GTA 5 heavy cpu usage

[jumping137]

I don't know if this is the place to ask, but i'm having trouble running gta 5. My gpu usage isnt that high but it's my cpu that's spiking to 100%. Any idea how i can make it less cpu heavy?

Specs:
Cpu: intel core i5 4670 @ 3.4 ghz (runs at higher clock all the time for some reason)
Gpu: evga nvidia geforce gtx 960 ssc 2gb
Mobo: asus z97 deluxe
Ram: corsair vengance pro series 8gb ddr3 @1600 mhz
Samsung evo 850 120 gb
2x seagate barracuda 1tb
Psu: corsair 550W

 

[xFeaRDom]

GTA V is generally uses high amounts of CPU as well as the CPU, when I play it generally runs quite high usage-wise. Just wondering, what settings do you have it on, and if they are quite high have you tried lowering the settings so that less of the CPU is used.

On the side note, the Intel Core 4670 has the Turbo technology which allows it to boost to 3.8GHz when needed, which will most likely be when you're playing GTA V and other high CPU heavy games or processes.

The i5 4670 is a powerful CPU, not the best, but still up there, so bottlenecking would not be the issue in this case, personally. I believe that this issue may be because you are loading the game on high settings, which is causing it to use more of the CPU, so try lowering the settings and test to see if it lowers the CPU usage.

Edit: If you have advanced shadows enabled, try disabling them as they will cause more CPU usage.

Also, do you have anything else open in the background, or any processes. Try checking the Task Manager to see if there are any processes using the CPU in the background, which are not needed.

By any chance are you using an aftermarket cooler or just the stock cooler? As high CPU usage will cause higher temperatures, and depending on the temperature the CPU may underclock its self to lower the temperature, that could make the CPU usage increase.

 

[jumping137]

GTA V is generally uses high amounts of CPU as well as the CPU, when I play it generally runs quite high usage-wise. Just wondering, what settings do you have it on, and if they are quite high have you tried lowering the settings so that less of the CPU is used.

On the side note, the Intel Core 4670 has the Turbo technology which allows it to boost to 3.8GHz when needed, which will most likely be when you're playing GTA V and other high CPU heavy games or processes.

The i5 4670 is a powerful CPU, not the best, but still up there, so bottlenecking would not be the issue in this case, personally. I believe that this issue may be because you are loading the game on high settings, which is causing it to use more of the CPU, so try lowering the settings and test to see if it lowers the CPU usage.

Edit: If you have advanced shadows enabled, try disabling them as they will cause more CPU usage.

Also, do you have anything else open in the background, or any processes. Try checking the Task Manager to see if there are any processes using the CPU in the background, which are not needed.

By any chance are you using an aftermarket cooler or just the stock cooler? As high CPU usage will cause higher temperatures, and depending on the temperature the CPU may underclock its self to lower the temperature, that could make the CPU usage increase.

overall my settings are pretty low. Texture settings are at normal, which is the lowest, and advanced settings are completely off. I recently changed something, I think it was FXAA or MSAA that i turned off and that lowered my cpu usage by 10%. Maybe the population variety and density?

Also I am using the stock cooler on my cpu but the temperatures don't go too high because of the good airflow in my case. I think the max I get is like 60°C.

 

[xFeaRDom]

Alright, so the temperature is not an issue if it is around 60. When idling, what is the CPU usage?

Been looking around, and found out that VSYNC may be a slight cause. What is your setting for that, and if it is "On" try it on half, as that can reduce the CPU usage I believe.

I have looked around and also found this post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/GrandTheftAutoV_PC/comments/32jw3t/the_killer_settings_to_maximise_your_frame_rate/

That has some good point and settings to change that will increase your frame rate as well as reduce the CPU usage.

Attempt some of those and let me know if it does anything.

 

[burgessanthony]

xfeardom - generally graphical settings will load the GPU, not CPU. Shadows is more gpu-bound. I am guessing you made typos where it was meant to say 'GPU'

OP - check if you have anything else in background. What resolution you playing on? That game probably shouldn't be spiking the cpu at 100%

 

[xFeaRDom]

xfeardom - generally graphical settings will load the GPU, not CPU. Shadows is more gpu-bound. I am guessing you made typos where it was meant to say 'GPU'

OP - check if you have anything else in background. What resolution you playing on? That game probably shouldn't be spiking the cpu at 100%

Yeah, I probably misread everything.

But it can still cause high CPU usage in some ways, as the rendering of the map and other aspects like that will use both the CPU and GPU, so less rendering will lower both. Games these days are generally mixed between using CPU and GPU to maximize the efficiency and performance of the game, rather than mainly GPU. I know that the GPU is mainly used for the graphical textures, but the CPU will be used as well to communicate back and forth with the GPU.

