CPU Clock Speed Underperforming

[BIAATiser]

lately i've been checking out my performance on video games like fortnite and csgo because i have just installed my new GPU, but i really came accross a big problem of my CPU bottlenecking like crazy. i checked my CPU usage and i saw it was on a 100% almost all the time. i have the A-8 7600 CPU from AMD and the base clock speed should be 3.1. When i openned task manager i saw the CPU running on a clock speed of 2.4 and sometimes it falls all the way back to the low cloxk speed of 1.40. this also appears when my pc is not even under load and im just idling. does any1 have a solution to this? thanks.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Install AMD overdrive. Use that to monitor CPU speed and thermal margin. Thermal margin is how far away your CPU is from max safe temp, if it falls to 0 (or very close) your CPU is overheating.

 

[BIAATiser]

my frequency is 1339 MHz and my thermal margin is 56.6 C that is not a problem right? only the MHz is really low...

 

[TJ Hooker]

Is that at idle? Report thermal margin and clock speed under load.

 

[BIAATiser]

right now i have my old 750 ti back installed and my cpu wont go above 80% and the temp now seems about a steady 40 C under pressure which is weird becuase the 56 C bench was when idling, but when i put my 290X back in it really seems like my CPU ussage caps way way faster and i kinda feels like my cpu gets worse when i install my 290X, i really like the way the CPU is running with my 750 ti installed, but when i install my 290X its just transforms into shit or something? do you have any iddea on how to fix that?

 

[TJ Hooker]

If the temperatures of 56 and 40 C you mention are thermal margin, it's expected that the value is lower under load.

It also makes sense that CPU usage would be higher with a better card. With a 750 Ti the CPU is more or less able to keep up. With the much more powerful 290X, the CPU is always the limiting factor and therefore is pinned at 100%.

Using AMD Overdrive to monitor frequency, are you still seeing the frequency drop under load? I don't know if overdrive has a logging function, so that you can just leave it running in the background for a bit while gaming and looks at the results later. If you're just alt-tabbing out of the game to look at clock speed the speed might drop because it will be probably be at low load while the game is minimized. Alternatively, run a stress test like prime95 and keep an eye on frequency.

 

[BIAATiser]

it really doesnt matter if my cpu is under load or not. the only thing i have opened on my pc rright now is chrome to search 4 help 4 my problem, and my frequency is arround 1438 MHz atm. it doesnt matter what i do but my MHz is just not reaching the number is should... also obviously my cpu is bottlenecking when pairing it with the 290X but if i wanna upgrade to something like a ryzen 5 2600x i also need a AM4 motherboard and i just cant afford that right now..

 

[TJ Hooker]

It's expected that it will run at a lower speed under light load like internet browsing. Unless it's throttling and failing to maintain its max frequency under load, it's performing as expected and there's nothing you can do short of upgrading.

 

[BIAATiser]

well thanks either way bro!