[GH-ISSUE #1542] CPU being greatly overworked in bloodborne on particular systems #523

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opened 2026-02-27 21:06:43 +03:00 by kerem · 10 comments
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Originally created by @larfy298 on GitHub (Nov 17, 2024).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/shadps4-emu/shadPS4/issues/1542

I have not been able to find a consistent reason for what causes this, and it is not something that happens to a particular MODEL of CPU (For instance, I have an i7-8700 and have seen others with an i7-8700 who do not experience this issue)

This issue also may affect other games as well, but I haven't been able to test it on any other games outside of the homebrew demos like pong (Which did spike up very significant CPU usage at the start but quickly dwindled to about 5-10%)

In essence, most people I have seen have been very much GPU limited in bloodborne, with their cpu rarely going above 20-30% usage unless playing at very low resolutions, but Whenever I am in-game in Bloodborne, my CPU will run at full bore no matter what I am doing. Even on the title screen, I hover at around 30% usage, and when playing in a level it will max out my first core and put all the others to around 60% usage. Although I don't have the screenshot of it anymore, I also saw the same problem occurring on a Ryzen 7 5800X. I have tested extensively and can confirm this is not the result of any mods or patches, and has been a constant issue for as long as I have used the emulator.

This also means that, even running at around 1080p, my game is greatly CPU bottlenecked and my GPU will rarely go over 25% usage

I can reproduce this issue consistently on my system, however, as I mentioned before, I can't reproduce it on MOST other systems, although some seem to have this issue as well almost arbitrarily.

In terms of diagnosing this issue, I am willing to help however I can, due to the amount of systems which can reproduce this issue being very limited.

Specs
Intel i7-8700
Nvidia GTX 1080
24GB DDR4 @ 2400mhz
Windows 10

Originally created by @larfy298 on GitHub (Nov 17, 2024). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/shadps4-emu/shadPS4/issues/1542 I have not been able to find a consistent reason for what causes this, and it is not something that happens to a particular MODEL of CPU (For instance, I have an i7-8700 and have seen others with an i7-8700 who do not experience this issue) This issue also may affect other games as well, but I haven't been able to test it on any other games outside of the homebrew demos like pong (Which did spike up very significant CPU usage at the start but quickly dwindled to about 5-10%) In essence, most people I have seen have been very much GPU limited in bloodborne, with their cpu rarely going above 20-30% usage unless playing at very low resolutions, but Whenever I am in-game in Bloodborne, my CPU will run at full bore no matter what I am doing. Even on the title screen, I hover at around 30% usage, and when playing in a level it will max out my first core and put all the others to around 60% usage. Although I don't have the screenshot of it anymore, I also saw the same problem occurring on a Ryzen 7 5800X. I have tested extensively and can confirm this is not the result of any mods or patches, and has been a constant issue for as long as I have used the emulator. This also means that, even running at around 1080p, my game is greatly CPU bottlenecked and my GPU will rarely go over 25% usage I can reproduce this issue consistently on my system, however, as I mentioned before, I can't reproduce it on MOST other systems, although some seem to have this issue as well almost arbitrarily. In terms of diagnosing this issue, I am willing to help however I can, due to the amount of systems which can reproduce this issue being very limited. Specs Intel i7-8700 Nvidia GTX 1080 24GB DDR4 @ 2400mhz Windows 10
kerem 2026-02-27 21:06:43 +03:00
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@Raggiee976 commented on GitHub (Nov 17, 2024):

I'm experiencing the same issue.
Specs: RTX 4070TI; Ryzen 5 5800X3D; 32Gb 4000Mhz Cl16

<!-- gh-comment-id:2481535699 --> @Raggiee976 commented on GitHub (Nov 17, 2024): I'm experiencing the same issue. Specs: RTX 4070TI; Ryzen 5 5800X3D; 32Gb 4000Mhz Cl16
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@NotPaalas commented on GitHub (Nov 20, 2024):

i have the same issue. GPU usage hovers between 10% - 40% (sometimes goes up to 60% but drops down instantly), CPU usage is around 50% all the time. i had some small improvements when i disabled SMT via process lasso but the GPU usage was still low just less stuttering.
i tried it with no mods, with half cloth ram-spike mod, no cloth ram-spike mod, only sfx and the combinations with the ram-spike mod.
Specs: RX 6950 XT, Ryzen 7 5700x3d, 32gb DDR4 3200Mhz on a b450 aorus elite, win 10

<!-- gh-comment-id:2489537862 --> @NotPaalas commented on GitHub (Nov 20, 2024): i have the same issue. GPU usage hovers between 10% - 40% (sometimes goes up to 60% but drops down instantly), CPU usage is around 50% all the time. i had some small improvements when i disabled SMT via process lasso but the GPU usage was still low just less stuttering. i tried it with no mods, with half cloth ram-spike mod, no cloth ram-spike mod, only sfx and the combinations with the ram-spike mod. Specs: RX 6950 XT, Ryzen 7 5700x3d, 32gb DDR4 3200Mhz on a b450 aorus elite, win 10
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@Raggiee976 commented on GitHub (Dec 5, 2024):

Could be ram bottleneck, all these are slow ddr4

Btw cpu usage means nothing, you probablyy have 1 core at 100%

4000Mhz cl16 is slow?

