eGPUs enclosures on Intel Macs, to Windows PCs and Hackintoshes, and there’s even a Zwifter using one on Linux with Windows as a virtual machine.

zwiftalizer.com/search/RX+580

Intel ARC A770 GPU a Viable Option

Intel has finally released a line of discrete graphics cards. Search results show the ARC A770 performs well. We can also see when the ARC A770 was given the Ultra profile by Zwift developers (PC Client version 1.32, early December 2022). 

It’s not clear how and when the people who work on Zwift give profiles to GPU models. Even years after being released, some new models still don’t have Ultra. 

While I still advise getting an Nvidia card it’s good to know there is an alternative if Nvidia supplies run short or prices rise again.

zwiftalizer.com/search/arc+A770

A Mini PC is the worst option

I wouldn’t suggest this option because integrated Intel and AMD Radeon graphics are still not very good. If you want something small, you should get an Apple TV. Some people still want to run Windows programs on the smallest PC they can get, so the results of the Radeon APU Vega 11 could be interesting to them. The Radeon NUC line works pretty well now and there are some very potent Intel+Nvidia options, but both are ridiculously expensive, so I’d advise an M1 Mac Mini over a NUC if a small box is really important to you.

zwiftalizer.com/search/Radeon+Vega+11

Apple’s M1 with Metal API equals Nvidia GTX 950

Since Zwift switched to the Metal graphics API around the end of 2022, there has been about an 18% increase in FPS for machines with Apple Silicon, like M1, M2, and so on. With 7 GPU cores, the base-level M1 chip from 2020 can now maintain 60 FPS at 1440 resolution with the High profile in every world except Makuri Islands. This is impressive for a System-on-a-Chip (SOC) design that uses very little power and has no fans. However, to put things in perspective, the performance is still only the same as a low-end graphics card from 2015, the Nvidia GTX 950 GPU.

Now that all iOS, AppleTV, and MacOS devices run on Metal, graphics improvements are likely to come to all of them in 2023. In November 2022, Jon Mayfield posted the following comment on Reddit (see thread):

Thus far iOS and AppleTV devices have all been switched, as well as almost all macbooks – except the M1/M2! Seems like Apple’s drivers were slightly different on M1/M2. So yes, changes are coming (probably within 30 days!) for M1/M2s to start running on the Metal API (vs OpenGL), but no, visual changes won’t be apparent until next year sometime.

Also, Jon said on February 13, 2023, that more than half of Zwift users use Apple devices (see thread).

We’ve now moved all our apple devices to Metal (more than 50% of our users!), and are now measuring how feasible it is to ship Vulcan on windows+android. Turns out those older laptops are still lacking a bit of support here, but the numbers are diminishing to the point it looks reasonable to go Vulcan (backup plan is DX on windows, GLES on Android).

There is potential to improve this further if Zwift makes a binary specifically for Apple M1/M2 Silicon. This does not appear to be a priority for Zwift though. For example, it’s been two years and there are still discrepancies with the M1/M2 profiles. The M1 has High profile without rider shadows, and the M2 has Medium profile with rider shadows and appears to be capped at 30 FPS. 

The main reason Zwift doesn’t have a native binary for M1/M2 yet is that it depends on software libraries from a third party that would need to be rebuilt. In March 2022, Jon said the following (see thread):

As for a Mac M1 native version of Zwift, that isn’t in the works at the moment [March 2022]. Our code would compile easily on it, but there are 3rd party libs that would need to be rebuilt that we aren’t in control of. Maybe next year? Fortunately the translation layer Apple made seems pretty good so it’s not the end of the world. That’ll be another mac m1 specific speed boost we can look forward to.

At $549 USD for a renewed M1 Mac Mini, I wouldn’t really recommend it over an AppleTV, just for Zwift, because the graphics quality isn’t three times better. You should still keep an eye on it if you want a Mac for other reasons or you find a used one at a good price.

zwiftalizer.com/search/M1

Compare with Core i3 6098P and Nvidia GTX 950

zwiftalizer.com/search/6098P+950

I don’t understand any of this. What laptop should I buy?

A Core i5 11300H and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 laptop costs between $700 and $800 USD right now. If portability is important to you, this is a reasonable choice. But be aware that in a few years, you may want more performance and a laptop typically can’t be meaningfully upgraded.

I would also like to point out that laptop parts aren’t as strong as desktop parts with the same product codes. This is a marketing trick. Compared to the desktop 30xx GPU line, the mobile/laptop RTX 3050 is really very weak. This is because the parts in a laptop use less power so heat doesn’t build up in its small case and burn your house to the ground.

zwiftalizer.com/search/11300H+3050

What About AppleTV?

AppleTV logs are inaccessible, however many logs from iPads and iPhones with the same CPU have been uploaded. This shows that the performance of AppleTV is the worst that Zwift is capable of in terms of the graphics experience. It is consistent though, and it’s cheap, but it’s still an iPhone chip in a box and capped at 30 FPS.

zwiftalizer.com/search/A14

People have asked me if I think the latest AppleTV with the A15 Bionic processor will do real 4K. The short answer is no. It only has 4GB of RAM which is not enough to use the high-resolution textures that are needed for the scene to look sharp at 4K, and they are capped at 30 FPS due to the power and heat constraints of the small box, which makes the scene look choppy at 4K.

Android Tablet?

Um, yeah. Pass. It’s still 720 basic, but if that’s your jam – Mali G78 (Kirin 9000, Exynos 2100) beats Adreno 660 (Snapdragon 888)

zwiftalizer.com/search/adreno

zwiftalizer.com/search/mali

In summary, the search feature on Zwiftalizer 2.0 is a useful tool for all Zwifters who want to find the best graphics experience without breaking the bank. Whether you’re building your own PC or buying a pre-built system, the search function will help you find the perfect combination of CPU and GPU.

Give it a try at zwiftalizer.com/search

Thanks to Dave Higgins for checking my facts and fixing my weird half-Welsh, half-American grammar. Also, a huge thank you to everyone who has bought me a coffee, sent me money through PayPal, or become a Patreon. Because of you, everyone can still use Zwiftalizer for free.

P.S. Zwiftalizer log results will include Scotland when Zwift includes Wales. Come on, two England worlds? Do Wales. We have hills, dragons and over 400 castles.

Questions or Comments?

Post below!

Many Zwifters like to watch movies or TV while Zwifting. Personally, I’m not one of those Zwifters – I like to interact with other riders and see where I’m riding in Zwift. But if you’re an AppleTV user looking to watch TV while Zwifting, AppleTV’s picture-in-picture mode may be just what you’re looking for!

AppleTV has supported picture-in-picture mode for a few years now, and our favorite Lama from down under recently posted a quick tip explaining how it works:

A few notes:

1. You can’t run Zwift in the small window, and your other app as the large window. This is because only certain apps support running in the small window, and Zwift is not one of them.
2. That said, most modern TVs have a picture-in-picture mode that operates outside of AppleTV (for instance, it may use two different HDMI inputs). You may be able to figure out a way to make Zwift on your AppleTV be the smaller window, while watching a show from another source outside of AppleTV in the large window
3. It appears that YouTube can only be used as the small video source if you airplay it from your Phone/iPad
4. Audio can be a bit of a hassle, but Shane explains how to set it so you hear the audio from the smaller video source
5. If your TV has built-in picture-in-picture (#2 above) and you Zwift using a PC/Mac or other non-AppleTV device, you can use your TV’s built-in picture-in-picture to achieve a similar effect.

Questions or Comments?

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