Systems and methods for optimizing hardware resource utilization when processing variable-precision data are provided. Application data objects are processed using either a central processing unit (CPU) or the relatively lower precision data processing requirements of a dedicated math processing unit, e.g., a graphics processing unit (GPU), based on a level of precision determined for each application data object. The level of precision is used to calculate at least one bounding value for each application data object. The bounding value is compared to a selected precision threshold in order to determine whether the application data object can be processed by the GPU at a relatively lower level of precision without an undesirable loss of computational precision.