All the video game players across the world have a very common question in their mind is how to reduce CPU usage while gaming. It has become the most frequently asked question by gamers.
Bottlenecking issues are the major problems now. If you are a gamer, facing the same problem as others and looking for the best tricks on how to reduce CPU usage while gaming, then this article is for you.
CPU is the brain of the computer. This is called Central Processing Unit which gives all instructions centrally to all major components like RAM, graphics cards while gaming.
It takes the maximum pressure of workload and stays busy all the time to provide the gamer or user the real-time responses through rapid communications. So the computer starts using 90%-95% of the CPU while gaming.
On the other hand, the GPU uses barely 40%. High CPU usage causes many problems to the performance. It is the main reason why your computer is slowing down with time. Average CPU usage while gaming should be 80% to 90% which is normal.
But high CPU usage while gaming is harmful and can damage your components. Since the normal CPU usage while gaming is around 80% is good, so you should monitor and control the CPU usage to keep your PC safe and healthy.
The reasons behind high CPU usage while gaming
There are many reasons why CPU usage becomes high while playing video games. We should know about all these reasons first, after that, we will discuss the tricks on how to reduce CPU usage while gaming. Let’s talk about the reasons:
Use Thermal Paste
Thermal paste is one of the most important elements to reduce the CPU overheating problems. If you don’t have thermal paste on your CPU or the Thermal paste is dried out, then you must apply thermal paste to CPU.
If you don’t have thermal paste while your CPU is too much overheated, then you can use the best thermal paste alternatives.
Useless third-party applications
There are much unnecessary third-party application runs behind the main applications in the CPU which are doing no important task but provoking problems while gaming and provides bad experience to the gamers. They interrupt badly during the game playing.
In-game settings
Many games set is another reason that increases CPU usages. The in-game setting can vary depending on the game type. If you set the FPS cap to unlimited and your CPU is not manufactured to handle high FPS, then it causes many problems to the performance and increases the CPU usages.
Troublesome graphic drivers
If you install a problematic graphic driver which is not going with your graphic, it can cause many problems. This is another reason for CPU usage while gaming and reduce performance.
Power-preserving modes
If you keep on your power-saving mode, then it will occupy a place in the CPU and increase CPU usage. If you are a hard-core gamer and love to play games all the time, then you must disable the power-saving mode to keep your CPU performance high while gaming.
Untrustworthy games
Corrupted games and untrustworthy games are one of the big reasons why your CPU usage is getting high and the bottleneck happens. These games always keep your CPU speed slow and provide you with a very bad experience while gaming.
Many more alternative and inner reasons are available that causes the CPU usage high and finally slowing down the whole system and even damages your component sometimes.
Now we will recommend some tricks that will help you to control and reduce CPU usage while gaming.
Tricks to reduce CPU usages while gaming
Now, here are solutions to reduce the CPU overheating problem.
Disable the unnecessary background applications
The very first thing you should remember before gaming is to stop your all unnecessary background applications and process. So many applications run with the operating system and increase the load of the CPU.
By doing this you will make the CPU easy and burden-free to work very smoothly without any hazard. The gamer will feel more convenient to play the games.
Some manual options are also available to do this. First, go to the run (Windows+R) option and write MSConfig. The system configuration window will come.
Then click the Services tab and tick the Hide all Microsoft services box. After that click on Disable All and then OK.
Another task you can do is by opening the Task Manager, manually select the task and click End task. In this way, you can release all useless processes and make the CPU usage so low.
Computer health checking
Checking the health of your computer is a good thing to keep your CPU usage low. Computer health checking means checking the hardware and software.
Perform scan dick and defragment operation regularly. Check the virus up-gradation and hardware up-gradation regularly.
By using the back-dated software and hardware you can down the speed and performance of the CPU as well as the gaming experience.
Disable power saving modes
When the CPU speed is necessary and the high responses are a must for your best gaming performance, then the power saving enabling is a foolish activity.
Power saving mode should be disabled before start playing your video games. Power saving enabled means it is occupying a place in the CPU and increasing the usage which affects the gaming performances by bottlenecking the system.
If you are playing with the battery backup of your laptop, then the case is different. Otherwise, there is no benefit of enabling the power-saving mode while playing video games.
Go with GPU while gaming
We all know about the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) which is a specialized processor that can process many pieces of data simultaneously and give you the best graphics. We don’t need this for normal word processing type work, but it is best for gaming.
It reduces the CPU usages too low. You can enable the GPU manually also. Just go to your graphics setting option and be sure that they are not going through your integrated graphics card, then just redirect them to your attached GPU.
Reboot
Restart your PC is so an easy troubleshooting process for a long time. It cannot perform the best to speed up the CPU but by doing this, all temporary files and unsolved deadlocked issues will be deleted which will reduce the usage of the CPU and make it cool.
