[SOLVED] CPU usage goes down the 33 percent while gaming, causes FPS drop

Terence McCormick

Reputable
Jul 9, 2015
90
0
4,640
These FPS drops used to happen to me, but it usually involved my GPU, not CPU. When I ran Prime95 and kept and eye on my cpu temps/usage, the usage always went to 33 percent, always in the same pattern, but my temperature is at a cool 50 degrees. This happens on any CPU intensive game, but the patterns still don't make any sense

My CPU is a FX6350 overclocked to 4.2ghz and my GPU is a GTX 960 2GB
 
Solution
Time frame is right for the Green and white CX units. I would check it out and if it is a green and white CX unit...replace it immediately. After replacing if the issues still pop up we can trouble shoot it further. Pop open your case and LMK what unit you have.
I fixed it all I did was factory reset my SSD, guess I must have messed with a setting or some app who knows, but thanks for trying to help
Well 33% is exactly 2 of your 6 cores so something is affecting the affinity and locking the software to only 2 cores.
But it could also be that it is thermal throttling,the safety measures of motherboards reduce clocks to keep the heat in check so temps will always be fine,you will have to look at clock speed while the drops happen to rule this out.
 
Feb 17, 2019
5
0
10
There is a program called ParkControl which can force your CPUs to work at 100% but I'm not so sure its healthy for your hardware to use. Could be a temp fix for now though.
 

Terence McCormick

Reputable
Jul 9, 2015
90
0
4,640
Well 33% is exactly 2 of your 6 cores so something is affecting the affinity and locking the software to only 2 cores.
But it could also be that it is thermal throttling,the safety measures of motherboards reduce clocks to keep the heat in check so temps will always be fine,you will have to look at clock speed while the drops happen to rule this out.
I don't think it's a thermal issue, I have a Hyper 212 EVO cooler and Arctic Silver thermal paste on it, and my temps never exceed 50 degrees, even while gaming. One thing I have noticed is when the usage drops, the core clock and temps drop as well, almost like it is trying to thermal throttle.
 

atomicWAR

Glorious
Ambassador
What is the color of your CX PSU...if the writing (CX450) is green and white that may be your problem. Those are horrible PSUs IMHO and could be throttling you thus explaining why it happens at low temps. They have a pretty poor/mediocre track records. If the writing is all black though you should be fine as though units are far better quality. LMK also have your tried setting the CPU affinity? Put all of widnows tasks on one core (threads 0 and 1)and then assign the game to the remaining threads in task manger. Again LMk of this makes a difference.
 

atomicWAR

Glorious
Ambassador
Time frame is right for the Green and white CX units. I would check it out and if it is a green and white CX unit...replace it immediately. After replacing if the issues still pop up we can trouble shoot it further. Pop open your case and LMK what unit you have.
 

Terence McCormick

Reputable
Jul 9, 2015
90
0
4,640
Time frame is right for the Green and white CX units. I would check it out and if it is a green and white CX unit...replace it immediately. After replacing if the issues still pop up we can trouble shoot it further. Pop open your case and LMK what unit you have.
I fixed it all I did was factory reset my SSD, guess I must have messed with a setting or some app who knows, but thanks for trying to help
 
Solution