TIPS to lower CPU USAGE and STUTTERING

Need for Speed™ Heat★ 5 · 479 ratings28k views730 favorites1 min readby ララサタリンUpdated 15 JanView on Steam ↗

STUTTERING/SLOW TEXTURE LOADING

The only way i found on how to fix this is to INSTALL THE GAME ON SSD
I mean its 2026, why would someone install AAA game on HDD?

*Yes it's NOT needed, but for this specific game, SSD does HELP a LOT.

USE CUSTOM USER.CFG

go to your NFS HEAT installation folder (default is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Need for Speed Heat)
create a new cfg file using notepad
add this:
Thread.ProcessorCount 4
Thread.MaxProcessorCount 4
Thread.MinFreeProcessorCount 0
Thread.JobThreadPriority 0
GstRender.Thread.MaxProcessorCount 4
first line is number of your cores
second line is number of your cores
third line must be set to 0
fourth line must be set to 0
fifth line is number of your threads

So, for example im using an i7 7700HQ (4c/8t), the number from top to bottom would go like 4,4,0,0,8
Save it as user.cfg
Done

If you're lazy, try using this CMD
https://github.com/Octanium91/NFS_Heat_CPU_Load_FIX

LOWERING CPU USAGE

1. Use BORDERLESS mode

While ingame, go to graphic settings and choose BORDERLESS
*I dont know why but borderless made my cpu runnning on 50% usage (on fullscreen it was around 90%)

2. Disable STEAM OVERLAY

Go to steam library
Right-click on Need For Speed Heat
In general tab, uncheck "enable steam overlay while in-game"
Using steam overlay made my cpu run around 70% usage and 50% without overlay

3. Messing up with .exe properties

Go to your Need For Speed Heat installation folder
(Default is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Need for Speed Heat)
Right-click on NeedForSpeedHeat.exe
Click on properties
Click on compability tab
Click on check settings for all users
From there, use windows 7 compability
Check the disable fullscreen optimisation
Click on change high dpi setting
Check the override high dpi scaling behavior and set it to application
Done
You can also choose between using windows 7 compability mode or not