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15 of the Most CPU Intensive Games

Welcome to Bottleneck City: These Titles Put More Strain on Your CPU Than Most

Last Updated: July 13, 2026

If you're building or upgrading a PC with any of the following CPU intensive games in mind, instead of the conventional wisdom of allocating far more of your budget towards your GPU purchase instead of your CPU (which makes sense for most modern PC games since they lean more on the GPU), you may want to consider a more balanced CPU GPU combination so that your CPU isn't underpowered for these titles.

In the most CPU intensive games such as the ones below, if you pair a good GPU with a not-so-good CPU, depending on various factors you may encounter a CPU bottleneck which means your CPU is "bottlenecking" (preventing) your GPU from being used to its full potential. 

There are various attributes of a game that can contribute to it being more CPU intensive than other titles, including:

• Genre of the game (strategy, MMO, and sims tend to be more CPU heavy)
• Multiplayer games can be more CPU heavy (more players means more processing of network code)
• Complexity of gameplay mechanics such as AI and physics (both of which are always processed by the CPU)
• Size, complexity and detail of the game's world/environments
• Amount of objects, units, or characters on-screen at any one time (CPU has to process any AI/pathfinding and collision detection for each)
• How optimized the game engine is for multi-threading etc
• How much time and effort the developer spent on optimization

Below I've rounded up some of the most CPU-intensive games on the market right now, but keep in mind the order of the list is a ballpark estimate and not an exact science, as it's difficult to determine exactly which CPU intensive game deserves the number one spot, number two, etc.

1. Star Citizen

Simulation games are prime candidates to be CPU intensive due to lots of behind the scenes processing needed to, well, simulate everything in the game to be as life-like as possible. The epic, futuristic space sim Star Citizen is one of the best examples, with some areas of the game being extremely CPU intensive. Plus there's the fact it's still under development - the developers have publicly stated that they need to work on CPU optimization, and that CPU bottlenecks are to be expected.

2. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

The latest in the long-running Flight Simulator series, MSFS2024, will wreak havoc on any poor processor that's not up to standard since the game streams world terrain data in real-time from Microsoft's Azure cloud servers, simulates live air traffic from real-life flight data, and runs a full weather system. If you slap on a VR headset to further immersive yourself in that cockpit with its built-in VR mode, your CPU and GPU are going to get even more of a hammering.

See Also: Most GPU Demanding PC and VR Games

3. Cities: Skylines 2

The modern city-building sim gives CPUs a great workout once your digital creation develops into a sizeable metropolis as it must simulate all of that traffic, citizen routines, public services, economic systems, and pathfinding for so many agents, with mods only further increasing stress on the processor. Cities Skylines 2 is easily one of the most CPU demanding games ever made.

4. Total War: Warhammer 3

When playing strategy games with large battles and tons of units on-screen, there's a heck of a lot of AI/pathfinding and collision/hit detections to be constantly calculated in real-time. Warhammer 3 - and the whole Total War series for that matter - is well known to wreck your CPU if it's not up to scratch, as the battles in this title can get seriously hectic.

There's a reason its been used extensively in CPU benchmarks over the years, so if this is your favorite game then make sure to properly balance your combination of CPU and GPU to favor the former (especially at 1080p). Jumping from an older CPU to a faster new one can significantly improve performance and remove stuttering/frame drops.

5. Monster Hunter Wilds

A series that's often used in benchmarks to test both modern CPUs and GPUs due to its demanding nature, the latest entry Monster Hunter Wilds is no exception, and will hit both your graphics card and processor quite hard. Especially the CPU, making it one of the most CPU intensive games on the market without question.

6. Battlefield VI

Battlefield 6 is both CPU and GPU demanding, but its somewhat complex battles with vehicles and firefights aplenty makes it one of the most CPU intensive FPS series going around (especially in a heated multiplayer match with lots of players).

For that reason it'll take a very high-end PC to get 144FPS or thereabouts - the ideal frame rate for the FPS genre to take full advantage of fast 144Hz monitors - but even getting and staying above 60FPS will require something at least half-decent.

