[SOLVED] CPU usage is constantly 100%

[kem0432b]

I have some CPU problems, i asume, because my CPU usage seems to be at 100% nearly all the when i'm playing games and it's taking a toll on my framerate. (I'm mainly refering to CS:GO here, but the same happens with Destiny 2, Warzone, Fortnite, and games where there's a lot happening on the screen at the same time.) I have an old Intel i5-3470 3.2GHz so i asume i'm probably going to have to get a new one. Though, before that, i want to see if there's any benchmark test or other programs that i can use to test my CPU to see what's wrong. So i'm asking if anyone knows what i should try? And will i have to change motherboard too? (Basicly, is there anything i can do to see if the motherboard i'm using isn't compatible with newer CPU's?) (BTW i have a custom built pc if that's important)

Thanks

Edit: system specs

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1070-Ti
SSD: Corsair Force LE200 SSD 240GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016)
RAM: Kingston KHX1600C9D3/4GX 029E CML8GX3M1A1600C9 KHX1600C9D3/4GX 16GB
MBD: MSI B75MA-P45 (MS-7798)

 

[rickypicky5]

What is the rest of your system, most importantly your GPU and power supply?

100% CPU usage when gaming is not uncommon.

 

[Crowii]

Use hwinfo64 to check CPU clocks and temperatures; in other words see if it's thermal throttling (inadeqaute cooling). Just from the CPU I'm assuming it's an older system, might be worth reappliyng thermal paste if it's going to be a while before you upgrade. Can elaborate more if it indeed is thermal throttling. If it isn't then you simply need an upgrade.

No, your motherboard won't have a compatible socket or chipset with anything new. It's also DDR3 ram, so an upgrade to something more modern would be a cost of CPU+Motherboard+DDR4 ram.

It's also common courtesy to post full system specs, it helps others help you faster.

 

[Archaic59]

I have some CPU problems, i asume, because my CPU usage seems to be at 100% nearly all the when i'm playing games and it's taking a toll on my framerate. (I'm mainly refering to CS:GO here, but the same happens with Destiny 2, Warzone, Fortnite, and games where there's a lot happening on the screen at the same time.) I have an old Intel i5-3470 3.2GHz so i asume i'm probably going to have to get a new one. Though, before that, i want to see if there's any benchmark test or other programs that i can use to test my CPU to see what's wrong. So i'm asking if anyone knows what i should try? And will i have to change motherboard too? (Basicly, is there anything i can do to see if the motherboard i'm using isn't compatible with newer CPU's?) (BTW i have a custom built pc if that's important)

Thanks

Your Ivy Bridge CPU is limited to only 4 cores and no hyperthreading. It's boost clock is only 3.6ghz. It was ok in its time but not so much anymore, as you can see. I doubt there's anything wrong with it, assuming it's being cooled properly. Yes, an upgrade will require you to change the motherboard and ram unless you want to find a used i7 that's dirt cheap and compatible with your current motherboard. It may buy you some more time but a new platform would be the best and you'll have to do it sooner or later. You can benchmark your current system and post a link here with the results for analysis. List your full system specs too.

 

[kem0432b]

So i'm having frame rate problems with a lot of fps and open world games. (Mainly CS:GO, Destiny 2, Warzone & Fortnite, since those are the games i play) I already know i have a CPU problem, but i'm wondering if RAM can affect frame rate too. (I'm asking more broadly, but will use my own setup as an example).

I have a bit of an unusual setup: Two 4gb sticks and one 8gb stick. All are DDR3. I don't remember exactly why it's like this, i only remember that i had one stick before and wanted to upgrade to 16gb, but it was cheaper to use 3 sticks since i already had one. Though this lead to the sticks not being the same models. They're mostly similar, but they aren't the same model. I don't remember if they're the same brand or have the same speed. (Maybe there's a way to look that up?)

So my question is if setups like this, with 3 different sticks, can affect my computers performance negatively compared to a more "normal" setup. Is there a big or small difference? Will the fact that it's DDR3 and not DDR4 affect frame rate in games?

