A data processing system and method analyze the performance of its components by obtaining measures of usage of the components over time as well as electrical requirements of those components to recommend an optimal configuration. The location in the system and the time duration that any one or more components is in a performance-limiting or bottleneck condition is determined. Based on the observed bottlenecks, their times of occurrence and their time duration, more optimal configurations of the system are recommended. The present invention is particularly adapted for use in data processing systems where a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus is used.