Cubase 7 and Cubase Artist 7 now available!

As regards to CPU resource usage, yes there is an increase as documented in the release notes.

In relation to project compatibility, in general projects created in the previous version should convert fine but if there are issues going forward it may be best to re-create the project from scratch; saving presets, audio/midi files etc., otherwise deleting of preferences can help establish if there is any problem with installation of the application, i.e. from an update or patch.