Question Cores not being used?

[InfiniteAhmad]

I have a i7-8700k all my bios settings are correct but in windows when I check task manager it says I have 6 cores but in real temp when I’m looking at my cores it says 4 cores are actually being used, My cpu is throttling and I figured I’d wait til my cooler comes in instead of changing my voltages for you think it’s the slight overheating that’s causing me to use 4 cores cause the cpu is protecting itself?

 

[boju]

How are you cooling the cpu? What voltages are you changing?

 

[InfiniteAhmad]

How are you cooling the cpu? What voltages are you changing?

I have a Corsair h60 and it’s clearly not good enough I have 55 Celsius but on the thermal status it says log so that means it’s throttling ?

 

[boju]

Check with HWinfo64 or Coretemp and monitor cpu live frequency and temps.

Did you upgrade to the 8700k? If you did, what was the previous cpu?

 

[InfiniteAhmad]

ok i downloaded it and its showing 5 cores and the mhz are spiking from 3605 to like 4944

 

[boju]

And temps during the spikes? Won't be hitting throttling stages until 90c+.

Did you upgrade cpu? What was the last cpu if you did?

 

[InfiniteAhmad]

no i didn't i got a brand new rig 2 years ago and ive replaced thermal paste several times im currently at 51 Celsius without a game running and when the mhz spike the temps dont change, do you think it could be the voltages in bios? ive never changed them i left them default

 

[boju]

Doesn't sound like throttling even though cooler isn't really ideal. While idling, frequency can bounce around depending on background activity, updates etc. Missing cores is not the result of throttling, something else is a miss here.

So you've had this system for two years and just noticed this now or? When did you notice this behavior?

The reason i asked if you upgraded cpus is in some cases, upgrading to a higher core cpu can cause Windows to limit the amount of cores. If this were the case, can change it in msconfig (type msconfig in the search bar) > boot tab > Adv options > uncheck number of processors box if it was ticked, then restart. Check this anyway.

Might want to load optimised defaults in the bios as well.