My computer (i7-7700K, 3060 TI) has no issue running Elden Ring or Apex Legends, but with AOE4 my GPU usage is pushed to 80-100% constantly, no matter what, as long as the game is up.
Bizarrely, this persists even when I’m just in the menu.
Even more bizarrely, this persists even if I set the graphics to Low and cap the framerate at 30 FPS. In the menu. (For reference, my computer can run the game at around 90 FPS on Maximum Graphics settings).
I have no idea how the game engine manages to use basically all available GPU resources even when the framerate is capped far below what the GPU is capable of. Before I did THAT test, I assumed this was just a GPU-heavy game, but that test made me decide it must be legitimately a bug.
In my case, if I have the game up for a while, I’ll smell a sort of burning metal smell from my overtaxed GPU.
But anyway the real kicker is just the fact that GPU usage bounces around near (and hitting) maxed out values even when the load is reduced to much lower than what the computer can demonstrably handle.
Having your GPU run at 100% should not cause your GPU to overheat, if it does then you have bigger problems. You can check your GPU temperature by using software like GPU Tweak or MSI Afterburner.
If it is overheating you can try
Air compressing out your pc case
Remove overclocking
Add better cooling to your case
I have a 3060 TI overclocked and boosts to around 2100 MHz and it does not overheat.
Update:
“In my case, if I have the game up for a while, I’ll smell a sort of burning metal smell from my overtaxed GPU.”
After giving it a bit more thought and with all the issues with GPUs and CPUs blowing up and catching fire lately I recommend you turn off your PC until the source of the burning smell is found. CPUs and GPUs should be able to run at 100% 24/7 with no issues.
If you are smelling burnt/smoke from your PC then you could catch your house on fire.
I shouldn’t have used the word “overheat”, so many replies on Reddit and the one reply on here have focused sooooo much on the “overheat” side of things and totally ignored the part where I said I CAN CAP THE FRAMERATE TO 30 AND MY GPU USAGE WILL STILL BE MAXED, ON THE MENU. Focus on that!!!
I used “overheating” somewhat loosely to mean “working impossibly harder than it should possibly need to, and presumably overtaxing itself even if it’s not literally overheating”. I didn’t check the temps, I don’t know if it’s literally overheating.
But anyway maybe this will all be fixed by a driver update; I haven’t updated my drivers in a bit of a while cuz I uninstalled Geforce Experience at some point for some reason I’ve forgotten by now.
OK I just updated my drivers and relaunched and that totally fixed the issue (as in: my GPU usage on the menu, at a capped framerate, with all low settings, was actually tiny instead of maximum).
My bad for not doing that basic step before making this thread.
If you still “smell a sort of burning metal smell” when your GPU is at 100% usage you need to investigate what is causing this.
“one reply on here have focused sooooo much on the “overheat” side of things”
A “burning metal smell” that comes from your PC is not something that should be taken lightly.
I still have that issue. Lost a 3yr old gaming laptop to this game already. Now experiencing the same issue with this laptop. No issue with any other games. Only this game makes my PC overheat even with low setting. I’ve updated all drivers and any cpu updates and it still makes the laptop hot as hell.
Is more like an intended bug.
Not sure you fix yet, the issue with your video card being taxed a lot in AoE4.
Here is my tweak which helped me and others, like and sub if helps you.
