[Full Guide] Horizon Zero Dawn High CPU Usage on Windows

Horizon Zero Dawn is an open-world action role-playing game developed by a Dutch game development company. The game was first released on the PlayStation 4 platform in 2017, and later launched a PC version in 2020.

The story takes place on a distant future Earth, set about 1,000 years in the future. This world once suffered a disaster due to the out-of-control of artificial intelligence and mechanical creatures, leading to the collapse of human civilization.

Players will play the game’s protagonist Aloy, a young female hunter who uncovers the mystery of her life in a world full of robot enemies and human opposition and strives to explore this strange future world.

The game has received rave reviews since its release, but players have reported that they encounter high CPU usage issues when running on a PC. What causes this? And how can it be solved? The following will reveal the answer for you.

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What Causes Horizon Zero Dawn High CPU Usage on Windows

Here are some possible reasons why you encounter high CPU usage in Horizon Zero Dawn:

• Insufficient memory: If your system is running low on memory, the operating system may use virtual memory to make up for it. This can cause the system to slow down, which in turn can cause a high CPU load.
• Incompatible or outdated drivers: High CPU usage in games can sometimes be related to the system’s drivers. When the graphics card driver is incompatible with the game itself, this can cause performance issues.
• Bugs in games: In some cases, specific game versions may have bugs or configuration issues that cause abnormal CPU usage.

How to Fix Horizon Zero Dawn High CPU Usage

There are several ways to fix the Horizon Zero Dawn high CPU usage issue. When you encounter this issue, you can try the following solutions.

Way 1: Check System Requirements

To avoid high CPU usage in Horizon Zero Dawn issues and to have a good gaming experience, your PC should meet Horizon Zero Dawn system requirements.

Horizon Zero Dawn Minimum System Requirements

• Memory: 8 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
• CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K
• File Size: 100 GB
• OS: Windows 10 64-bits

After knowing the minimum system requirements for the game, you can check the full specifications of your PC. If your PC does not meet the system requirements for the game, you may need to upgrade it. You can choose RAM upgrade, GPU upgrade, etc.

If you are experiencing Horizon Zero Dawn high CPU usage due to insufficient disk space, you need to free up your disk space. The first thing that may come to mind is to free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files, but this is not a long-term solution.

So you need to use a professional partition manager to extend the drive. MiniTool Partition Wizard is a good disk partition manager.

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Way 2: Verify the Integrity of Game Files

Corrupted game files can also cause Horizon Zero Dawn high CPU usage on Windows. To fix this issue, you need to re-verify the integrity of the game files.

Step 1: Launch the Steam client and go to LIBRARY.

Step 2: Right-click Horizon Zero Dawn and select Properties.

Step 3: Switch to Installed Files. Then click Verify integrity of game files from the right side.

Way 3: Update Your Graphics Driver

If you are experiencing high CPU usage in Horizon Zero Dawn due to an outdated graphics driver on your PC, you may need to update it.

Step 1: Input “device manager” in Taskbar Search, find and open the Device Manager.

Step 2: Unfold the Display adapters.

Step 3: Right-click on the graphics card that you are going to update and select Update driver.

Step 4: On the pop-up window, click Search automatically for drivers and then follow the wizard to update the driver.

Way 4: Close Unnecessary Processes

Unnecessary programs can use up your CPU, so close other programs while you play games.

Step 1: Press the Windows + X keys simultaneously and choose Task Manager.

Step 2: Right-click on the unnecessary processes and choose End task to close programs.

Bottom Line

That’s all about how to fix Horizon Zero Dawn high CPU usage. I hope this article is helpful to you.