 

[jumping137]

xfeardom - generally graphical settings will load the GPU, not CPU. Shadows is more gpu-bound. I am guessing you made typos where it was meant to say 'GPU'

OP - check if you have anything else in background. What resolution you playing on? That game probably shouldn't be spiking the cpu at 100%

Some graphical settings actually do lower cpu usage for some reason, at least in my experience so far.
I'm playing on 1920x1080 at the moment. No real cpu heavy background processes.

 

[xFeaRDom]

xfeardom - generally graphical settings will load the GPU, not CPU. Shadows is more gpu-bound. I am guessing you made typos where it was meant to say 'GPU'

OP - check if you have anything else in background. What resolution you playing on? That game probably shouldn't be spiking the cpu at 100%

Some graphical settings actually do lower cpu usage for some reason, at least in my experience so far.
I'm playing on 1920x1080 at the moment. No real cpu heavy background processes.

Have you tried reducing the settings in the thread that I linked?

Or, have you tried reducing the settings from 1920x1080 to 1280x720? That may make a difference.

I also don't know if this will work, but if you right click on the GTA V process in task manager, and tried reducing it from normal to below normal, or something similar? That may work for some processes, unsure about GTA V though.

 

[jumping137]

xfeardom - generally graphical settings will load the GPU, not CPU. Shadows is more gpu-bound. I am guessing you made typos where it was meant to say 'GPU'

OP - check if you have anything else in background. What resolution you playing on? That game probably shouldn't be spiking the cpu at 100%

Some graphical settings actually do lower cpu usage for some reason, at least in my experience so far.
I'm playing on 1920x1080 at the moment. No real cpu heavy background processes.

Have you tried reducing the settings in the thread that I linked?

Or, have you tried reducing the settings from 1920x1080 to 1280x720? That may make a difference.

I also don't know if this will work, but if you right click on the GTA V process in task manager, and tried reducing it from normal to below normal, or something similar? That may work for some processes, unsure about GTA V though.

changing the resolution doesn't change a thing. Setting the priority lower just limits the amount of cpu it can use, but makes the game laggy as can be.

 

[xFeaRDom]

Okay fair enough. Not too sure what else you could do, but I do know that Gta V is a CPU-heavy game, which is why it produces high temperatures in most cases. As long as you can get it to not spike to 100% (Which in most cases causes lag/tearing - Does that occur for you?)

 

[jumping137]

Okay fair enough. Not too sure what else you could do, but I do know that Gta V is a CPU-heavy game, which is why it produces high temperatures in most cases. As long as you can get it to not spike to 100% (Which in most cases causes lag/tearing - Does that occur for you?)

only because of my lack of RAM, but that issue will be fixed soon. the CPU usage seems to only spike to about 87% now, which is fine I guess.

 

[xFeaRDom]

Okay fair enough. Not too sure what else you could do, but I do know that Gta V is a CPU-heavy game, which is why it produces high temperatures in most cases. As long as you can get it to not spike to 100% (Which in most cases causes lag/tearing - Does that occur for you?)

only because of my lack of RAM, but that issue will be fixed soon. the CPU usage seems to only spike to about 87% now, which is fine I guess.

I guess that's better than it was beforehand. Apologies if some bits were a bit unclear, but I'm sort of new to having to explain things like this, so my wording is probably quite poor.

I hope I helped in some way!

Have a great day

 

[jumping137]

Okay fair enough. Not too sure what else you could do, but I do know that Gta V is a CPU-heavy game, which is why it produces high temperatures in most cases. As long as you can get it to not spike to 100% (Which in most cases causes lag/tearing - Does that occur for you?)

only because of my lack of RAM, but that issue will be fixed soon. the CPU usage seems to only spike to about 87% now, which is fine I guess.

I guess that's better than it was beforehand. Apologies if some bits were a bit unclear, but I'm sort of new to having to explain things like this, so my wording is probably quite poor.

I hope I helped in some way!

Have a great day

advice was great! Everything was clear, thanks!

 

[xFeaRDom]

Okay fair enough. Not too sure what else you could do, but I do know that Gta V is a CPU-heavy game, which is why it produces high temperatures in most cases. As long as you can get it to not spike to 100% (Which in most cases causes lag/tearing - Does that occur for you?)

only because of my lack of RAM, but that issue will be fixed soon. the CPU usage seems to only spike to about 87% now, which is fine I guess.

I guess that's better than it was beforehand. Apologies if some bits were a bit unclear, but I'm sort of new to having to explain things like this, so my wording is probably quite poor.

I hope I helped in some way!

Have a great day

advice was great! Everything was clear, thanks!

No Problem

Best answer? 😉

Have a great day anyways! And enjoy your GTA V experience.