Question CPU Usage/Speed capped at 24%/0.8GHz

shood247

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The CPU Usage/Speed seems to be stuck in slow mode which is an option on a switch on my MSI H170 M3 Gaming motherboard, because when my computer was running slow the speed of my CPU (i5-6600) was at 0.8GHz, I managed to fix it temporarily, by disabling EIST and TurboBoost in the BIOS settings in the MISC section. Once it was fixed where the CPU speed was running at 3.3+ GHz, I ran the computer in slow mode to test to see what slow mode did, and it capped the CPU Speed at 0.80GHz. So I disabled it and ran the computer as normal for about a day until my CPU capped itself back at 0.80GHz again without me switching on slow mode through the switch. I have tried resetting the BIOS but no success.
Any Ideas?
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Why don't you just go to bios, restore default settings, save, reset the pc and use Windows.

If you want to know if your CPU is boosting correctly when gaming use a monitor software that holds MAX values while playing, like hwmonitor of hwinfo. If you wana check using the task manager you included in the picture, download some test like Cinebench R15 or R20. And see how high the frecuency goes during rendering.

Its normal for Intel and AMD cpus to downclock its frecuency when they are not working on a heavy load task (like when on idle or light load works).
 
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hftvhftv

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Why don't you just go to bios, restore default settings, save, reset the pc and use Windows.

If you want to know if your CPU is boosting correctly when gaming use a monitor software that holds MAX values while playing, like hwmonitor of hwinfo. If you wana check using the task manager you included in the picture, download some test like Cinebench R15 or R20. And see how high the frecuency goes during rendering.

Its normal for Intel and AMD cpus to downclock its frecuency when they are not working on a heavy load task (like when on idle or light load works).
Start by doing this and then check your Windows power plan, (make sure it's on high performance or balanced), then check if there are new BIOS updates available for your motherboard on their website.
 
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shood247

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I've cleared CMOS, installed latest BIOS, tried an older BIOS and have changed windows power plan to set minumum cpu cap at 100%. All of them change nothing. What I watch happen is my processor will be at 0.8 ghz when the utilisation is below 25% then it will cycle up until 50% where it will max out at around 3.3ghz then start stepping into turbo area where it goes around 3.7ghz. It is running at stock clocks. Sounds fine right? It's not. I launch Aida64 to get my cpu usage to 100% and Aida reports cpu usage at 100% but my cpu ultilisation is at 24% and my cpu clock still runs at 0.8ghz. It doesn't appear to be an issue with power delivery from the behaviour it displays. If I open many tabs or many applications at once processor usage jumps up and the computer gets some speed back into it. I open any game and it will be the most jank <Mod Edit>. 5 seconds of 200fps then 5 secs of 20 fps.
 
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When was the last time you did a fresh windows install?

Also when on loading screens most games attatins higher FPs than when actually playing. Maybe your CPU and GPU just can't take on the game youre trying to play.

Care to share your full system specs, and also what games are you trying to play?

And as I mention, it could be some driver issue thats causing your frame drops and wierd CPU utilization, or some hardware issues, like not getting enough power form the PSU and/or motherboard.

When did you start to encounter this problem?

Did you check theres no garbage app consuming CPU resources in the background ?
 

shood247

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Its a fresh windows install on it right now. Its nothing to do with load screens. I'm speaking strictly about gameplay and these games have ran fine for years. It's not driver issue, the issue lies within either the motherboard or a bios setting that I have not found. And there is no app consuming cpu usage. The cpu itself is running at 0.8ghz.
 
the H170 chipset cannot unlock the multiplier. so the answer is to see what your system is doing at full load.
20% utilization means you're only using 1 core - not a good indicator as the system will naturally reduce clock to save power.

If you disable SpeedStep and C1 states and run something like Prime95 for a few minutes you'll get a better idea of what the CPU is actually capable of at load.
 
Oct 23, 2021
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I had this issue - my (desktop cpu) seemed to be capped at 20%. I noticed the cpu multiplier (i7 6700k) was 8x rather than the usual 42x. Tried bios update etc. to no avail. However I realised I'd just put in a new PSU - after some checking I found the big atx motherboard power connector wasn't seated properly. Pushed it in and bingo - back to 100% cpu!