Question CPU clock speed issue

[alexcameron26]

my laptop has a i7-4720HQ, and recently it will not down clock at idle it stay running at 2.6GHz or higher even when no programs are running beyond the basic processes, i cant find anything in the task manager that could be pushing the CPU to stay in the higher clock speed state.

its doing this even when the cpu is at less then 1% usage, it makes no sense and it has me worried there are hidden processes messing with my system that i cant see.

any help would be appreciated

 

[uWebb429]

Try running ThrottleStop and see what it reports for average C0% when your computer is idle at the desktop. With a four core CPU like you have, average C0% should be around 0.5% or less. This is the most accurate way to determine if anything suspicious is running in the background.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

You can also use ThrottleStop to switch between different power plans. High Performance is designed to keep the CPU at maximum speed even when lightly loaded. Most laptop owners prefer the Balanced power plan. There is also a Windows Power Saver power plan available that can reduce the CPU speed further when lightly loaded.

You might not see a huge difference in CPU temperatures when lightly loaded. No matter what speed the CPU is running at, most Intel CPUs spend almost all of their idle time in the low power C7 state. The speed that the active cores are running at is really not that important when mostly idle. Cores in C7 are sitting dormant at 0 MHz and 0 Volts. Hard to improve upon that.

A 4720HQ should have the individual cores averaging close to 99% of their idle time in C7. Use ThrottleStop to see how idle your cores really are. Here is an example of my 4700MQ laptop.

 

[alexcameron26]

Try running ThrottleStop and see what it reports for average C0% when your computer is idle at the desktop. With a four core CPU like you have, average C0% should be around 0.5% or less. This is the most accurate way to determine if anything suspicious is running in the background.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

You can also use ThrottleStop to switch between different power plans. High Performance is designed to keep the CPU at maximum speed even when lightly loaded. Most laptop owners prefer the Balanced power plan. There is also a Windows Power Saver power plan available that can reduce the CPU speed further when lightly loaded.

You might not see a huge difference in CPU temperatures when lightly loaded. No matter what speed the CPU is running at, most Intel CPUs spend almost all of their idle time in the low power C7 state. The speed that the active cores are running at is really not that important when mostly idle. Cores in C7 are sitting dormant at 0 MHz and 0 Volts. Hard to improve upon that.

A 4720HQ should have the individual cores averaging close to 99% of their idle time in C7. Use ThrottleStop to see how idle your cores really are. Here is an example of my 4700MQ laptop.

here is a screenshot of my cpu i think something is keeping it running at full speed
i have it in the balanced power plan this whole time

 

[geofelt]

Set the windows power profile to balanced.
And, if you want, under advanced settings, set the minimum cpu to 20%

 

[alexcameron26]

Set the windows power profile to balanced.
And, if you want, under advanced settings, set the minimum cpu to 20%

It's been in balanced the whole time and I'll try the other thing see what happens

 

[alexcameron26]

Set the windows power profile to balanced.
And, if you want, under advanced settings, set the minimum cpu to 20%

i tried your minimum processor state thing and it did nothing but make my cpu run hotter did not bring down clock speed at all

 

[uWebb429]

i think something is keeping it running at full speed

It is not running at full speed but you do have more stuff running in the background compared to my laptop that has a similar 4700MQ. Open the Task Manager, go to the Details tab and find out what is running on your computer.

If a CPU has a task to perform, the last thing you want is for the CPU to be stuck at 800 MHz. This is an inefficient speed to run any Intel Core i CPU that has been released in the last 15 years. Everyone used to think that a slow CPU was a good idea. Intel and Microsoft finally learned this is not the case. Windows 10 and 11 try not to force the CPU to run at their minimum speed.

Newer Intel CPUs use Speed Shift Technology. The purpose of this is to get the CPU up to maximum speed as fast as possible when a task needs to be completed. A fast CPU is an efficient CPU. Getting tasks done quickly allows the cores to spend a bigger percentage of time in one of the low power C states. Your screenshot shows an average of 91.7%. That is OK but there is room for improvement to get up to 99% in C7 like my screenshot shows. It only takes one bad driver or one poorly written program to make the difference between 91% and 99% in C7.

I am OCD about watching C0% when my computer is idle at the desktop. Anytime this shows me that something is running in the background, keeping my CPU active, I hunt down what is causing this and I immediately fix the problem. Most people randomly install and delete software without paying any attention to what that program is doing to their computer in the background. Even after you uninstall a program, it might leave other remnants running in the background on your computer. Windows can be very efficient when it is properly setup and closely monitored.

Here is my comparison of a fast 10 core CPU vs a slow 10 core CPU. The CPU is running at 28°C in both situations. Slowing the CPU down is not that important anymore. Watching C0% and finding out what background tasks are running is the best way to reduce power but even that might not make a huge difference.

minimum processor state

The default Minimum processor state when using the Windows Balanced power plan is 5%. You can check that setting but there is no need to change it to something other than 5%.

 

[geofelt]

The bios settings must allow the cpu to reduce the clocks when there is little to do.
Then, the windows setting can take effect.
Motherboards will have different names for this setting. Speedstep would be one.

 

[alexcameron26]

The bios settings must allow the cpu to reduce the clocks when there is little to do.
Then, the windows setting can take effect.
Motherboards will have different names for this setting. Speedstep would be one.

doesnt work on laptops theres no speedstep settings

 

[uWebb429]

doesnt work on laptops theres no speedstep settings

SpeedStep is enabled automatically on most laptops. You can use ThrottleStop to toggle SpeedStep on or off if the BIOS does not include an option to do this. All Intel CPUs released during the last 20 years include SpeedStep. Newer CPUs have switched to Speed Shift Technology but SpeedStep is still there.