3.1) CPU

Frames Time (ms) Min FPS Max FPS Avg FPS

36877 700000 31 77 52.681

Frames Time (ms) Min FPS Max FPS Avg FPS

42447 700000 36 87 60.639

Frames Time (ms) Min FPS Max FPS Avg FPS

33391 700000 22 70 47.701

Cores Frames Time (ms) Min FPS Max FPS Avg FPS

1 6735 200000 22 47 33.675

2 9307 200000 32 64 46.535

3 10843 200000 38 71 54.215

4 11777 200000 42 78 58.885



Turning off the Physics settings (9.5% performance increase in 4v4 benchmark compared to max physics)



Playing against human players rather than AI.



Open Task Manager



Find the process RelicCoH2.exe (try under Details tab for Win 8+)



Right-click on it and go to Set priority



Try setting it as Normal or Above Normal initially. Note that setting it too high may potentially take CPU time away from Windows processes required for system stability. Experiment at your own risk.



It seems that COH2 is heavily limited by poorly performing multi-threaded game code. This has been observed for some time as this thread shows.Many people are finding that the game never uses more than 30% of their CPU, even though their graphics card is being significantly under-utilised. This seems to be due to inefficient game code causing some tasks to become bottlenecked while waiting for other tasks to complete (probably on different cores, since no single core reaches 100% usage). This issue seems to increase as the game goes on. Frames per second (fps) will decrease over the length of the game to a point where it is very poor (well under 60fps). Since the issue is on the game's side, there is little you can do about it. However, you will usually find that smaller games (i.e. 1v1) will deliver much better performance than larger games like 4v4 matches.I have an old Core i7 with 4 cores. Like many other people, my total CPU usage in COH2 does not go over 40%. It usually looks like this (2 graphs equals 1 core due to hyperthreading):However, none of my system components appeared to be a bottleneck, so I tried overclocking my CPU from 3.2Ghz to 3.8Ghz. I created a benchmark out of a 4v4 game on Steppes and used FRAPS from 2 minutes in, with 'follow camera' enabled on myself.Steppes 4v4 700sec 3.2Ghz No physicsSteppes 4v4 700sec 3.8Ghz No physicsSteppes 4v4 700sec 3.2Ghz Max physicsThe results indicate that the CPU is the limiting factor, despite no core being fully utilised.I also did a benchmark where I changed how many cores the game could use.The following data comes from a Steppes 4v4 replay with various numbers of CPU cores enabled.This indicates that the game is definitely coded to be multi-threaded. However, the previous benchmarks suggest that the game is having trouble doing so effectively, even though no core comes close to being fully used. It appears that the best thing you can do is get a CPU with 4 cores and high clock speeds.Your best chances for maximising performance are likely a CPU with very high clock speeds. The game is apparently also compiled in a way that favours Intel processors.A CPU with larger L1, L2, and L3 cache sizes will also be better able to utilise those high speeds without bottlenecking.My benchmarking suggests that 4-cores on your CPU will improve your game performance. This is quite common for a CPU these days, so it should not be difficult to choose one.If you also want to run CPU-intensive programs along side your game (i.e. a video streaming program like OBS), then extra cores will be the best way to achieve that without impacting your game performance too much. Higher clock speeds also help, but there are limits on how high a CPU can be clocked. Video encoding programs are excellent at spreading their work over as many cores as they need to.Intel are considered to have the best performing CPUs currently, and new ones can operate around 4Ghz per core, before overclocking. This game is also compiled to be optimised for Intel only. I recommend the Intel Core i5 and i7 ranges. Do not get budget CPUs like Celerons or Pentiums. Regardless of their cores and clock speeds, they lack important core features required for performance. CPU Boss is a great way to compare any 2 CPUs if you are confused by their similarities.Laptop CPUs have substantially lower clock speeds than desktop computers, so I would not expect great performance from them. That said, CPU miniaturization technology has reached such a point that you can now get an incredibly powerful and affordable desktop Intel Core i7-4790 Processor (8MB L3 Cache 4-cores @ 3.6GHz) in a custom-built laptop. I recommend looking into that if your in the market for a new gaming laptop. As with all laptop components, performance is often limited by the cooling solution.There are a number of sites that have done COH2 CPU benchmarks that you may find useful if you want to know what to upgrade to. These were likely done before the current performance issues were noticed, but would still be relevant in terms of comparative performance. Source: Hardware.fr (Thanks to Mithiriath)There are only two in-game options that may slightly reduce CPU usage:Some people claim that disabling replay recording improves their CPU performance. I tried it myself a while back and found no difference in CPU usage. That said, I was not having troubles, so there is no reason for you to not try it yourself if you are struggling:If you are experience random moments of lag in your games, you might want to try increasing the game's priority setting for CPU usage. This will help stop other programs using CPU time that your game needs to run smoothly. It will not get any more performance out of your CPU though, just better consistency. This also will not help any Internet-related lag.You should also check that your Windows power settings are set to maximise performance. This is particularly important if you are using a laptop.In Control Panel, go to Power Options. The simplest thing to do is select High performance from the three options (usually hidden under additional plans). If you want to get technical though, you can click on Change plan settings and then Change advanced power settings for any of the options to customise them. The most relevant setting will be under Processor power management. You want to ensure that your Maximum processor state is set to 100%. If you do not mind the power consumption, you can lift your Minimum processor state up as well.As a final option, you can try overclocking your CPU. This is advanced stuff though, and can potentially damage your CPU. I recommend some thorough research on Google for your hardware first.