High CPU usage 80 - 100% i5 3570k

o.O did I read right you are complaining about high CPU usage?

It's a multithreaded engine that can use up to 4 cores effectively and a few extra less effectively. It will max out a quad core CPU if it has the resources and speed to do so.

Video editing and streaming at the same time, then you are probably going to need more cores and dedicated one or two to the streaming audio and video. A Hyperthreading enabled CPU would be prefereable for video work so an i7 3770K would probably be a better solution. Even better would be a hex core CPU so you can use the two extra physical cores to offload the Video Streaming while still having the optimum 4 physical cores for BF4. The Video stream could probably use HT as well giving it 2 physical and 2 virtual cores leaving the other 4 virtual unused (HT is never used in games).

BTW High CPU usage combined with High GPU usage with good frames and no stuttering is a sign of good optimisation as it's getting the maximum from the resources. If you are having low CPU usage with High GPU usage then your GPU is a bottleneck, vice versa and the CPU is a bottleneck. The only time when High usage of a component is considered unoptimised is when the the game is running poorly despite the component being well within spec and there is no external factor causing the problem.

Streaming video is an external factor causing a problem...

PC:

Win 8.1

Intel 3930K @ 4.25GHz

16GB Corsair RAM @ 2000MHz

Radeon 6950 @ 840/1350 (Soon to be R9 290)

Intel 520 SSD

---

@paulbloomberg wrote:

I've seen a similar thread like this, but the solution to that thread seemed very useless.

Now, what some people don't understand is, I don't want battlefield 4 to be stealing all the resources my computer has. Some people actually use their computers for more than casual play, streaming videogames is one example. High cpu usage does not mean it's good, it means it's unoptimized.

If anyone actually can contribute in a meaningful way instead of trolling or posting just to get your e-peen post-counter larger, that would be appreciated.

Specs:

Windows 8.1

I5 3570k

GTX 780

16GB ram

---

You have a mid-range Quad core CPU what do you expect. The game can utilize upto 8-cores and is heavily multi threaded.

I have an i5-3570k and the only way to keep your CPU usage down is to overclock the CPU (A LOT) - this helps because your overal CPU performance increases dramatically from stock speeds.

An overclock to around 4.5Ghz should be easily possible with a very small increment in CPU voltage (and barely any change in temperature) - this however allows the performance in just about any game to be completely bound by your GPU.

So while right now you will likely experience your GPU hovering at 70-80% usage when you CPU hits 100% - Overclocked you'd see the opposite.

My specs are:

i5 3570k - 4.5Ghz

@GTX 680 @ 1200Mhz Core // 7000Mhz Memory

8GB 1600Mhz Ram

Win 8.1

Now I see around 70-80% CPU usage but my GPU stays at 95%+ all the time playing BF4.

The only ways to solve your "problem" - is either:

a) Turn the graphics settings higher - puts stress on the GPU instead of CPU

b) Get an i7 or FX 8-core (wouldn't recommend the FX though as in other games it lacks single core power)

c) Overclock you GPU and CPU...

d) Enable V-sync (may or may not help -- though it could potentially reduce your load on hardware as the PC stops trying to run it higher than 60FPS)

As for "unoptimized" - don't make me laugh... I've played AAA titles that dont even have multicore support beyond 2-cores and they run like **bleep**.

You don't know what optimised actually means - this games plays fantastically well for how demanding it is.

An example for you of an unoptimised game: W*rld *f T*nks - using a 5 year old engine, running only on a single CPU core and not taking advantage of multiple GPU's either, that game will run anywhere from 50-100fps on my PC. The games graphic quality is about 1/10th as good as BF4 - yet it runs at a lower framerate because the optimisation is crap. That my friend is an "unoptimised" game.

90% cpu load without any other programs running is not a positive trait. No matter how you twist and turn it.

---

@paulbloomberg wrote:

90% cpu load without any other programs running is not a positive trait. No matter how you twist and turn it.

---

Look I'm a games programmer and you seriously don't understand how these things work.

If BF4 was to tell your CPU to run at 1% load because it "didnt really need the other 99%" your framerate and gaming experience would be pretty much non-existant.

Games are designed to use AS MUCH POWER AS THEY CAN - but in a good way. There is no other game currently on the face of this earth that gets frame rates as good as BF4 that has the same graphical quality and such a powerful game engine.

If your PC is running as 90% load all the time but your getting really good FPS - say 80-120fps then the game is well optimised.

If your PC is running at 90% load but your only egtting 30fps - then yes something is wrong and it is unoptimised.

What your complaining about is something that is supposed to happen and really isn't a problem at all. If your not happy that a game can use all 100% of your CPU to run at a decent frame rate and give you a great gaming experience, then maybe you shouldnt be gaming on PC and should just sell your computer --> not trolling I'm being perfectly honest here.

Just to add as well - BF4 isnt "stealing" resources. It is using all available resources.

If you were to add another process in the mix that uses the CPU all that happens is BF4 stops using however much that other process needs (at a tiny cost to performance).

Also you can still stream the game - if say you play with no other programs running (which isnt really possible but hey thats another discussion) and BF4 uses 100%, then when you start streaming BF4 wont use all that 100%. it'll drop how much of the CPU it uses and let the other bit be used by the streaming software. What you will see here is unavoidable in ANY game when streaming - a drop in FPS.

Recording and streaming inevitably drop your framerate. The only software I've seen so far that doesnt impact framerates while recording is Shadowplay. DXtory is also good it only drops a couple of frames when you start recording so not even noticeable.

Streaming is more demanding though so even on a high end i7 you'll notice a dip in performance (not very big, but still there all the same)