6 Fixes for Discord’s High CPU Usage on Windows

Pankil is a Civil Engineer turned freelance writer. Since his arrival at Guiding Tech in 2021, he delves into the world of how-tos, and troubleshooting guides for Android, iOS, and Windows. Besides his new-found love for mechanical keyboards, he’s a disciplined footfall fan and loves international travel with his wife.

Fix 1: Turn Off Hardware Acceleration

The Hardware Acceleration in Discord allows the app to use your GPU instead of your CPU for graphics-intensive tasks. Although this feature is supposed to reduce the load on your CPU, it can sometimes cause more harm than good. You may disable hardware acceleration in Discord to see if that helps.

Step 1:Open the Discord app and click thegear-shapedicon at the bottom-left corner to open the User Settings menu.

Step 2:In theAdvancedtab, turn off the toggle next toHardware Acceleration.

Fix 2: Disable Discord Overlay

Discord’s overlay feature makes it easy for you to chat with your friends without leaving your game screen. However, this convenience can come at a cost, as the overlay feature can be resource-intensive, leading to Discord using excessive CPU, GPU, and memory.

To turn off the Discord overlay feature, use these steps:

Step 1:Open the settings menu in Discord.

Step 2:Select theGame Overlaytab from the left pane. Then, turn off the toggle next toEnable in-game overlay.

Fix 3: Turn Off Voice Processing Features on Discord

Discord’s voice processing features, such as Echo Cancellation, Noise Suppression, Advanced Voice Activity, and others, can contribute to high CPU usage on Windows. While they may make your Discord experience better, but they can be resource intensive. Here’s how to turn them off.

Step 1:Open the settings menu in Discord.

Step 2:Select theVoice & Videotab from the left sidebar. UnderVoice Processing, turn off the toggle next toEcho Cancellation, setNoise SuppressiontoNone, and disableAutomatic Gain Control.

Fix 4: Enable Reduced Motion on Discord

Another thing you can do is enable the Reduced Motion feature, which lowers the intensity of animations and effects. This will make Discord use relatively less CPU and RAM.

Step 1:Open the settings menu in Discord.

Step 2:Switch to theAccessibilitytab and turn on the toggle next toEnable Reduced Motion.

Fix 5: Modify Advanced Boot Options

If you areexperiencing high CPU usagewith other apps and programs too, you should check the advanced boot options on Windows and make sure your PC is not limited to using just one core of your processor. Here’s how:

Step 1:Press theWindows key + Rto open the Run dialog box. Typemsconfigin the text box and pressEnter.

Step 2:Switch to theBoottab and click theAdvanced optionsbutton.

Step 3:Tick theNumber of processorscheckbox and use the drop-down menu to increase the number of processors your system can use. Then, clickOKto save the changes.

Restart your PC after that to check if the issue persists.

Fix 6: Clear Discord Cache

Another reason why Discord may use too much CPU on Windows is if the existing cache data associated with the app is corrupt. So, you mayclear the Discord cache datato check that.

Step 1:Press theWindows + Rkeyboard shortcut to open the Run dialog box. Type%appdata%/discordin the box and pressEnter.

Step 2:In the File Explorer window that opens, select theCache,Code Cache, andGPUCachefolders. Then, click thetrash iconat the top to delete them.

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Last updated on 15 August, 2024

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