Phenom II x6 1075T, GTX 970, 16Go DDR3.
However multiple tests have allowed me to identify that it’s not a problem with underpowered hardware, but with shaders compilation. At least on my hardware.
I don’t have an explanation for the problem I’ve identified, but I’ll present what I’ve understood and the temporary workaround I’ve implemented, which allows me to play the game under acceptable conditions—less ideal than before, but sufficient for now.
The CPU resource usage being stuck at 95%, very low fps and slideshow effect, and the excessive RAM consumption are due to the fact that Overwatch spends all its time compiling shaders, and these shaders compiled during one match are recompiled for the next, without taking into account that they were already compiled in the previous match, and as soon as a new graphical element appears during a match, a shader compilation immediately follows. In summary, Overwatch is stuck in an infinite cycle of shader recompilation.
The solution I found after several various tests is as follows, and it must be applied strictly every time I restart an Overwatch session:
In the Nvidia Control Center, the setting corresponding to the compiled shader cache must be set to unlimited. Otherwise, Overwatch will spend its time recompiling shaders that have already been compiled, ignoring the fact that it has already compiled them. This is why it spends its time recompiling them in a loop, saturating the CPU.
In the directory containing the files corresponding to the compiled shaders, delete all these files.
On launch, Overwatch will recompile all the shaders. To allow it to perform this task, I launch the Training Center for at least 5 minutes so that Overwatch compiles some shaders.
Then I launch at least one match against the AI, where Overwatch will compile other shaders.
I know for sure that it is recompiling the shaders, because I have the file explorer open in the nVidia directory corresponding to the compiled shader files, and I can observe in real time the creation and then the increase in size of the file created by Overwatch.
Once all this was done, I could finally play Overwatch under minimally acceptable conditions. The FPS is still lower than before Tuesday’s update, and the CPU load is still higher, but it’s playable. Overwatch no longer reaches the catastrophic levels I get if I don’t perform all these workarounds.
Once my gaming session is over and I’ve quit the game, it persists in the Process Explorer. So, I created a batch file that kills all processes related to the Overwatch game and the Battle.net application.
If I want to play Overwatch again later, I absolutely must perform all the steps described above, otherwise I’ll fall back into catastrophic conditions.
I hope this description will help the developers.
In any case, I do not claim to have identified the general problem, just the one that occurs on my equipment.