Question CPU utilization dropping in game

[StoneyOD]

This is a new problem. I was playing arma fine for hundreds of hours and now I get random CPU drops causing giant stutters. It's not thermal throttling as I've checked all my temps and they run at 40c while gaming. I have also went into my bios to make sure nothing is being throttled there. I'm on performance mode with minimum processor state set to 100%. The CPU doesn't just drop in arma i played CSGO and Valorant for a couple hours and I had 1 or 2 drops. The usage will be around 30% and it will drop to like 2-8%. I'm starting to think its a hardware issue. Could it possibly be my power supply? I've had a problem recently where I can't turn my PC on normally I have to switch the psu off and on in the back and then turn it on if I don't the PC will light up and then power back down. I have tested my RAM and its fine, came back with no errors.
Specs:
Geforce RTX 2070
Ryzen 7 2700X Eight-core
16 Gb ddr4 Ram
1 terabyte SSD
ASrock B450M PRO4-F motherboard
600 watt power supply

 

[RodroX]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

Please provide brand and model of your PSU and/or a nice picture of the sticker with all the info.

 

[InvalidError]

A bad PSU will rarely cause performance issues, the PC will just crash, restart or fail to power on altogether.

I'd try lowering your minimum CPU state to 80-90%: by forcing it at 100%, you are forcing all active cores to full power all of the time, which means less margin available for boosting when it may actually be needed so the game chokes on a single-threaded bit of code more than it should.

 

[StoneyOD]

Here's the PSU.
Sorry its upside down

Edit: i have also lowered my minimum CPU state and got the same stuttes.

 

[StoneyOD]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

Please provide brand and model of your PSU and/or a nice picture of the sticker with all the info.

From what I looked up someone said it was tier 4 PSU?

 

[InvalidError]

Thermaltake has mostly ok-ish PSUs and 80+ Basic PSUs are rarely particularly good, means little more than it has PFC.

What does it look like when you have a "massive drop"? If the system locks up for a second, it could be an IO stall such as a flaky USB device randomly dropping out or getting re-detected. You could try disconnecting all non-essential stuff.

 

[StoneyOD]

Thermaltake has mostly ok-ish PSUs and 80+ Basic PSUs are rarely particularly good, means little more than it has PFC.

What does it look like when you have a "massive drop"? If the system locks up for a second, it could be an IO stall such as a flaky USB device randomly dropping out or getting re-detected. You could try disconnecting all non-essential stuff.

the "massive drop" is basically a stutter. My game freezes for 1-2 seconds tho the stutters do get longer as I play the game more.

 

[StoneyOD]

I was going to try and update my motherboard bios but ASROCk says "ASRock do NOT recommend updating this BIOS if Pinnacle, Raven, Summit or Bristol Ridge CPU is being used on your system" Which I have a pinnacle

 

[Third-Eye]

It's not thermal throttling as I've checked all my temps and they run at 40c while gaming.
Specs:

Ryzen 7 2700X Eight-core

What is your heat-sink? How are you checking temps? 40c while gaming is really low for most games.

 

[StoneyOD]

What is your heat-sink? How are you checking temps? 40c while gaming is really low for most games.

im running core temp to check CPU temperatures and I also have checked my bios to make sure its accurate, it goes up to 50c sometimes. But nothing enough to cause thermal throttling plus ive turned off all thermal throttling.

 

[Zerk2012]

im running core temp to check CPU temperatures and I also have checked my bios to make sure its accurate, it goes up to 50c sometimes. But nothing enough to cause thermal throttling plus ive turned off all thermal throttling.

Download and run OCCT and check your temps.

You should Never turn off thermal throttling.

 

[StoneyOD]

Download and run OCCT and check your temps.

You should Never turn off thermal throttling.

I will run this. But I didn't turn it off permanently, I did just so I could check if it was effecting my CPU droppage

 

[StoneyOD]

Ran OCCT with the game max the temp got was 56c but still massive stutters

 

[Third-Eye]

Ran OCCT with the game max the temp got was 56c but still massive stutters

Try turning off SMT in bios so you only use the 8 CPU cores instead of having 16 threads. See what happens.

 

[StoneyOD]

Try turning off SMT in bios so you only use the 8 CPU cores instead of having 16 threads. See what happens.

Okay I did that. My CPU is being utilized more it seems, it usually only runs at about 24-30% now im seeing it use 40% but im still getting giant drops down to 6% or less

 

[InvalidError]

Okay I did that. My CPU is being utilized more it seems, it usually only runs at about 24-30% now im seeing it use 40% but im still getting giant drops down to 6% or less

If the game freezes and CPU usage goes down, it is usually because the CPU is waiting for something. Most of the times I have had that sort of issue, it was either due to a defective USB device or a failing HDD.

 

[StoneyOD]

If the game freezes and CPU usage goes down, it is usually because the CPU is waiting for something. Most of the times I have had that sort of issue, it was either due to a defective USB device or a failing HDD.

I've got a SSD, idk if a failing SSD would do the same? I do have 1 or 2 usb devices that are little wonky but I don't use them.

 

[StoneyOD]

I would like to mention I thought It might be a PSU issue considering the way I have to boot up my PC. I can't just turn my PC on with the power button, if I do the PC will just light up and shut back down. I have to turn the PSU off and on and then press the power button and then i can boot the PC

 

[InvalidError]

Upgrading to a newer better quality PSU like a Corsair CX650 wouldn't hurt regardless of anything else going on with your PC.

 

[StoneyOD]

I decided to record my CPU usage while I played for a minute