CPU Throttling- Never Exceeding 42% or 1.7Ghz

[d_grant03]

Specs:
OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 880K
GPU: MSI R9 390 8GB
RAM: Muskin Redline 16GB (2x8GB)
PSU: Corsair CX850M
MOBO: MSI A88XM

I am currently having issues getting my processor to exceed 42% utilization. It seems something will not allow it to exceed 1.7Ghz while under a full load. I am currently rendering video and no matter how long it goes, it will not exceed the threshold of 42% even though it is clearly slow and slowing down the computer. It will not exceed 1.7Ghz even though the processor is able to reach 4.0Ghz. I need some support on how to fix this issue because there should be no reason my processor cannot exceed 1.70Ghz. On a side note it has nothing to do with thermal throttling at my PC never exceeds 60 degrees celcius. Also, i know my processor can bottleneck my GPU, i bought this made from a buddy that built it to sell.

 

[Stysner]

Have you checked the BIOS settings for your CPU? Might be it's just underclocked. If you're not sure, just reset all BIOS settings and check if that changed anything.

 

[d_grant03]

Have you checked the BIOS settings for your CPU? Might be it's just underclocked. If you're not sure, just reset all BIOS settings and check if that changed anything.

yes i have updated my BIOS and reset the settings. still hasnt solved the issue. base speed is set at 40x100 with turbo at 42x100. also as an update i sent back my processor and received a new one just to confirm it wasnt my processor and its still being throttled. Could something in Windows 10 be underclocking it?

 

[Stysner]

Not really. You could try setting the Energy settings in Windows to Performance instead of Balanced. That would normally run your CPU at full speed (the highest C-state/Speedstep) always.

It's more likely either a BIOS setting, a BIOS defect or a hardware defect (your motherboard). Since you've updated and reset your BIOS, it's likely the motherboards fault, or a REALLY weird Windows error I've never seen.

Does your BIOS show the current CPU speed anywhere? Most BIOS's will do that, some only do it in an "advanced" or "expert" mode you can turn on and off.

So try to find hardware monitoring in the BIOS, see if it lists the actual (not target) CPU speed anywhere. If that says 4GHz, I'm inclined to believe the BIOS over anything else.

---

Something quick you could try is test if the readouts are just wrong. Do a userbenchmark (<- google that word), see how your CPU compares to other 880Ks. If it's anywhere near average the readouts (42% / 1.7GHz) are just wrong. Unlikely, but it's another thing to try and tick off of the list.

Let me know what you got.

 

[d_grant03]

Not really. You could try setting the Energy settings in Windows to Performance instead of Balanced. That would normally run your CPU at full speed (the highest C-state/Speedstep) always.

It's more likely either a BIOS setting, a BIOS defect or a hardware defect (your motherboard). Since you've updated and reset your BIOS, it's likely the motherboards fault, or a REALLY weird Windows error I've never seen.

Does your BIOS show the current CPU speed anywhere? Most BIOS's will do that, some only do it in an "advanced" or "expert" mode you can turn on and off.

So try to find hardware monitoring in the BIOS, see if it lists the actual (not target) CPU speed anywhere. If that says 4GHz, I'm inclined to believe the BIOS over anything else.

---

Something quick you could try is test if the readouts are just wrong. Do a userbenchmark (<- google that word), see how your CPU compares to other 880Ks. If it's anywhere near average the readouts (42% / 1.7GHz) are just wrong. Unlikely, but it's another thing to try and tick off of the list.

Let me know what you got.

This is the result of the UserBenchmark https://postimg.org/image/px6pvrp31/
This is a screenshot of my BIOS https://postimg.org/image/4k57zz361/
Also, i want to point out these are the results of the new processor i just installed yesterday after sending back the original. Also, ran the same test on my original A-10 processor

 

[Stysner]

Huh that's weird. The BIOS says it's running at 4.0GHz, but when it goes to Windows is seems to downclock... Try this, it's not ideal (it's wasteful), but it helps to check if something is keeping your CPU down to preserve power or something similar:

Go to Control Panel > Power Options (search for "power", it should come up with it), and change it (it should be on "Balanced" automatically). Set it to "High Performance" (you might have to click the down arrow which says "Show additional plans".

See what the CPU does. If the power option was on "Power Saver", that is very weird (you'd have to have done it yourself pretty much) and could be your issue. It should be on "Balanced" for normal operation.

