Processing load spikes during navigation out of the game.
Processing load spikes during navigation out of the game.
While playing the game smoothly at around 3.75GHz, performance drops noticeably when interacting outside the game. CPU usage spikes to 4.75 with only 33% utilization, causing lag. Text appears delayed, scrolling becomes choppy, and videos buffer or stutter. This inconsistency suggests a potential issue with background processes or resource contention.
In the Processes section, repeat the action for each CPU usage category and capture a new screenshot.
Are you using Windows 10 or 11? On Windows 10, some scheduling issues may appear because the update hasn't fully resolved compatibility problems. With Windows 11, thread scheduling can still cause confusion—your game runs in the background but isn't prioritized properly. It needs fewer CPU resources yet demands access to a fast core, which is why it's placed on E cores instead. This leads to uncertainty about how to manage tasks, which is understandable. EDIT: @GuiltySpark_'s advice makes sense as a helpful troubleshooting step.
The game's performance jumps from 3-5% to 33%, and only a few other programs begin consuming more CPU.
I attempted to launch several other games and none displayed the same issue. Likely it was a game-specific problem rather than a Windows 10 scheduler concern, so I didn’t need to upgrade to Windows 11. Recently, I reinstalled Windows 10 by choice a few days ago after upgrading my computer, which caused multiple blue screens. It seems the new motherboards and old BIOS might not support the RAM. However, I won’t know for sure because I reinstalled Windows before updating the BIOS, and then another blue screen occurred during the first Windows 10 installation, prompting a BIOS update that resolved the issue.
Based on a recommendation from another forum, it appears the game likely supports an unlimited frame rate. When minimized or out of focus, rendering stops, preventing the high FPS spikes. There might also be an internal FPS limiter that activates only when the game is in focus. I experimented with enabling V-sync, which resolved the problem.
The problem was high FPS limits. I adjusted the maximum frame rate to 100 in the Nvidia Control Panel and re-enabled V-sync in the game. The issue disappeared. It seems I previously set a lower limit, perhaps around 5-6 years ago, but it was cleared after the latest reinstall. @CatXice Consider opening Nvidia Control Panel → Manage 3D Settings → Max Frame Rate and setting it to 144 or higher. Test if the problem persists when switching out of Valorant. This might help, as you noted another process could be involved, though changes usually take about 20 seconds to apply and around 5 seconds to remove.