High Utilization CPU

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erduferdig

PCHF Member
Jul 30, 2024
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Hi,

I wanted to upgrade my PC recently and started off by buying a new CPU, which meant that I had to buy a new motherboard, and while I was at it I then decided to buy a new GPU, which led me to realize that I needed a new PSU. After installing everything I noticed that the CPU ran extremely warm, so I then bought a new cooler.

Spending money is fun! :|

After some DYI PSU wiring everything seems to work fine except for 2 issues.

  1. The computer sometimes wont boot properly. It lights up and a brief signal is sent to the monitor, which then claims that there is no connection. This is fixed by unplugging the cord, turning the computer off, and then replugging the cord until it works. Very strange... I've just ordered a completely new display port cable ( https://stouchi.net/products/displayport-cable-1-4?variant=39804540846144 ) which hopefully fixes it.
If anyone has any ideas what the reason could be otherwise I'm all ears.

2) When playing Cyberpunk I noticed that the CPU ran really hot, so I started checking the temperature with HWMonitor. Apparently it was getting degrees of 100, so I stopped playing and ordered a cooler.

After installing the cooler it now runs at a max of 64C (whilst playing cyberpunk on almost highest settings). So it is working.

However, my question now is that both HWMonitor and HWiNFO (which I downloaded because some people had issues with HWMonitor) is telling me that my Utilization is maxed at 160%+

I have no idea what this means, and if I should be worried, or lower the graphic settings?
I've not noticed any lagging and I'm confused how something can be utilized over 100%

I would be grateful for any insights here! I wouldn't have noticed this if I weren't checking for temperature.

See pics attached. **Edit, so apparently images are not allowed, I don't really know how to share the info if I cant just post a screenshot of it (any ideas anyone)?

Specs: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wCbYvj

Ps. There was also a case fan installed with the tower, but I couldnt find which one it is. But temperature doesn't seem to be an issue anyway.

Thanks a lot!
 

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Hey!

Yeah I've done that (and did it again after seeing your reply just to verify). Still the same
 
I know you have listed the part you were getting, but let's see if the following programs show expected versus actual.
No personal data is published and everything shown is safe.

1) Download Speccy by Piriform.
In Speccy, click File > Publish Snapshot > Copy to Clipboard > Close.
Paste that link into your post. Is Speccy safe?

2) Download GetSystemInfo by Kaspersky.
In GSI, click Start. (takes about 10mins)
It makes a ZIP file on your desktop, drag that to their GSI Parser site.
Once analysed, paste the newly created URL into your post.

3) Download MiniToolBox by Farbar.
In MTB, tick List Installed Programs, click Go then close the program.
A file MTB.txt is created in the same folder, attach that to your post.
 
Hi,

Should I do these three steps on a regular start or after I've gotten the high utilization % from playing Cyberpunk?

Thanks!
 
The Kaspersky GetSystemInfo is telling me that it "Cannot create report file. Path is incorrect" And if I try to move it to a different location I either don't have the rights for it (outside of my user), or I get the same error message. I couldnt find anything online for how to fix that. I have admin rights and only 1 user on my computer.

Could I maybe use an alternative software or an earlier version or something?
 
You should definitely post the Speccy and Minitoolbox logs so we can have a look.

Perhaps this.

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The utilisation percentages may be old software not recognising latest hardware.
I've seen it before, software like performance checkers that were written years ago have no idea on the latest capabilities of processors or storage speeds for example, so no longer are able to compare apples with apples.

From the Speccy report;
  • remove WithSecure Elements AV software, can always add it back later if things don't improve
  • re-config the network to stop using the VPN tunnel
  • C:\ drive, while not critical, is down to 12% free. Get WizTree (or similar) to see where the space has gone
  • D:\ drive has some SMART errors, disconnect it for testing purposes and see if things improve
  • looks like there has been 2 BIOS updates since the one you have installed, dealing with CPU performance
  • you have mixed memory, slots 1 & 4 are the same, and slots 2 & 3 are the same. Remove one pair and put the remaining pair in A2, B2
 
Bruce said:
The utilisation percentages may be old software not recognising latest hardware.
I've seen it before, software like performance checkers that were written years ago have no idea on the latest capabilities of processors or storage speeds for example, so no longer are able to compare apples with apples.

From the Speccy report;
  • remove WithSecure Elements AV software, can always add it back later if things don't improve
  • re-config the network to stop using the VPN tunnel
  • C:\ drive, while not critical, is down to 12% free. Get WizTree (or similar) to see where the space has gone
  • D:\ drive has some SMART errors, disconnect it for testing purposes and see if things improve
  • looks like there has been 2 BIOS updates since the one you have installed, dealing with CPU performance
  • you have mixed memory, slots 1 & 4 are the same, and slots 2 & 3 are the same. Remove one pair and put the remaining pair in A2, B2
Click to expand...
That could be it, I mean I'm not really noticing anything, and never would have found out about the high utilization if not because of the high temperatures from before, that I then wanted to follow up on after installing the new cooler.

Removing my AV software sounds like something I shouldn't do at all, right?
Same with the VPN, aren't those 2 quite good to have? Maybe you mean something other than removing with re-config?
I could always uninstall and I've got a decent control of the space I think. Do you think clearing up space on the hard drive would help with a high CPU utilization?
I barely use D as its an HDD hard drive, would disconnecting it really improve CPU utilization?
That sounds very interesting, I'll take a look for those updates, although I thought I had the latest
I know about the mixed memory, but I don't understand what you mean, should I move them so that they're in different slots on the motherboard?

Thanks!
 
AntiVirus can slow things down, you can reinstall later. Use Geek Uninstaller to remove.
Like wise remove the VPN, then reset your network settings.
Free Up Space on C: drive.
How To Free Up Space On My Solid State Drive / Hard Drive. M

How To Free Up Space On My Solid State Drive / Hard Drive.

How to remove crap from your computer.
After you move some of the stuff from the C: ===> D then detach it from the machine as a test.
Update your 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 App Buster.
 
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)
 
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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.
 
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).
1722518741454.png
1722518725074.png
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?
 
So apparently that was because I was in a calm area, this is the actual performance stats

1722520364872.png

It's a bit weird in the performance manager though, it says 100% but only around 80% on the user


1722520401901.png
 
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