<!-- gh-comment-id:2520913126 --> @Raggiee976 commented on GitHub (Dec 5, 2024): > Could be ram bottleneck, all these are slow ddr4 > > Btw cpu usage means nothing, you probablyy have 1 core at 100% 4000Mhz cl16 is slow?
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@Hermiten commented on GitHub (Dec 10, 2024):

Can you please do a new test on the last main branch please ?

<!-- gh-comment-id:2532044275 --> @Hermiten commented on GitHub (Dec 10, 2024): Can you please do a new test on the last main branch please ?
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@larfy298 commented on GitHub (Dec 10, 2024):

Just tested, definitely still happening.

<!-- gh-comment-id:2532125298 --> @larfy298 commented on GitHub (Dec 10, 2024): Just tested, definitely still happening.
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@LukeGirvan commented on GitHub (Dec 12, 2024):

Happening to me too System: 7900xtx, r7 5700x3d, 3200mhz 32gb ram, b550 tomahawk , windows 10

<!-- gh-comment-id:2537450909 --> @LukeGirvan commented on GitHub (Dec 12, 2024): Happening to me too System: 7900xtx, r7 5700x3d, 3200mhz 32gb ram, b550 tomahawk , windows 10
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@Missake212 commented on GitHub (Dec 17, 2024):

This is not a fix, but someone (bigvic340 on Discord) noticed better performance when turning off Hyper threading/SMT using Project Lasso, you could also turn it off completely through the bios but first option seems more convenient test, if any of you is interested in testing this to see if you get better performance. Saw a few people report better performance on the Discord.

<!-- gh-comment-id:2547766691 --> @Missake212 commented on GitHub (Dec 17, 2024): This is not a fix, but someone (bigvic340 on Discord) noticed better performance when turning off Hyper threading/SMT using Project Lasso, you could also turn it off completely through the bios but first option seems more convenient test, if any of you is interested in testing this to see if you get better performance. Saw a few people report better performance on the Discord.
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@zofrea1 commented on GitHub (Dec 23, 2024):

I believe my system is also affected: 5800X3D and a 3090. GPU usage is rarely saturated and at least 2 cores are often heavily loaded. I wonder if compiling ShadPS4 on my own hardware could potentially help? Has anyone tried this?
Update: Manually setting the ShadPS4.exe process affinity can have huge effects on performance. On my 5800X3D, setting the CPU core affinity to 5 cores yielded the best results. I thought 6-7 would be the best, most closely matching a real PS4, but I went from 45 fps with all cores and threads enabled in a demanding scene at the start of the game to 62 fps after manually selecting 5 cores.

<!-- gh-comment-id:2560259281 --> @zofrea1 commented on GitHub (Dec 23, 2024): I believe my system is also affected: 5800X3D and a 3090. GPU usage is rarely saturated and at least 2 cores are often heavily loaded. I wonder if compiling ShadPS4 on my own hardware could potentially help? Has anyone tried this? Update: Manually setting the ShadPS4.exe process affinity can have huge effects on performance. On my 5800X3D, setting the CPU core affinity to 5 cores yielded the best results. I thought 6-7 would be the best, most closely matching a real PS4, but I went from 45 fps with all cores and threads enabled in a demanding scene at the start of the game to 62 fps after manually selecting 5 cores.
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@larfy298 commented on GitHub (Jan 2, 2025):

New merges to main reduce the cpu bottleneck greatly, closing issue

<!-- gh-comment-id:2567908436 --> @larfy298 commented on GitHub (Jan 2, 2025): New merges to main reduce the cpu bottleneck greatly, closing issue
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@lesteryoung commented on GitHub (Sep 28, 2025):

New merges to main reduce the cpu bottleneck greatly, closing issue

Can you please explain how to do it ? Got the exact same issue.

<!-- gh-comment-id:3343252503 --> @lesteryoung commented on GitHub (Sep 28, 2025): > New merges to main reduce the cpu bottleneck greatly, closing issue Can you please explain how to do it ? Got the exact same issue.
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