High cpu usage by steam client

[ariva7]

Hi!

I have a question about the high CPU utilization caused by the steam process itself.

I use a mide-range gigabyte-brix machine with Pentium Silver N6005 @ 2.00GHz, 16GB RAM, among other things, to run an idle steam game. I want the CPU load and temperature to be as low as possible.
I have already changed some settings to reduce CPU utilization as much as possible:
- disable Scale text and icons to mach monitor setting
- disable smooth scrolling in web views
- enable: Low Bandwith Mode
- enable: Low Performance Mode
- disable Community Content
- disable Steam Overlay while in-game

Despite this, CPU utilization is still too high, which significantly affects the CPU temperature.

Thank you in advance for any tips to reduce steam client utilization.

Below screenshots with turned on and off steam client:
Steam turned on[ibb.co]
Steam turned off[ibb.co]

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

You could try disabling Superfetch (System Main) but in all honesty, I would not do this unless the CPU usage was 100%.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Are you trying game on this netbook?

Like I don't want to be rude, but this is a low end netbook that just meant to watch videos, Facebook, and small office/school work.


Like if compare your cpu to modem Intel i3, or AMD R3 that quad core it flat out loses by more than DOUBLE the performance, because your cpu is basically equivalent to i3 6100 dual core cpu from 2015 if that help you understand better.

So if trying to game on that netbook I recommend actually get a laptop that has a dedicated GPU, or desktop with a dedicated GPU, this way you have a much better time, and enjoyment.

[nullable]

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/212327/intel-pentium-silver-n6005-processor-4m-cache-up-to-3-30-ghz/specifications.html for reference.

I mean part of me is going to argue you're running Steam and a game, that's going to use more CPU than not running either. You can't arbitrarily control how much CPU is being used. At a certain point there's a floor of tweaking and settings that a program is going to use no matter what.

I may be having trouble reading your system manager too. Because I can understand why steam 96.7% raises your eyebrows. But I can't ignore the other numbers on the page where it seems to be clear the CPU isn't actually running at 100% so there's some discrepancy there. Overall the CPU running a 66% load and 84C doesn't seem like an obvious problem.

So is this a case where you don't like the numbers? And therefore it must be a problem? At any rate some minority of users do seem to have issues with Steam sometimes. Like experiencing a memory leak, and the solution seems to be clearing caches and deleting specific user files (which are recreated fresh) seems to resolve the issue, so I might look into that if you're convinced there's an issue. It may not be something manageable through Steam's UI, if there is a problem at all.

[Lystent]

I am able to run steam on this chip:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/80274/intel-atom-processor-z3735f-2m-cache-up-to-1-83-ghz/specifications.html
But not as well as it did a few or so years ago when I bought the computer.

Back then I was able to run Terraria (when it was much smaller), albeit with quite a bit of lag. Now it is mostly just Steam ports of old games.

But that is not where I used steam the majority of the time; back before I moved someplace with unstable WiFi quality, I would've used it to stream games from my gaming tower whilst in a common area. Granted there are issues regarding delays here and there under the best circumstances, at the time. I was still able to stuff I practically trivialized in some games, like a mundane task of bouncing between vendors at a planetary trading post in No Mans Sky (which is perhaps where I put in the most hours; it is such a time-sink task with me).