high cpu usage

[MrWhite]

specs:

RTX 2080
i7 8700k
32gb ram
installed on SSD

my cpu goes to almost constant 100% usage when playing the game. game is locked in 60fps and stays there well, sometimes while loading new areas some slight stutter but mostly the game runs perfectly fine. still for some reason my cpu is burning up... anyone else experiencing this? fix?

locked to 60fps, graphics mostly ultra, some turned to high. 1080p resolution. no DLSS.

[DICEROLLADDICT]

my cpu is not getting hot so might be time to clean yours or reapply thermal paste maybe i dont know tho however in act 2 the performance has gotten worse for me for sure

[[STD]Random Lead]

It's a 6 core 95 watt 6 year old cpu running a modern game. What exactly were or are expecting? This isnt csgo but an rpg with many many needs each second the cpu is dealing with.

[Rivaldman]

My 12700 occasionally goes above 70C, which never happened to me. But unlike yours, its usage around 20%, but still a bit stuttered, yes, caused by fluctuating cpu, rather than GPU.

[Rivaldman]

Originally posted by STDRandom Lead:

It's a 6 core 95 watt 6 year old cpu running a modern game. What exactly were or are expecting? This isnt csgo but an rpg with many many needs each second the cpu is dealing with.

This is a stupid comment. Just ignore it.

[regis]

Originally posted by NutUp:

RTX 2060
I7 9700F
32gb ddr4 ram
Using Vulkan graphics
Before the Nautiloid crash I used gforce recommended settings except I lowered resolution to 2K.
HWinfo recorded 98% CPU usage, 100 watt power draw and reached peak temps of 92 to 94c. The GPU hotspot was 86c (undervolted via afterburner). I was in complete shock!
Lowered all the graphic settings. Running smoothly. GPU hot spot 76 to 80c. CPU still 90 to 98% utilization with peak temps of 84 to 86c. Best I could get. I am using DLSS "Performance". I turned it off, it lowered CPU usage but graphics suffered FPS loss.

Out of curiosity I went to old control panel, power plan (change advanced power settings) and lowered maximum processor state to 99% (old trick to not use CPU turbo boost). It locks my CPU to max 2.9Mhz. I'm suffering no in game ill effects or stutter, at all. CPU never exceeds 56c and GPU hot spot hits 78c (averages low 60's). (however I haven't got to the massive goblin fight yet. That will be the test.)

I currently have vsync and cap off. I'm using Nvidia control panel to set vsync to Adaptive. So I can see if I drop below 60fps. I've tweaked the graphics settings to where I rarely drop below. Vulkan works well for me. I intend go back to triple buffered vsync and cap. (We'll see if that lowers usage even more?) (I've seen a recommendation to use variable sync if monitor supports it.)

I've never logged temps to see if these highs last for more than a few seconds and I haven't seen any post of someone logging their temps.
I've seen other posts with high CPU usage (I never had this with early release playing over 170 hours a year ago).

I am of the opinion that this game poorly utilizes the CPU and allows for a large power draw.

i tried same trick for cpu since i get same peaks but seems it doesnt work now on current windows update, 3.5ghz out of games but as soon as i open a game it goes up to 4.7ghz and doesnt drop, my normal temp is 60-70 but each time i have a loading screen even if its just to level up goes up to more than 80, max i saw is 86 but msi max says 89 and i don't want so much heat peaks on my pc since at 100 is tjunction(also summer doesn't help)

[NutUp]

"AMBIENT OCCLUSION"!!! Is the resource hog. Turn it off. I've turned off vsync and cap from within game, turned adaptive vsync on in nvidia control panel. CPU hitting max 75c.

[Trinimac]

Originally posted by NutUp:

RTX 2060
I7 9700F
32gb ddr4 ram
Using Vulkan graphics
Before the Nautiloid crash I used gforce recommended settings except I lowered resolution to 2K.
HWinfo recorded 98% CPU usage, 100 watt power draw and reached peak temps of 92 to 94c. The GPU hotspot was 86c (undervolted via afterburner). I was in complete shock!
Lowered all the graphic settings. Running smoothly. GPU hot spot 76 to 80c. CPU still 90 to 98% utilization with peak temps of 84 to 86c. Best I could get. I am using DLSS "Performance". I turned it off, it lowered CPU usage but graphics suffered FPS loss.