---

To be clear, what high performance does is run your CPU at the max frequency (4.0GHz in your case) all the time. Even when it's idling. That's wasting energy for nothing. Balanced should change the clockspeed depending on what's needed, and is the default setting everyone uses.

 

[d_grant03]

Huh that's weird. The BIOS says it's running at 4.0GHz, but when it goes to Windows is seems to downclock... Try this, it's not ideal (it's wasteful), but it helps to check if something is keeping your CPU down to preserve power or something similar:

Go to Control Panel > Power Options (search for "power", it should come up with it), and change it (it should be on "Balanced" automatically). Set it to "High Performance" (you might have to click the down arrow which says "Show additional plans".

See what the CPU does. If the power option was on "Power Saver", that is very weird (you'd have to have done it yourself pretty much) and could be your issue. It should be on "Balanced" for normal operation.

---

To be clear, what high performance does is run your CPU at the max frequency (4.0GHz in your case) all the time. Even when it's idling. That's wasting energy for nothing. Balanced should change the clockspeed depending on what's needed, and is the default setting everyone uses.

Yes its been set to performance since i received it, and have minimum and maximum processor set to 100%. Still wont go above 1.7Ghz. Earlier i was trying to play Rocket League with League of Legends home screen running in the background and the game was lagging because of maxed out cpu. Its really beginning to get frustrating that i cant figure this out. I cant even play Overwatch with 10+FPS. Its single digit or lower

 

[d_grant03]

Huh that's weird. The BIOS says it's running at 4.0GHz, but when it goes to Windows is seems to downclock... Try this, it's not ideal (it's wasteful), but it helps to check if something is keeping your CPU down to preserve power or something similar:

Go to Control Panel > Power Options (search for "power", it should come up with it), and change it (it should be on "Balanced" automatically). Set it to "High Performance" (you might have to click the down arrow which says "Show additional plans".

See what the CPU does. If the power option was on "Power Saver", that is very weird (you'd have to have done it yourself pretty much) and could be your issue. It should be on "Balanced" for normal operation.

---

To be clear, what high performance does is run your CPU at the max frequency (4.0GHz in your case) all the time. Even when it's idling. That's wasting energy for nothing. Balanced should change the clockspeed depending on what's needed, and is the default setting everyone uses.

Also, i just changed my BIOS base and turbo speed to 15x100 just to see if it would downclock the cpu. Its still running 1.7Ghz. Even with BIOS underclocking it, it still will not go more or less than 1.7Ghz. This is a screenshot of it on Task Manager https://postimg.org/image/c8wewouch/

 

[Stysner]

Looked into the 880K specifically. Most CPUs will have a lowest "state" of 800MHz, for your CPU it's 1.7GHz. So it's not just "underclocking" itself, it's actaully permanently on the lowest state.

Since your BIOS reports 4GHz as it should, I still think Windows 10 is holding it back. So go to the power plan again, select "Balanced", then click on "Change plan settings", then "Advanced power settings", and find "Processor power management". Click on the"+", then click on the "+" for "Maximum processor state".

This setting should be at 100%. If it's lower, that is your problem, set it to 100% and reboot. If it's already at 100%, I'm out of solutions, unfortunately...

 

[d_grant03]

Looked into the 880K specifically. Most CPUs will have a lowest "state" of 800MHz, for your CPU it's 1.7GHz. So it's not just "underclocking" itself, it's actaully permanently on the lowest state.

Since your BIOS reports 4GHz as it should, I still think Windows 10 is holding it back. So go to the power plan again, select "Balanced", then click on "Change plan settings", then "Advanced power settings", and find "Processor power management". Click on the"+", then click on the "+" for "Maximum processor state".

This setting should be at 100%. If it's lower, that is your problem, set it to 100% and reboot. If it's already at 100%, I'm out of solutions, unfortunately...

Ive already done that! Thank you for your help though. It helped eliminate some suspects. Hopefully i can figure out whats exactly wrong with Windows 10.

 

[Stysner]

If you do, let us know. It might help others that come across this thread. Good luck!

 

[d_grant03]

If you do, let us know. It might help others that come across this thread. Good luck!

 

[d_grant03]

If you do, let us know. It might help others that come across this thread. Good luck!

I figured out that something with my motherboard and windows 10 wasn't compatible. My issue was my computer went into hibernation at one point and something never allowed it to come out of hibernation. The only thing that fixed it was completely deleting my core drive (OS) and reinstalling windows 10 from the installer media and replacing the motherboard. Now it runs beautifully with no issues! Thank you for your help!