High Utilization CPU

[Malnutrition]

AntiVirus can slow things down, you can reinstall later. Use [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)]Geek Uninstaller to remove.
Like wise remove the VPN, then [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)]reset your network settings.
Free Up Space on C: drive.
[EMBED content=“resource-231”]https://pchelpforum.net/r/how-to-free-up-space-on-my-solid-state-drive-hard-drive.231/[/EMBED]
After you move some of the stuff from the C: ===> D then detach it from the machine as a test.
Update your[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)] Bios Click Here
All of these things that @Bruce is asking you to do are simple trouble shooting steps, which you can reverse easily.
Follow thru with the steps, and if you see improvement add one back at a time to find the culprit.

Remove unused App with [COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]App Buster.[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]

[Bruce]

The underlying theory of my suggestions was to try and remove things a) not really needed, and b) may be a resource hog.
Your AV for example, removing it is fine. Once removed, Windows will detect that and auto-enable the inbuilt, and excellent, Windows Defender.
Defender has scored as good as any other AV software in independent lab tests for many years now - there hasn’t been a need to use 3rd party software for ages, but it is an old habit to break I know!

Same theory with your VPN, it may not be tasking up much or any, but we won;t know for sure until we remove it from the mix.

Show us a screenshot of Task Manager, go to the Details page, click on the CPU column header to sort descending, that’ll put the worse offenders up top.
Screen shot that, if System Idle Process is hovering around 98% for the next 30secs or so, you are good to go. (y)

[Bruce]

As to the mixed memory - usually not recommended. For starters, it’ll find the slowest module and set all the others to that speed. So while you will end up with more memory, you could actually end up with slower memory.
Pick one pair that are the same, and remove those.
Put the remaining equal pair in slots A2 and B2 to get the dual channel benefit.
If no improvement, add the removed pair back.

[erduferdig]

Since updating the BIOS and measuring with Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and MSI I think that the other measuring software’s might have just been incorrect to be honest. MSI does show 100 % CPU Usage on startup of Cyberpunk, and during some loadscreens. Thats also noticeable as it’s not an instant load of course. I don’t think thats anything out of the ordinary?

Both these screenshots are taken with Cyberpunk running in the background. And the Intel utility Screenshot with an hours gameplay (it doesn’t seem accurate though as its only giving an average of 4% with a maximum of 100%, but maybe the cpu is that good I don’t know).
[ATTACH type=“full” size=“1730x947”]14054[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=“full” size=“2335x207”]14053[/ATTACH]Could it be that the other measurement tools were just faulty? The reason that I was even checking the CPUs performance was because it ran hot before and I wanted to see if the new cooler worked. So there was no performance issues or anything.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but have I been making a hen out of a feather maybe?

[erduferdig]

So apparently that was because I was in a calm area, this is the actual performance stats

[ATTACH type=“full” size=“1747x971”]14055[/ATTACH]
It’s a bit weird in the performance manager though, it says 100% but only around 80% on the user

[ATTACH type=“full” size=“456x102”]14056[/ATTACH]

[erduferdig]

The underlying theory of my suggestions was to try and remove things a) not really needed, and b) may be a resource hog.
Your AV for example, removing it is fine. Once removed, Windows will detect that and auto-enable the inbuilt, and excellent, Windows Defender.
Defender has scored as good as any other AV software in independent lab tests for many years now - there hasn’t been a need to use 3rd party software for ages, but it is an old habit to break I know!

Same theory with your VPN, it may not be tasking up much or any, but we won;t know for sure until we remove it from the mix.

Show us a screenshot of Task Manager, go to the Details page, click on the CPU column header to sort descending, that’ll put the worse offenders up top.
Screen shot that, if System Idle Process is hovering around 98% for the next 30secs or so, you are good to go. (y)

---

I’ve cleared up some space now in C. I don’t think I want to deactive the AV as it’s a quite premium version, and I’ve had it before adding these new parts and everything worked fine then. I can disconnect the VPN to see if there’s any difference, but I’ve also used that before upgrading and it worked well then.

My Task Manager looks like this when Idle (chrome running),
[ATTACH type=“full” alt=“1722521727316.png”]14057[/ATTACH]And like this when running Chrome Cyberpunk (which is the only game where I’m having this CPU performance issue)
[ATTACH type=“full” alt=“1722521846663.png”]14058[/ATTACH]

As to the mixed memory - usually not recommended. For starters, it’ll find the slowest module and set all the others to that speed. So while you will end up with more memory, you could actually end up with slower memory.
Pick one pair that are the same, and remove those.
Put the remaining equal pair in slots A2 and B2 to get the dual channel benefit.
If no improvement, add the removed pair back.

Yeah I know but I had 2 from before so I bought another pair and tried to keep them somewhat similar. I don’t know too much about computers (which is why I’m asking for help), but does altering ram really affect CPU usage?

*Edit, just realized that I didnt include all of the tabs, but the one to the right of the user name is the cpu, and the on to the right of that is memory

[Bruce]

Completely up to you if you don’t won’t to do the suggestions, it is after all your PC.
It just hampers our options going forward.