Out of curiosity I went to old control panel, power plan (change advanced power settings) and lowered maximum processor state to 99% (old trick to not use CPU turbo boost). It locks my CPU to max 2.9Mhz. I'm suffering no in game ill effects or stutter, at all. CPU never exceeds 56c and GPU hot spot hits 78c (averages low 60's). (however I haven't got to the massive goblin fight yet. That will be the test.)

I currently have vsync and cap off. I'm using Nvidia control panel to set vsync to Adaptive. So I can see if I drop below 60fps. I've tweaked the graphics settings to where I rarely drop below. Vulkan works well for me. I intend go back to triple buffered vsync and cap. (We'll see if that lowers usage even more?) (I've seen a recommendation to use variable sync if monitor supports it.)

I've never logged temps to see if these highs last for more than a few seconds and I haven't seen any post of someone logging their temps.
I've seen other posts with high CPU usage (I never had this with early release playing over 170 hours a year ago).

I am of the opinion that this game poorly utilizes the CPU and allows for a large power draw.

Bro you have the same exact setup as me. Did this really work for you? Even after the goblin fight and all that? Because my CPU is also being hit by some uncomfortable temperatures.

[wtiger27]

You should be using DLSS whenever it is a option and your GPU of course, supports it. It puts less stress on your system and yes, contrary what some think, graphics is not just the function of the GPU. The data processing starts with the CPU.

And which are you using, DX11 or Vulkan? The game runs very smooth and stable for me using Vulkan, which does a good job of utilizing DLSS. I run the game with all graphic options maxed out, temps for the CPU and GPU stay in the low 60's c. This is on a RTX3060ti OC and a I7 11700kf. 16gb ram. NVME M.2 SSD.

[Trinimac]

Originally posted by regis:

Originally posted by NutUp:

RTX 2060
I7 9700F
32gb ddr4 ram
Using Vulkan graphics
Before the Nautiloid crash I used gforce recommended settings except I lowered resolution to 2K.
HWinfo recorded 98% CPU usage, 100 watt power draw and reached peak temps of 92 to 94c. The GPU hotspot was 86c (undervolted via afterburner). I was in complete shock!
Lowered all the graphic settings. Running smoothly. GPU hot spot 76 to 80c. CPU still 90 to 98% utilization with peak temps of 84 to 86c. Best I could get. I am using DLSS "Performance". I turned it off, it lowered CPU usage but graphics suffered FPS loss.

Out of curiosity I went to old control panel, power plan (change advanced power settings) and lowered maximum processor state to 99% (old trick to not use CPU turbo boost). It locks my CPU to max 2.9Mhz. I'm suffering no in game ill effects or stutter, at all. CPU never exceeds 56c and GPU hot spot hits 78c (averages low 60's). (however I haven't got to the massive goblin fight yet. That will be the test.)

I currently have vsync and cap off. I'm using Nvidia control panel to set vsync to Adaptive. So I can see if I drop below 60fps. I've tweaked the graphics settings to where I rarely drop below. Vulkan works well for me. I intend go back to triple buffered vsync and cap. (We'll see if that lowers usage even more?) (I've seen a recommendation to use variable sync if monitor supports it.)

I've never logged temps to see if these highs last for more than a few seconds and I haven't seen any post of someone logging their temps.
I've seen other posts with high CPU usage (I never had this with early release playing over 170 hours a year ago).

I am of the opinion that this game poorly utilizes the CPU and allows for a large power draw.

i tried same trick for cpu since i get same peaks but seems it doesnt work now on current windows update, 3.5ghz out of games but as soon as i open a game it goes up to 4.7ghz and doesnt drop, my normal temp is 60-70 but each time i have a loading screen even if its just to level up goes up to more than 80, max i saw is 86 but msi max says 89 and i don't want so much heat peaks on my pc since at 100 is tjunction(also summer doesn't help)

Confirmed, it also happens to me. No way for a workaround?