Thanks

System specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1070-Ti
SSD: Corsair Force LE200 SSD 240GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016)
RAM: Kingston KHX1600C9D3/4GX 029E CML8GX3M1A1600C9 KHX1600C9D3/4GX 16GB
MBD: MSI B75MA-P45 (MS-7798)

 

[tennis2]

Please list your CPU and GPU.

Please elaborate on "having frame rate problems", that's very vague.

RAM certainly has a much smaller impact on game performance than CPU/GPU, but not zero. It also depends on the game and the CPU.

 

[kem0432b]

What is the rest of your system, most importantly your GPU and power supply?

100% CPU usage when gaming is not uncommon.

I have a pretty unusual setup. It's an old PC that i've successively upgraded over time.

1070Ti graphics card. It never reaches above 70% usage in games so i doubt it affects my performance negatively.

16gb DDR3 RAM

I'm not so sure about the power supply. I think it's 600W. Is there a way to check that?

 

[Crowii]

I'm not so sure about the power supply. I think it's 600W. Is there a way to check that?

Take off the side panel of your pc and read the sticker.

 

[kem0432b]

Use hwinfo64 to check CPU clocks and temperatures; in other words see if it's thermal throttling (inadeqaute cooling). Just from the CPU I'm assuming it's an older system, might be worth reappliyng thermal paste if it's going to be a while before you upgrade. Can elaborate more if it indeed is thermal throttling. If it isn't then you simply need an upgrade.

No, your motherboard won't have a compatible socket or chipset with anything new. It's also DDR3 ram, so an upgrade to something more modern would be a cost of CPU+Motherboard+DDR4 ram.

It's also common courtesy to post full system specs, it helps others help you faster.

Thanks, will check that out. Would prefer not having to upgrade 3 things just because one is bad, so i hope it's a heat problem.

 

[Crowii]

Thanks, will check that out. Would prefer not having to upgrade 3 things just because one is bad, so i hope it's a heat problem.

You won't see fantastic performance in modern games either way with that CPU, it's mostly leading you towards seeing if there's a bit more to squeeze out of it/if it's choking, to find out if it's worth for you and your needs to upgrade just yet.

 

[kem0432b]

Your Ivy Bridge CPU is limited to only 4 cores and no hyperthreading. It's boost clock is only 3.6ghz. It was ok in its time but not so much anymore, as you can see. I doubt there's anything wrong with it, assuming it's being cooled properly. Yes, an upgrade will require you to change the motherboard and ram unless you want to find a used i7 that's dirt cheap and compatible with your current motherboard. It may buy you some more time but a new platform would be the best and you'll have to do it sooner or later. You can benchmark your current system and post a link here with the results for analysis. List your full system specs too.

Here are the results from the benchmark:

UserBenchmarks: Game 65%, Desk 74%, Work 49%
CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 - 69.4%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1070-Ti - 95.6%
SSD: Corsair Force LE200 SSD 240GB - 17.3%
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) - 99.6%
RAM: Kingston KHX1600C9D3/4GX 029E CML8GX3M1A1600C9 KHX1600C9D3/4GX 16GB - 30.4%
MBD: MSI B75MA-P45 (MS-7798)

I noticed the SSD got a really bad score. It's supposed to handle 6Gb/s. Could there be a problem here?

 

[kem0432b]

Take off the side panel of your pc and read the sticker.

It's 600W

 

[digitalgriffin]

You're CPU bottlenecked. 4 cores/4 threads really @ 3.6GHz really doesn't cut it any more.

IF you can find a $50 i7-3770 it might hold you over. But your MB lacks overclocking. So your performance increases won't be night and day. Most of the games you listed won't put those additional cores to use. Plus those older chips have stuttering issues. (Frame rate consistency)

On my secondary machine, I run a 3770k OC @ 4.4GHz with a RX580 and it's okay at 1080p. But I wouldn't really push it on the latest games.

Out of curiosity, what is your CPU Idle % like? I want to make sure you don't have something eating up cycles in the background.

