I just built a new PC with an RTX 5080 and Ryzen 9 9950X. While playing Valorant at 1440p and 240 Hz on low settings, with the frame rate capped at 240 FPS, monitoring software shows around 9% total CPU usage and 20% GPU usage. Is this normal, or should utilization be much higher? I also feel that the fans are louder than expected for a lightweight game, so I'm wondering whether the resolution, refresh rate, or some other setting could be contributing.
3 Answers
The fan noise is separate from utilization. Check your CPU and GPU temperatures, then adjust the fan curves if the temperatures are comfortably below their limits. A gradual curve that keeps fans quiet at idle and ramps them up as temperatures rise can help. Fan-control software can be used for this, but avoid letting temperatures climb too high under sustained loads.
Since your frame rate is capped, the system only has to do enough work to maintain 240 FPS. Low graphics settings also shift the workload away from the GPU, so low utilization is expected. Your friend’s expectation that the CPU should always be heavily loaded isn’t correct; games often use only a handful of cores effectively.
Those utilization numbers are normal for this setup. The 9950X has 16 cores and 32 threads, so a game using a few busy cores can still show low overall CPU usage. Valorant at low settings, especially with a 240 FPS cap, is unlikely to fully load an RTX 5080.
That makes sense, thanks for clarifying.
I’ll check the temperatures and try tuning the fan curves. I was mainly surprised that the fans were noticeable in a game running at low settings.