7. Cyberpunk 2077

Open-world games are another prime candidate to be processor-punishing piles of code, and Cyberpunk 2077 is exactly that. Cyberpunk 2077 is also very GPU intensive as well, bringing even high-end systems back down to Earth when you're gaming at high res and/or high settings.

Plus, if you run it with ray-tracing turned on, the game becomes a modern "but can it run Crysis?" meme, which by the way also increases work for the CPU (ray tracing doesn't just increase workload of the GPU). If you have a CPU bottleneck in CP2077, to crank out some extra performance make sure to turn down the "Crowd Density" setting under Gameplay Settings as explained in the best Cyberpunk settings guide.

8. Escape from Tarkov

Escape from Tarkov is one of the most demanding First-Person Shooter titles out there, especially on the CPU due to its focus on realistic simulation of ballistics, other small details requiring constant calculations, advanced enemy AI, and heavy networking code. See the guide to building a PC for EFT for more.

9. ARMA 3

ARMA 3 is an FPS, though open-world seamless sandbox military sim is a lot more precise in describing this somewhat niche of a "game". An anomaly in the sense that it's far from your average FPS, ARMA 3 is also an anomaly in terms of how demanding it is on the CPU relative to other games.

You could be rocking a high-end GPU, but if you're lacking in the CPU department your rig may really struggle, especially in missions with heavy scripting and AI. In more CPU intensive situations within the game, even modern high-end CPUs can struggle to reach a consistent 60FPS, let alone 144FPS.

To get the most of your system with ARMA 3, you have to be willing to extensively tinker with settings, overclock your CPU, and invest in a decent amount of fast, low-latency RAM (and overclock that, too). It goes without saying but the popular ARMA mod DayZ is also very CPU intensive as well.

10. Blade and Sorcery (VR)

One of the best PCVR games out there, with super-cool complex physics interactions that will have you dropping frames and throwing up all over the place in no time should you dare bring a weak CPU to the show (consistent frame rates are crucial in VR for enjoyment and to avoid motion sickness).

Related: Build the Best PC for Half Life Alyx

11. Civilization VI

Many strategy games are more CPU-bound than GPU-bound overall, as graphics take a backseat and somewhat complicated multi-unit gameplay makes up the core of the experience.

The most recent entries in the Civilization series, Civilization 5 and 6, are absolutely no exception and can bring old or slow CPUs to their knees once you progress through the game a little and have a lot happening on-screen.

If your system is struggling, try sticking to smaller maps with less AI players. All that said, the games aren't that CPU intensive when compared to the more modern games on this list, but it's still worth mentioning due to its sheer CPU-bound nature.

12. No Man's Sky

Large, procedurally generated worlds are calculated on - you guessed it - the CPU. So it doesn't take a genius to guess that No Man's Sky, with its literally infinite real-time generated universe, is going to be a CPU hog. And a CPU hog it certainly is, though make sure to bring a solid GPU to the party as well since the game is demanding in more ways than one. In VR, it's doubly so, requiring nothing but a high-end CPU and GPU combo to avoid performance hiccups.

13. DCS World (PC or VR)

DCS World is a very CPU intensive title, whether in VR or playing on flatscreen. Simply put, you want the best CPU you can afford as it's a complex simulation with a lot of real-time processing happening as you play. DCS World is also a GPU demanding game, especially so in VR.

14. Modded Minecraft

Minecraft has always been more CPU-bound than GPU-bound, meaning that performance is tied heavily to how good your processor is. But add on some mods and large worlds and the load on your CPU can increase substantially, though how much of a hit your CPU takes will depend entirely on the specific mod/s in question. Mods that affect crafting, building, item transferring, or quarrying are going to affect the CPU, while shader mods and HD texture packs would hit the GPU (and VRAM) more.

15. Modded Skyrim (PC or VR)

Skyrim without mods ("vanilla" Skyrim) isn't too demanding of a game these days, but that's no way to play the masterpiece in these modern times. Running mods are where it's at, and the more the merrier (you can stack many together). Doing so can quickly add up in workload for your CPU and/or GPU. Mods that improve visuals will mostly hit your GPU, but mods that add scripts, change combat mechanics, alter NPCs or object counts, or that change object forms can noticeably increase CPU usage.

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