How to Limit CPU Usage in Windows

When you have multiple applications running in the background or due to some malware application in your system, you may face high CPU usage.

Limiting CPU usage will keep your CPU temperature under a limit. However, if you limit CPU usage in some applications, you may see some performance drop.

Here are different ways you can limit your CPU usage in windows.

Lower Maximum Processor State

The process state determines how much a system can use CPU resources. This setting is set at 100% at default, meaning the system can use 100% of CPU resources. Decreasing this number will limit CPU usage.

1. Press the Windows + R key to open Run.
2. Type powercfg.cpl to open Power Options.
3. Click on Change Plan settings on the selected power plan.
4. Click on Change advanced power settings.
   
5. Expand Processor power management, and then expand the Maximum processor state.
6. Now set both On battery and Plugged into your desired amount.
   

Set Affinity

The affinity on an application lets you choose the number of logical processors an application can use. By default, any application uses all the available processors. You can either let the application use one or multiple processors when you set the affinity.

If you see that some application uses a lot of CPU resources, set the affinity so that it only uses a limited number of processor.

1. Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc simultaneously to open the Task Manager.
2. Go to the Details tab.
3. Here, right-click on the application that you want to set affinity.
4. Select Set affinity.
   
5. Now, you can see the CPU’s total number of logical processors.
6. Uncheck any processor and click Ok.
   

Set Priority

Setting any application’s priority to high lets it use higher system resources such as memory and CPU time. This allows the application to run a lot faster. And it also means that a lot of CPU resource is allocated to this application alone.

Lowering any application priority will limit CPU usage.

1. Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager.
2. Go to the Details tab
3. Right-click on the application which you want to lower the priority.
4. Then select the desired option.
   
5. Then, click on Change Priority.

Set System Performance Settings

When you enable high-performance mode, the CPU uses fewer resources on the unnecessary visual effect such as animation style, shadows, icons, and font style. Disabling these settings will lower your overall CPU usage.

Follow the steps mentioned below to enable high-performance mode.

1. Press the Windows + R key to open Run
2. Type systempropertiesadvanced to open System Properties.
3. On the Advanced tab, Click on Settings located under Performance.
   
4. Click on Adjust for best performance, or check the animation feature according to your choice.
   
5. Click on Apply, then OK.

End Background Process and Startup Application

Any CPU-intensive task in the background can make a CPU use most of its resources. Besides this, a startup application can also cause the CPU to work up as soon as the OS loads. This will result in maximum CPU usage even when the computer is idle.

Removing these unused applications from the background and startup will free up the CPU usage. Although this won’t limit CPU usage, it frees up huge CPU resources, making your PC function a little faster.

1. Open Task Manager and go to the Processes tab.
2. Under Background processes, check for an application that takes huge CPU resources.
3. Click on this application and select End task.
   
4. Now, go to the Startup tab.
5. Click on the application you want to disable from starting when the system starts and click on Disable.
   

Third-Party Application

A third-party application is also a great way to limit per processor CPU usage. Application such as BES, ProcessLasso, and ProcessTamer works great to set process priority and affinity.

Besides this, the third-party application can enable or disable hyperthreading, set memory priority, and many more.

The applications work just like a normal Task Manager but with many advanced features. Therefore, using a third-party application is a viable option if you want flexibility and full CPU/RAM control over your application.