When you’re using your laptop or computer, the last thing you want is a program taking up a lot of your device’s processing power. One program that seems to take up a lot of your CPUs power in certain cases is Discord, which many users experiencing and complaining about it over the years.
But why does Discord have a high CPU usage in some cases? And if this is the case, is there a way that you can fix it? Well, that’s what we’re going to investigate – why Discord uses a high amount of CPU, and if so, how you can fix the issue.
Discord High CPU usage – How to Fix
Unfortunately, having high CPU usage when you’re using the Discord app on Desktop is actually quite a common problem. Fortunately, there are a few quick and easy fixes which you can attempt to try and resolve the problem quickly. In most cases, you should be able to fix the problem by doing one of the following.
1. Turning On Hardware Acceleration
If you get in touch with Discord about this problem, then the first thing that they’ll say to you is to check your hardware acceleration. If it’s not on, then they’ll advise you to turn it on to try and resolve the problem.
All hardware acceleration does is give some of the tasks assigned to your processor to other hardware in your computer set up. So, it may move some of your CPU load over to your graphics card instead, reducing the high CPU usage that you’re experiencing.
So by turning on hardware acceleration, you’re essentially making things a little easier on your laptop’s processor, which should be beneficial for the system as a whole.
2. Turning Off Hardware Acceleration
Although Discord’s official advice is that turning hardware acceleration should help, many people have found the opposite. They’ve found that having their hardware acceleration on was actually causing the problem, and by simply turning it off, the problem was then fixed.
So if your hardware acceleration is on, then turning it off could help. If you have a computer with enough CPU cores to cope with Discord and whatever other programs you’re running at the same time, then there’s no need for you to have this switched on.
3. Change the Cores Your Computer Uses
One thing that can also cause this problem is that your computer is limiting access to its full potential, and it may be limited to using only one core. This is a pretty common problem, and of course, only using one core will likely result in this kind of issue. You can fix this by doing the following;
- Firstly, go ahead and type msconfig into the search bar. After this, System Configuration should pop up on your screen. Click into System Config.
- Now, head into the Boot section.
- Then, go ahead and process into Advanced Options.
- Here, you’ll find an option for the “Number of Processors” – this should always be unchecked. This is basically telling your laptop not to limit itself to just one core of your processor,
- Go ahead and apply the changes, and then exit.
Whilst this isn’t going to be the problem for some people, it’s undoubtedly worth checking if you can’t figure out any other cause of the problem.
4. Download a Fresh version of the app
Another common piece of advice for this problem if you contact the Discord team is that you should download a fresh version of the desktop app. This can resolve the problem, as there may be a problem with your current version.
You could also consider reverting to your previous version, as this may also fix the problem if you’ve updated it recently. Although updates are supposed to improve your experience when using Discord, that’s not always the case.
If you’re not 100% sure that your CPU is actually causing the problem, then there’s an easy way to check. You can simply go into our task manager, and then into the performance tab. This should show you which program is causing the problem.
For Mac users, you’ll want to go into activity monitor, which is just the the task manager equivalent for Apple users. Making sure Discord is actually causing the issue is a good idea.
Other Common Discord Issues Resolved
What is Discord used for?
If you haven’t heard of Discord before and you’re just wondering whether it’ll affect your gaming laptop, then don’t worry too much. For the most part, Discord is a great app that allows you to talk to other gamers whilst you’re online. It’s used by more than 100 million users on a regular basis, and it’s the most popular way to chat to other gamers when you’re playing online.
What games go well with Discord?
You can use Discord with pretty much any of the gamers available online. One popular one to use it with is WoW, as there’s more than 100,000 people as part of the community online. If you’re interested, I’ve also put together a list of the best WoW laptops too. As well as this, Discord has official servers for many other games, including Minecraft and even newer games like Among Us too.
Is Discord completely free?
Yes, even though Discord has millions of users online, the app itself is still free. So, it could be worth downloading and seeing if you find it useful. The good thing about Discord is that it isn’t packed with apps like most other apps out there, which is probably one of the main reasons why it’s proven to be so popular.
Why is Discord down?
There could be one of many different reasons why Discord is currently down when you’re trying to use it. There could just be an issue with the server, and typically when this happens, it’s up pretty soon after. Often, the problem can be down to a power outage, which is out of their control.
Can high CPU usage cause damage?
The good news is that even if your processor is at 100% of its power, then this isn’t going to have an effect on the processor itself, and it won’t create any long lasting damage. The only issue you may have is with the processor overheating.
Conclusion
All in all, this seems to be a pretty common problem that people have been having with Discord over the past few years. Fortunately, in the majority of cases there is a quick and easy fix that you can do to restore your Discord program back to the norm. And if all else fails, uninstalling the app and then re-installing it could be the thing that resolves your issue.
