How to reduce CPU usage while playing games

by Edward Harper June 30, 2024

Playing a game that heavily relies on your CPU? For the best possible performance, you'll want to ensure that other things aren't eating up processing power in the background. In this guide, we'll look at ways to reduce CPU usage for the smoothest gaming sessions, regardless of your processor.

Whether your PC is packing a trusty old Core i3 chip or a no-expenses-spared i9-14900K, managing its performance effectively can make a big difference to your in-game experience. This is especially true if you have a decent GPU and are not enjoying the frame rates you would expect from your setup.

Lowering CPU usage while gaming

There are several things you can do to minimize CPU usage while you're gaming — the first of which should be to ensure that other processes aren't hogging system resources in the background. Let's start by taking a look at Task Manager.

Task Manager is your friend

Let's face it: no one really enjoys spending time in Task Manager, but there's no escaping from the fact that it's one of the most useful tools for managing performance on Windows. It's also built-in and free to use, so it should be your first port of call when it comes to diagnosing performance problems.

Here's how to use it to find potential CPU hogs:

Right-click on the Windows taskbar, then select Task Manager.
Under the Processes tab, click the CPU column to sort all processes by CPU usage.
Look for processes that are using excessive amounts of CPU power. These should now appear towards the top of the list.
To quit the process, first try closing the application as you normally would. This will ensure you don't lose any data. If the process is stuck or frozen and won't close normally, you can kill it in Task Manager by selecting it and then clicking End task.

At this point, it's important to note that it's not a good idea to kill applications you do not recognize. Many of the items you see in Task Manager are processes that Windows relies on to function properly, and quitting them can cause your system to crash or become unstable. Only quit processes that you are familiar with.

You can also use Task Manager to monitor and manage GPU and RAM performance. This may prove useful if any potential performance issues are caused by an app bogging down those parts of your system.

Manage startup apps

In Task Manager, you may notice apps are running even though you didn't open them manually. This is likely because they're set to run automatically at startup. To manage startup apps, follow these steps:

Right-click on the Windows icon in the taskbar, then select Settings.
Navigate to Apps > Startup.
Disable apps you don't want to run automatically when your system boots up by clicking the toggle to Off.

Update, update, update

Many performance issues can be attributed to bugs in Windows, component drivers, and in your game itself. If the above fixes aren't effective, let's ensure everything is up-to-date to rule out bad software. Here's how to check for Windows and drivers updates:

Right-click the Windows icon in the taskbar, then select Settings.
Navigate to Windows Update.
Click the Check for updates button, then download and install everything that appears. You may need to restart your PC to complete certain updates.

To update the driver and software for your GPU, you'll need to turn to AMD Adrenaline (if you have an AMD GPU) or Nvidia Control Panel (if you have an Nvidia GPU). Here's how to download updates in Adrenaline:

Right-click on your Windows desktop, then select AMD Software: Adrenaline Edition.
Click the Settings cog in the top-right corner of the application.
Select Check for Updates, then download and install any available releases.

Here's how to update your Nvidia GPU driver:

Right-click on your Windows desktop, then select Nvidia Control Panel.
Click Help in the Control Panel's title bar, then select Updates.
Download and install any available releases.

The process for updating PC games typically depends on the launcher your game uses, but they're all pretty similar:

Open the launcher for your game.
Select the Downloads or Updates section.
Download and install any available updates for your game.

Try Razer Cortex

You may not want to download third-party apps in an effort to boost your gaming performance on Windows, but for many gamers, Razer Cortex is a godsend. Its Game Booster feature is designed to optimize system performance for you so that you don't have to worry about managing your resources manually. It can also help you find the best game settings for your hardware, and it's completely free to use.

Here's how to set up Razer Cortex:

Download Cortex from the Razer website, then install it.
When Cortex launches, click the Game Booster tab.
Ensure Auto-Boost is enabled to optimize game performance with recommended settings.
Before launching your game, click the Boost Now button in Razer Cortex to free up system resources.

For potentially greater results from Cortex, you can try enabling Enable CPU Core, which focuses CPU resources on gaming. You can also ensure Disable CPU Sleep Mode is enabled, which utilizes all CPU cores to ensure you get the best possible performance in compatible titles.

Enjoy smoother gaming by freeing up your CPU

Many PC games rely on your GPU more than your CPU. Nevertheless, you're likely to notice a significant hit to game performance if background processes are bogging down your CPU and other key components of your machine. If you're not seeing the kind of performance you might expect from your hardware, using Task Manager to monitor CPU usage, getting a grap of startup apps, and using Razer Cortex can help.

How to reduce CPU usage while playing games