CPU is at full clock speed, but low utilization

[lakimens]

Hello,

My newly purchased laptop with WIndows 10 Home is acting weird.
The CPU is always at max frequency, but low utilization:

Spoiler

What I've tried:

• 
  Updating BIOS
  Updating Chipset
  Closing background apps(even though no CPU usage was showing)
  Tried disabling NextCloud

I don't have Hyper-V or another virtual machine software installed, my Windows is up to date and my anti-virus isn't scanning in the background.

I don't even know how it's possible to run at the max frequency without being at high utilization percentage.

It doesn't pose a problem as much as it annoys me, the fans are constantly at max speed and I can really hear them, even with music playing.

I haven't noticed this while on battery, I'll see about this tomorrow.

This is on high performance mode, while plugged in, with the CPU set to 25W TDP and a base clock of 2.00Ghz.

Thank you!

 

[panathas]

This may seem weird but it's likely normal CPU behaviour given the circumstances. When the windows power plan setting is set to high performance mode the CPU is always staying at its maximum available frequency based on its telemetry data (TDP, temp, power draw, voltage and utilisation). So if the CPU is sitting at idle it will keep its maximum boost frequency for a lot of time and at that setting it doesn't actually consume a lot of power since the CPU isn't doing anything.

Now if you try to put some load on the CPU, through some software, it will increase the CPU utilisation, the voltage and the temp and the power draw. Once the CPU power draw (and the temp/voltage) passes a certain predefined threshold the CPU frequency will drop. Also most laptops increase their CPU/GPU TDP and clocks when plugged into the wall. Therefore you'll always see higher clocks in this config. This is confirmed by the battery mode with the lower frequencies and the more "normal" CPU behaviour. So if you want to lower the CPU frequencies and also lower the overall cooling system noise output you have to select a less aggressive setting in the windows power plan control panel. Good luck.

 

[lakimens]

This may seem weird but it's likely normal CPU behaviour given the circumstances. When the windows power plan setting is set to high performance mode the CPU is always staying at its maximum available frequency based on its telemetry data (TDP, temp, power draw, voltage and utilisation). So if the CPU is sitting at idle it will keep its maximum boost frequency for a lot of time and at that setting it doesn't actually consume a lot of power since the CPU isn't doing anything.

Now if you try to put some load on the CPU, through some software, it will increase the CPU utilisation, the voltage and the temp and the power draw. Once the CPU power draw (and the temp/voltage) passes a certain predefined threshold the CPU frequency will drop. Also most laptops increase their CPU/GPU TDP and clocks when plugged into the wall. Therefore you'll always see higher clocks in this config. This is confirmed by the battery mode with the lower frequencies and the more "normal" CPU behaviour. So if you want to lower the CPU frequencies and also lower the overall cooling system noise output you have to select a less aggressive setting in the windows power plan control panel. Good luck.

Yes, as I mentioned it's currently set to 25W TDP @ 2.0Ghz base clock. If the base clock is 2Ghz, why is Windows not keeping it at least at that speed? It's going full turbo and ramping up the temps and fans for no reason, at idle.
Then sometimes when I'm doing some light work, word-processing or publishing to wordpress, the fans lower their speed, while the CPU is still at almost max frequency.

The thing is, I want to keep the CPU at 25W TDP for those moments that I need it to ramp up to the max for a split second maybe to do the work, but I don't want it to be at that speed at all times. Honestly, I'm amazed at it's cooling capabilities at this point.

 

[panathas]

why is Windows not keeping it at least at that speed?

Because you have the laptop plugged into the wall and the high performance power plan enabled, which gives clock control back to the CPU. There should also be 2 other factors which we should take into account here. The laptop cooling system's headroom and some predefined (by the laptop manufacturer) BIOS power/clock settings, that probably you don't have complete control over. So the TDP and clocks you are trying to set manually probably get overridden by the above manufacturer settings, or at least, it seems that this is what is happening. As I see it the only way is to set the windows power plan to a more conservative setting, or (perhaps) try to manually configure a lower setting to your liking, as you tried to do with the high performance option. You never know, it may work. Each laptop is always a special case and each manufacturer configures it differently and most of the time those settings are hidden. Good luck.

EDIT: One last thing, you should look into, is if there is some tuning software by the laptop manufacturer always running in the background and overriding any setting you may make in the windows power plan control panel.

 

[huntlong]

Have you tried just going into power plan options and changing the min processor state from 100% to 10%?

 

[lakimens]

why is Windows not keeping it at least at that speed?

Because you have the laptop plugged into the wall and the high performance power plan enabled, which gives clock control back to the CPU. There should also be 2 other factors which we should take into account here. The laptop cooling system's headroom and some predefined (by the laptop manufacturer) BIOS power/clock settings, that probably you don't have complete control over. So the TDP and clocks you are trying to set manually probably get overridden by the above manufacturer settings, or at least, it seems that this is what is happening. As I see it the only way is to set the windows power plan to a more conservative setting, or (perhaps) try to manually configure a lower setting to your liking, as you tried to do with the high performance option. You never know, it may work. Each laptop is always a special case and each manufacturer configures it differently and most of the time those settings are hidden. Good luck.

EDIT: One last thing, you should look into, is if there is some tuning software by the laptop manufacturer always running in the background and overriding any setting you may make in the windows power plan control panel.

The temps are that high, because that is the laptop's temp limit, around 64C is the max before this laptop begins to throttle, I like this, it keeps the laptop cool.

I can turn down the TDP in the power plan, but if I turn it down to 10W TDP, it will greatly reduce the CPU's max performance and sometimes I need those momentary bursts to 4Ghz. I guess it's a windows thing, there's not much settings in the BIOS, it's very limited.

Guess it's just a windows thing.

When the load increases, the clocks decrease a surprising amount, guess it can't utilize those clocks even if they are high when it's at idle.

I didn't find any software running that is overriding the power plan, besides,why would HP want to drain my battery?

Have you tried just going into power plan options and changing the min processor state from 100% to 10%?

Minimum is set to 5%.

--------------------------------------------

Seems like an unsolvable problem, or at least a windows issue.

 

[panathas]

besides,why would HP want to drain my battery?

It won't drain your battery, if it's only happening when you plug the laptop into the wall. Does it also happen in battery mode?

From what I can tell, the high performance mode doesn't give you any benefit at the moment, since the clocks are dropping rapidly when the CPU load is increasing. So you won't be able to take advantage of these high clocks anyway. Set a less aggressive power setting and customise it. I don't think there is any other alternative at this point or perhaps try to find software that allows you to more precisely control the CPU behaviour and is able to override the windows power plan settings but I don't know if your laptop will allow this kind of customisation. Good luck.

 

[lakimens]

besides,why would HP want to drain my battery?

It won't drain your battery, if it's only happening when you plug the laptop into the wall. Does it also happen in battery mode?

From what I can tell, the high performance mode doesn't give you any benefit at the moment, since the clocks are dropping rapidly when the CPU load is increasing. So you won't be able to take advantage of these high clocks anyway. Set a less aggressive power setting and customise it. I don't think there is any other alternative at this point or perhaps try to find software that allows you to more precisely control the CPU behaviour and is able to override the windows power plan settings but I don't know if your laptop will allow this kind of customisation. Good luck.

The power plan allows for 10W / 15W / 25W TDP, but I've downloaded Intel XTU, will see how it goes.