The Last of Us Part 1 PC players say it's still crushing their CPUs even after a 14GB performance patch

The Last of Us Part 1 on PC has released yet another performance patch, but players largely report that the big issue affecting CPU usage persists.

The latest Last of Us Part 1 patch for the PC port reportedly weighs in at around 14 GB provided you're caught up on the earlier updates. According to the official patch notes, it targets "performance, user experience, visuals, and more," and includes "platform and hardware-specific fixes."

Article continues below

From the beginning, one of the most prominent complaints heard from The Last of Us Part 1 players on PC has been the weirdly high CPU and memory demands, with frequent reports of up to 100% usage and unreasonably long shader compiling times on high-end hardware. And while today's patch sounds encouraging for those dealing with visual issues and crashes, early reports suggest there's still a ways to go before the performance problems are fully resolved.

Seems to be better in term of performance, but there's still a major issue with VRAM and CPU & GPU usage. Progress but needs a lot more patchesApril 7, 2023

When building shaders CPU still at 98%April 7, 2023

I’m using an ASUS ROG STRIX 4080, 64GB OF DDR5 ram, and an i9 13900k cpu. only getting 60fps, yet at 99% GPU usageApril 7, 2023

Comment from r/pcgaming

Naughty Dog has been releasing hotfixes and patches for The Last of Us Part 1 at a steady clip since launch, and this certainly won't be the final one. Thankfully, with each patch there seems to be some improvement, but with game-breaking bugs still compromising the PC experience, players are no doubt eager for more effective updates.

In the meantime, here are some great games like The Last of Us to play.

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.