 

[rickypicky5]

Here are the results from the benchmark:

UserBenchmarks: Game 65%, Desk 74%, Work 49%
CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 - 69.4%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1070-Ti - 95.6%
SSD: Corsair Force LE200 SSD 240GB - 17.3%
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) - 99.6%
RAM: Kingston KHX1600C9D3/4GX 029E CML8GX3M1A1600C9 KHX1600C9D3/4GX 16GB - 30.4%
MBD: MSI B75MA-P45 (MS-7798)

I noticed the SSD got a really bad score. It's supposed to handle 6Gb/s. Could there be a problem here?

Make sure your SSD is connected to the SATA III header on your motherboard.

It's no surprise the 1070ti is a good card and the i5-3470 can't keep up. The i7-3770k is the best CPU you can get to use with your motherboard. The last prices I saw on Ebay for the 3770k are around $130. The 3770k will give you more threads and higher clock speeds and will improve your FPS.

Any other upgrade and you will need a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM - minimally.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Make sure your SSD is connected to the SATA III header on your motherboard.

It's no surprise the 1070ti is a good card and the i5-3470 can't keep up. The i7-3770k is the best CPU you can get to use with your motherboard. The last prices I saw on Ebay for the 3770k are around $130. The 3770k will give you more threads and higher clock speeds and will improve your FPS.

Any other upgrade and you will need a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM - minimally.

His MB doesn't support OC. While he can do this, he'll need a CPU cooler too and for the extra 100MHz definitely NOT worth the cost premium on a regular 3770.

 

[kem0432b]

You're CPU bottlenecked. 4 cores/4 threads really @ 3.6GHz really doesn't cut it any more.

IF you can find a $50 i7-3770 it might hold you over. But your MB lacks overclocking. So your performance increases won't be night and day. Most of the games you listed won't put those additional cores to use. Plus those older chips have stuttering issues. (Frame rate consistency)

On my secondary machine, I run a 3770k OC @ 4.4GHz with a RX580 and it's okay at 1080p. But I wouldn't really push it on the latest games.

Out of curiosity, what is your CPU Idle % like? I want to make sure you don't have something eating up cycles in the background.

Right now it's at 20-40%, with discord on 5-7% and chrome on 10-20%. (5 tabs open) The rest is idle % i guess?

It has a lot of sudden peaks where it spikes to abnormally high percentages

 

[tennis2]

That's pretty much your upgrade path:

• i7-3770 or 3770K with the existing system.
  • Need to make sure the price makes sense for a dead end "kick the can down the road another year or two" upgrade. (I got my 3770 last year for $50, so it was justifiable to me)
• New CPU+mobo+RAM. Going to me more costly, but will afford some breathing room on performance or potential future CPU upgrades (at least until DDR5 goes mainstream in a year, then mobo compatibility will be broken).

 

[rickypicky5]

Right now it's at 20-40%, with discord on 5-7% and chrome on 10-20%. (5 tabs open) The rest is idle % i guess?

It has a lot of sudden peaks where it spikes to abnormally high percentages

I don't think what you're seeing is abnormal.

 

[kem0432b]

That's pretty much your upgrade path:

• i7-3770 or 3770K with the existing system.
  • Need to make sure the price makes sense for a dead end "kick the can down the road another year or two" upgrade. (I got my 3770 last year for $50, so it was justifiable to me)
• New CPU+mobo+RAM. Going to me more costly, but will afford some breathing room on performance or potential future CPU upgrades (at least until DDR5 goes mainstream in a year, then mobo compatibility will be broken).

Yeah that's probably what i'm going to have to do.

 

[mdd1963]

Right now it's at 20-40%, with discord on 5-7% and chrome on 10-20%. (5 tabs open) The rest is idle % i guess?

It has a lot of sudden peaks where it spikes to abnormally high percentages

So in addition to playing games with this aging quad core, ...you surf and chat during games as well?

 

[kem0432b]

I don't think what you're seeing is abnormal.

50% CPU usage for just having discord and chrome open?

So in addition to playing games with this aging quad core, ...you surf and chat during games as well?

Yes (sorry for late reply, i went to sleep) Mostly just voice chat in discord tho, i dont use chrome mid-game, but i might have one or two tabs open in the background.