CPU usage approaching 100% - what can I overclock to help?

heartburnron · 12 Apr 2016 at 16:30

I have overclocked my i5 6600K to 4.4 and my RAM to 2666 (full specs in sig). For most AAA games the average CPU usage is 50 - 70%, such as Shadow of Mordor for example. However for Rise of The Tomb Raider this is spiking at 95% which is getting a bit close for comfort. Is there anything I can overclock to reduce this a bit? What is it that creates the capacity, aside from more cores?

archerz · 12 Apr 2016 at 17:11

You should try H1Z1 i can make my GPU and CPU both 100%...

tyler_jrb · 12 Apr 2016 at 17:35

You could push the cpu further. 4.7ghz ish and see if it makes a difference. However as long as it's not bottlenecking it should be fine, I wouldn't worry. Other than that not much more you can do. Being as the i5 is 4 cores (4 threads) only. It doesn't have hyper threading like the 6700k which is 4 cores (8 threads).

It's using a lot because tomb raider uses a lot of physx which is likely set to cpu. You could get a cheap GPU and dedicate it to physx like a 750ti etc. Which would take that strain off. But as it's not capping. I wouldn't bother.

heartburnron · 12 Apr 2016 at 22:11

tyler_jrb said:
You could push the cpu further. 4.7ghz ish and see if it makes a difference. However as long as it's not bottlenecking it should be fine, I wouldn't worry. Other than that not much more you can do. Being as the i5 is 4 cores (4 threads) only. It doesn't have hyper threading like the 6700k which is 4 cores (8 threads).

It's using a lot because tomb raider uses a lot of physx which is likely set to cpu. You could get a cheap GPU and dedicate it to physx like a 750ti etc. Which would take that strain off. But as it's not capping. I wouldn't bother.

You know that is my one regret - I had only £200 to pay the 10% on my new rig from OCuk recently and the I7 was the thing I sacrificed to get everything else I wanted. I underestimated the distance in potential capability, made worse with how DirectX 12 is expected to utilise all cores effectively. It's the most intrusive thing to have to replace in the build though isn't it.