Before rebooting your system do not forget to save all necessary data and process. Sometimes without rebooting the system, you can perform end process operations to close unsolved processes that cause problems and take place in the CPU.
You can do it through the task manager.
Uninstall GPU drivers
When the CPU is getting slow, the faulty graphics driver might be the reason. You need to fix it by uninstalling the faulty drivers from the computer and after that download the new fresh drivers from the real website and reinstall it.
Uninstalling the GPU driver is so easy step-by-step task. The process is given below:
- Go to the Run option.
- Type devmgmt.msc and click on OK. The Device Manager will be opened on your screen.
- Navigate your GPU driver and then right-click on it. Click on the Uninstall Device option to uninstall the driver.
After uninstalling the GPU driver, you can download the fresh driver from the internet and install it easily by watching the instructions.
In-game settings change
Change the in-game settings can help you to reduce your CPU usage. Many of us do not know about all these. You have to set all these according to your computer’s specifications.
First, check your in-game FPS cap, if it is set to unlimited or higher than your CPU capability, then it is enough to increase your CPU usage.
Capping the FPS according to your computer specification can reduce CPU usages.
Reinstall the problematic game
Sometimes many games get corrupted and need to be fixed. These problematic games perform so slow and increase CPU usages. Then the whole system falls into the bottleneck.
Just uninstall the faulty video game by taking the help from the web or manual and download a new copy from a legal website, after that install it again.
The old problems related to the games will be gone and the system will be fast again, by the side the CPU usages will be reduced also.
Update drivers
If some processes are using your PC too much, then it’s time to update your driver. Drivers are so important that connect the particular program with the motherboard.
Updating your driver will remove different kinds of bugs and faulty issues that are harmful to your system. It will increase the compatibility and stability of your program and games.
Go to the updates and security from the start menu, then click the “Check for updates” button. This will update necessary drivers and increase the gaming performance as well.
Some critical bugs will be fixed also to update the BIOS version of your system. Updated BIOS will lead the computer to higher performance which will reduce the CPU usages automatically.
Scan for malware
Many malware programs use CPU and GPU bandwidth for different purposes. All these malware increase CPU usages and sometimes ruin many important files, data, and software.
You must remove these from your computer to get better performances. You should run your security checker to find malware. Windows security checker is a good option for it.
Find specific problem guidelines on the web
Sometimes many problems with the process have no solution in hand. Then we fall into a dilemma and don’t know what to do.
Then to find specific advice just copy the name of the process from the process details tab of the task manager and search online for support on the topic.
If you don’t get any results from the search on the web then add some more information during the search like processor models, program name, etc. You will get some ideas or help from there.
Windows reinstall
Windows reinstallation is a common solution to speed up your PC and reduce CPU usages. Windows turns system protection off and we usually don’t.
We know reinstallation of windows is a long process but it resolves all CPU usages issues caused by any software. It’s kind of easy in windows 10.
Here is an option ‘Reset this PC’ that will make it easy in a different way. It will uninstall all your programs but does nothing to your data.
After that, you need to reinstall all non-windows programs manually. Then back up your data to another drive or cloud. Then click that tab ‘Reset this PC’ and get started.
After finishing all processes you need to retrieve all programs and data again. It is a long way but helpful indeed.
Hardware Upgradation
Backdated hardware is another important reason to slow down your system. If all of the above solutions are failed to help you, then it is time to upgrade your whole system.
Upgraded generation is generally faster and smooth in performing. Many high-quality heavy games need a high configuration computer to run them.
Low configuration computers ruin the gaming experience and occupy the CPU too uselessly to slow down the activity.
Add more RAM
Adding more RAM is another solution if hardware up-gradation does not work to solve the problem. People use 8GB RAM now a day.
We recommend 16GB of high-speed RAM to reduce CPU usages. Having more RAM will help the CPU to work easily and reduce its usages while gaming.
More RAM will give you more FPS and a good experience for the gamer.
Search the latest patch for your game
Another big reason for high CPU usages is when playing certain games without the latest patch. We can take an example like Path of Exile, which is a very well-known game.
But sometimes it seems poorly optimized. To fix this problem the game developers provide patches for the game to add more content and make it perfect. It fixes up all bugs in the game and reduces CPU usages.
Conclusion
We have discussed all possible tricks and tips to give you an idea about how to reduce CPU usages while gaming.
Some common questions may arise in your mind like “is 100 CPU usage bad while gaming?” or “Is it bad to use 100% CPU?” The answer is yes, CPU usages 100 while gaming is not good for the CPU.
Your PC can be freeze at any moment. So, CPU usages must be below 100 while gaming. One thing you have to keep in mind always, 100% CPU usage is not bad always, but it is really bad while gaming.
