Cyberpunk 2077 Low FPS: CPU Bottleneck?

Quick Answer

Cyberpunk 2077 low FPS is often a GPU bottleneck rather than a CPU issue, especially with ray tracing enabled. However, older CPUs with slow single-core performance can cause CPU bottlenecks in open-world areas with heavy NPC density. Identifying which component is limiting you changes the fix. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. Use MSI Afterburner with RivaTuner overlay, which displays real-time GPU usage percentage and CPU core usage simultaneously on screen. If your GPU usage is at 95-100% and CPU usage is below 70-80%, your GPU is the bottleneck. This is the most common scenario in Cyberpunk 2077, particularly with ray tracing or path tracing enabled. Lowering graphics settings or enabling DLSS or FSR upscaling will improve frame rates in this case. If your GPU usage is below 90% and your CPU core usage is at or near 100% on your fastest cores, the CPU is limiting frame rates. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. In this scenario, increasing graphics settings slightly to load the GPU more will not help, and the fix requires either reducing CPU-side settings or upgrading the processor. ## Common CPU Bottleneck Scenarios in Cyberpunk 2077

CPU bottlenecks in Cyberpunk 2077 typically appear on processors with weak single-core performance. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. Intel 8th and 9th generation CPUs (Coffee Lake), AMD Ryzen 2000 and 3000 series, and any CPU with boost clocks below 4.5GHz are the most commonly reported bottleneck culprits in Cyberpunk 2077. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. This setting is specifically tied to CPU load and has a noticeable impact on open-world frame rates without meaningfully affecting visual quality in most scenarios. ## GPU Bottleneck Fixes for Cyberpunk 2077

If the GPU is your bottleneck, the fastest fixes are enabling DLSS (for NVIDIA users) at Quality mode, enabling FSR 3 (for AMD users) at Quality mode, or switching from ray tracing to the standard rasterised rendering path. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. Dropping from ultra to high preset typically provides 15-25% more frames with minimal visual difference in most areas of Night City. Shadows and screen-space reflections are the highest-cost individual settings and can be reduced independently for a significant frame rate gain. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. 6-core and 8-core CPUs show meaningful performance differences compared to 4-core chips in open-world areas. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. Faster RAM speeds also help if your CPU is the bottleneck, as Cyberpunk 2077 is somewhat memory-latency sensitive on AMD platforms in particular. Other local retailers may also carry similar options. If you are on a very old CPU with low single-core performance, pairing a GPU upgrade with a CPU upgrade will give the full benefit.