Question Cpu clock jumping at idle

[Simivok]

Hello,

Why could it be that the pc running idle, and according to the task manager, the cpu is at idle clock, but MSI Afterburner shows that the cpu clock is constantly jumping? What I just photographed is my friend's machine, but mine also does the same. Can anyone confirm that this is normal? Optionally with a screenshot as below? Thank you in advance.

 

[Eximo]

Very normal. Idle doesn't mean the computer is doing nothing. Any process that wants to use some CPU time will trigger the CPU to boost to high clock speeds to get the task done as quickly as possible.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Hello,

Why could it be that the pc running idle, and according to the task manager, the cpu is at idle clock, but MSI Afterburner shows that the cpu clock is constantly jumping? What I just photographed is my friend's machine, but mine also does the same. Can anyone confirm that this is normal? Optionally with a screenshot as below? Thank you in advance.

You computer is never really idling as there are always background processes that are running. These processes don't require much CPU power so you see it using 1% CPU in task manager. However, what does happen is the CPU will "spike" the frequency for a second or two to complete the task very quickly. Overall this is normal behavior on systems. Heck even moving the mouse will cause your CPU to spike despite that being a normal operation that you would think is done at idle.

 

[Simivok]

Thank you for the replies. So in conclusion we can say that it is normal behavior. Last question is, why Afterburner displays it different than task manager and even cpu-z tells similar values as the task manager.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Thank you for the replies. So in conclusion we can say that it is normal behavior. Last question is, why Afterburner displays it different than task manager and even cpu-z tells similar values as the task manager.

Afterburner is just a different tool so they are going to display it in their own way.

 

[Eximo]

Polling rates are also likely different. One or the other may catch very brief CPU frequency increases. They may also be average/integrating over time to produce a more readable curve in task manager.