Sudden high CPU usage in games (2024)

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Hello Magnarks,

WegreatlyappreciateyourpostsinourIntelcommunities.

We understand that you are concerned about your game usage, as in the past it did not exceed more than 30% usage, but now it can exceed 60%.

Based on our research, 60% processor usage is normal when playing games.

Normal usage for processors:

Browsing the web—between 10% and 30% usage

Gaming: between 50% and 90%

Just for additional information, you may check out this page: How to Fix High CPU Usage, as it contains fixes for high CPU usage.

How to Fix High CPU Usage:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/how-to-fix-high-cpu-usage.html

Thank you, and have a great day ahead.

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

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Hello Magnarks,

Wereallyappreciateyourthoroughresponse.

In order for me to further isolate our issue, please provide the following information:

• Where do you check your processor's temperature? and also please provide the processor temperature when playing games.
• Are you using software to check the processor's temperature? If yes, please provide the software name.
• Have you made any changes, like software, settings, drivers, recent installations, or hardware upgrades, that resulted in this issue? If yes, undo any recent changes that might have caused the overheating problem.

Furthermore, upon further research, the causes of overheating are:

• Dust buildup on the fans or air vents
• Insufficient cooling
• overclocking
• improper thermal paste application, or inadequate airflow
• Too many processes and applications are running simultaneously.
• Unresponsive applications
• Too many browser tabs open
• Outdated software
• Viruses or other malware
• Overheated CPU or GPU

In regards to this, please follow the troubleshooting steps below for a possible solution:

Check for any dust on the fans

• Check to see if there's an excessive build-up of dust in the system on all the fans, primarily the processor's heatsink fan. If there is, clean it.
• Check to make sure that the intake vents and exhaust vents are clear of dust and lint.

Check fan operation

• Check to see that the processor's fan is still operating.
• Check to see if a cable is dislodged, something is blocking the impeller, or the fan power source has failed.
• For more details on fan issues, refer toTroubleshooting Fan Issues with Intel® Boxed Processors.

Check the thermal interface materials

• Inspect for any failures of processor's heatsink mechanical retention.
• Inspect for broken components from a drop or shock event, or similar cause.
• Inspect for CPU heatsink thermal interface material (TIM) degradation.
• If using CPU liquid cooling, check for pump failure, visible leaks, or fluid loss.
• Note: Inspection procedure and maintenance potential will vary by manufacturer.

Load BIOS default/or Update BIOS

• Try to load the default BIOS setting in your system.
• Or, try to update the BIOS.
  • How to Update BIOS
    • https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/how-to-update-bios.html
• Note: You may wish to note the current BIOS settings before resetting the BIOS.

Update Graphics Driver

Please use the manual method.

• How to Install an Intel® Graphics Driver in Windows® 10 & Windows 11* (Installation Method 2)
  • Intel® Arc™ & Iris® Xe Graphics - Windows*: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/785597/intel-arc-iris-xe-graphics-windows.html

If you followed all the overheating preventable tips and your system has an appropriate thermal solution, but your system is still overheating, contact your motherboard vendor in case they have set some overclocking settings in the BIOS as default.

Note

• Intel® Processors have built-in thermal protection. If the processor gets too hot, the built-in protection shuts down the processor. If your computer isn't overclocked, and is running under the design specifications, the built-in protection can help prevent damage to your system.
• If you use third-party software to measure the temperature or the BIOS readings, contact the software vendor to ensure the software is validated to work with your processor.

By the way, the result of the Intel processor diagnostic tool is a pass, which means that the processor does not have any damage.

Please let us know the result of the troubleshooting steps that you are about to take so we can decide what we can do next.

Thank you and have a great day ahead

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Hello.

The program I use is MSI Afterburner, but the one on my graphics card (AMD) also gives close (higher) values. At rest my PC works normally in temperatures of around 33-38 degrees Celsius. While playing I have seen that it heats up to 65-66 degrees, when before it didn't even go over 60 degrees, it was around 56-58 degrees, and the CPU usage was around 30%, I have already done a CMOS and the CPU temperature drops a little and remains at 59 -60 degrees, the only thing I had configured on the motherboard was the Resizable bar and the XMP profile of my memories, but I noticed that the CPU heat increases with the latter, especially since I have 4 modules, I don't know if the heat from the modules affects the pump tube of my liquid cooling, but the use is the same, I only remember that once, the PC restarted itself and I entered that loop, until I performed a CMOS, and if I entered the BIOS, it would freeze after a few seconds, from there the problems started.

I also remember that I updated the firmware of my SSDs, but unfortunately I cannot go back to the previous one.

Soon I will try to change the thermal paste and disassemble as much as I can and clean each component and wait if that works.

I also share my RAM memory profile, with voltage data

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Good, well-written postCarmona!

...S

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Hello Magnarks,

Wereallyappreciateyourresponse.

We understand that you have taken some troubleshooting steps, but the issue still persists.

To further investigate, please provide the following information:

• What are the games where the issue happens? Please specify:
• Please provide a screenshot of the high usage of the processor.
• Please provide us with your SSU, as it would really help us if we could get more information about your system.

Kindly do the following:

1. Download the Intel® System Support Utility and save the application to your system.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18377/intel-system-support-utility-for-windows.html

2. Open the application, tick Everything, and click Scan to see system and device information. The Intel® System Support Utility defaults to the Summary View on the output screen following the scan. Click the menu where it says summary to change to Detailed View.

3. To save your scan, click Next and click Save. You can save the file to any accessible location on your computer.

4. Attach the text file here.

Thank you, and have a great day ahead.

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

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Hello Magnarks,

We are checking in with you on the sudden high CPU usage while playing games issue we are having in case you have any additional queries or require further explanation. Please know that we would be happy to assist you if you have any.

Thank you, and have a great day!

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

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Hello Magnarks,

We are checking in with you on the sudden high CPU usage while playing games issue that we have, as we have not heard any response from you.

Thank you, and have a great day!

Best regards,

Carmona A.

IntelCustomer Support Technician

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Hello Magnarks,

We have not heard back from you, so we will close this enquiry now. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Thank you, and have a great day ahead.

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

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