In this case, I don’t think it matters.
Those screenshots look fine.
I think that initial ‘you have issues’ software is reporting demons that aren’t there.
If it were mine, ignore and move on.

[PeterOz]

Cyberpunk (which is the only game where I’m having this CPU performance issue)

This will always be an issue for you. You only have an i5.
[ul]
[li]Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system[/li][li]OS: 64-bit Windows 10[/li][li]Processor: Core i7-12700 or Ryzen 7 7800X3D[/li][li]Memory: 16 GB RAM[/li][li]Graphics: GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER or Radeon RX 5700 XT or Arc A770[/li][li]DirectX: Version 12[/li][li]Storage: 70 GB available space[/li][li]Additional Notes: SSD required.[/li][/ul]

[Malnutrition]

Can you go thru this guide step by step and let us know if there is an improvement.
[EMBED content=“resource-245”]https://pchelpforum.net/r/how-to-optimize-your-windows-10-11-computer-for-gaming.245/[/EMBED]

[erduferdig]

Completely up to you if you don’t won’t to do the suggestions, it is after all your PC.
It just hampers our options going forward.

In this case, I don’t think it matters.
Those screenshots look fine.
I think that initial ‘you have issues’ software is reporting demons that aren’t there.
If it were mine, ignore and move on.

Sounds good to me Thanks for the help!!

This will always be an issue for you. You only have an i5.
[ul]
[li]Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system[/li][li]OS: 64-bit Windows 10[/li][li]Processor: Core i7-12700 or Ryzen 7 7800X3D[/li][li]Memory: 16 GB RAM[/li][li]Graphics: GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER or Radeon RX 5700 XT or Arc A770[/li][li]DirectX: Version 12[/li][li]Storage: 70 GB available space[/li][li]Additional Notes: SSD required.[/li][/ul]

That makes a lot of sense. I haven’t really noticed any lagging though, but is it harmful to the CPU to operate at 100% for longer gaming sessions (some hours+)?

Can you go thru this guide step by step and let us know if there is an improvement.
[EMBED content=“resource-245”]https://pchelpforum.net/r/how-to-optimize-your-windows-10-11-computer-for-gaming.245/[/EMBED]

Will do and and will let you know if I notice a difference, but I think that the high utilization just stems from the game being to demanding.

First of all, thanks a lot for the help so far!

So 2 questions left for me:

1. Is it harmful to keep the CPU operating at 100% capacity for longer periods even if the temp is decent?
2. The booting issue. Every time I start the computer the monitor and keyboard wont register it. When I then turn it off (which it does very fast, as if its been in standby), unplug the display cord, replug it, and then boot again it works.

Any ideas why this might be? It’s not a huge issue for me to just unplug and replug but I’m worried that something else might be wrong.
This is the first time I’ve set up a PSU, and I’m wondering if everything has been done correctly. Very strange…

Especially since I have no issues with the monitor after replugging and rebooting.

Any ideas what this might be?

[Malnutrition]

Also check and see how the pc games under a clean boot.

[Bruce]

@erduferdig - you logged in today but didn’t update - any news?

[erduferdig]

@erduferdig - you logged in today but didn’t update - any news?

Not really, same as before. I’ll keep on going with it as it is since the CPU was supposed to be tasked to capacity when playing Cyberpunk (at least as I understood it)

But my questions still remain;

"1) Is it harmful to keep the CPU operating at 100% capacity for longer periods even if the temp is decent?

1. The booting issue. Every time I start the computer the monitor and keyboard wont register it. When I then turn it off (which it does very fast, as if its been in standby), unplug the display cord, replug it, and then boot again it works.

Any ideas why this might be? It’s not a huge issue for me to just unplug and replug but I’m worried that something else might be wrong.
This is the first time I’ve set up a PSU, and I’m wondering if everything has been done correctly. Very strange…

Especially since I have no issues with the monitor after replugging and rebooting.

Any ideas what this might be?"

Thanks!

[Bruce]

Running CPU’s at 100%, while not harmful, is on the proviso that it is getting adequate cooling to keep the temperature within normal operating range.

As we have seen, the CPU doesn’t seem to be continually at 100%.

As to the booting issue, have you tried a Clean Boot as suggested in post #26, or tried a Safe Mode reboot.
Resource here; https://pchelpforum.net/r/clean-boot...safe-mode.227/

You could also try creating another user account and logging in under that to see if the issue persists.

[erduferdig]

That works for me as the temperature seems to be in okay values.

Hmm, the issue with the monitor only happens if the computer has been turned off for a while. I’ll try to see if I can set the computer to always boot in safe/clean mode and then try it after it’s been turned off for a while. Restarts work perfectly for some reason, so it would have to be a “fresh boot”, i.e not initiated from the bios after booting normally (like I think its often done?)

Will update if/when I’ve found out how to do that and tested it.

Thanks a lot for all the help!