[MrWhite]

it got better for me when i changed from fullscreen to windowed fullscreen and changed physx settings from nvidia control panel to use GPU instead of recommended. might be just luck but now its ok. it still is cpu heavy game but its not capping at max power all the time.

[AstroAss]

My god, are you lot complete idiots just throwing "my CPU hits X temp" like it matters in the slightest? This is an idiotic metric because COOLING CAPACITY is what affects it, ffs... You can have 2 of the same chip, one on a little aircooler and one on a huge watercooler - guess which one will run cooler, even if both perform identically?

Also DLSS does not help in this game when you're CPU-bound. DLSS is meant for lightening up the GPU load, not CPU. API draw calls don't really differ with resolution, unless the game is doing heavy post-processing on the CPU. You'll only gain extra frames (or lower usage and, therefore, temps on a fixed fps cap/refresh rate vsynced) if you're GPU-bound.

The fact is that BG3 is really heavy on the CPU - there's a LOT of math doing on in the background as the game counts everyone's turns even when you think you're in "realtime mode". No graphical setting will alleviate this - it's a struggle on low-end CPUs, like the Steam Deck, and there's not really anything you can do about it.

On a CPU-bottlenecked system (like mine) where the GPU vastly outperforms the CPU - even the lowest settings at 1080p fail to produce any more frames than ultra at 4K in many spots - that should tell you where the issue is, if I wasn't clear by now.

If you're getting high temps - repaste (good to do once a year anyway) and maybe consider a better cooler, if it concerns you, but there's no "fix" to this game being a CPU hog. And slowing down your CPU like the imbecilic comment #5 suggests is just that - slowing the CPU down and pretending you won somehow 🤣

If anything - it's better now than it was during early access, but it's always been a CPU-heavy game. Just the nature of the beast. Short of upgrading the CPU or overclocking the crap out of what you have (which will raise the temps too) - not much you can do to make it any easier to run.

I swear, everyone thinks they're a tech wizard if they own a PC these days, yet they fail at simple deductions, it's shocking... This temp-waving especially just killed me, reading this thread...

[Ksordus]

Originally posted by AstroAss:

If anything - it's better now than it was during early access, but it's always been a CPU-heavy game. Just the nature of the beast. Short of upgrading the CPU or overclocking the crap out of what you have (which will raise the temps too) - not much you can do to make it any easier to run.

I swear, everyone thinks they're a tech wizard if they own a PC these days, yet they fail at simple deductions, it's shocking... This temp-waving especially just killed me, reading this thread...

Better stop this ♥♥♥♥-talk due to a water-cooled 13600k is also hitting 90-100% CPU usage regularly, and not only mine CPU.
It's not normal that the game manages to load the CPU to such values. The big question is still on fps in battles with 20 or more characters. When trying to collect loot often observed drops to fps level 5-20.
And I'm not sure that there is no memory leak in act 2.
And yes, it's a system with 13600k + 32gb ddr5 7200 cl32 + 4070.

[hamilton197047]

I have laptop with a AMD Ryzen 9 5900h RTX3070 16gb of ddr4 ram. Even with a cooling pad from Thermaltake fan boost on 100% CPU is running at 96c and GPU is fine at 73c and so is memory at 37c the graphics are not the problem , So the mobile Ryzen 9 only runs between 45w to 95w if I boost It. Infact I'm going to try boost to 95 w max and overclock to 4.6ghz and melt it

[Blindfire]

You kind of proved his point....CPU usages doesn't matter when cooling is adequate...only when it's being thermal throttled lol. Just because a CPU is well cooled WILL NOT matter that a 13600k is being utilized nearly fully...it's just the game requires a massive amount of CPU to calculated millions of things (AI, lighting and shadows (to an extent), some physics, and so on).

[Corey Carcano]

I have an i9 10850k and a 3080, recently bought a brand new deepcool AIO and some good thermal paste. It hasn't made really any difference with bg3. It's Act 3 that's so damned hard on the processor... CPU usage fluctuation is extreme, nonstop major spikes due to all the background calculations in this game and i'm hitting upper 90s every once in a while, kind of hovering in the mid 80s. My cooler is high efficiency and more than adequate, but my processor is just a hot mofo lol. It doesn't really make a difference anyway because intel chips are designed to protect themselves regardless