Question Do I have CPU issues?

Ootsie87

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Jan 12, 2020
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Hi guys,

I'm currently trying to troubleshoot my PC. Performance suddenly tanked and I'm getting much lower framerates across all games and I'm also experiencing sudden fps drops of 20-30 for literally 1 second before it jumps back up. I game at 4k.

So far I've tried:
  1. Clean reinstall of Windows
  2. Clean reinstall of different versions of GPU drivers (using DDU each time)
  3. Updating Windows drivers
  4. Changed XMP profiles in my BIOS
My system specs are:

Asus ROG Strix z490 e gaming.
Intel i5 10600K
Corsair H100I Platinum CPU cooler
2 x 16GB sticks of Corsair Dominator RAM @ 3200 MHz
Asus ROG Strix 3080 Ti

Recently I've started looking at hardware health metrics and I've noticed what seem to be very high CPU utilisation numbers. After playing The Witcher 3 this evening my CPU & GPU utilisation numbers are as outlined in this picture.

Do I have a CPU issue here? Is this what could be causing my sudden performance issues?
 
There should almost never be any reason to "change XMP profiles". Set it to the XMP profile 1 and that's it. If you have not done so, change it back unless you had a very good reason to not run the XMP profile in which case running at the default profile or a manual configuration would be the next step. For most people, XMP 1 is the final objective and rarely does that change.

"Updating Windows drivers" is fine and all, but it is doesn't really represent what should be done as standard procedure. It's possible you simply miscommunicated what you actually did but lets be sure. When it comes to drivers, you don't EVER want to rely on the natively supplied Windows drivers unless you have absolutely no choice.

What you SHOULD do however, is go directly to the Z490-E gaming product page on the ASUS website and download/install the latest drivers available there for the motherboard chipset (.inf), network adapter(s), audio controller and Bluetooth.

I will gather links to the exact drivers you should have installed but I need to know whether you are running Windows 10 or 11?

Also, and this is very important, you need to be sure you are running BIOS version 2601 which is the latest release. If you are running any version older than that it is advisable that you update because there have been changes to the core management protocols in Windows 10 and 11 that don't work well with some of the older BIOS versions on a number of motherboards.
 
Hey mate,

Thank you very much for the response. So with regards to Windows, I updated to Windows build 19044.2364. I have also this evening gone to the Asus Support page and downloaded and installed the latest chipset drivers for my motherboard.

I'm running Windows 10 64-bit. I've never updated by BIOS as I've read too many horror stories and I'm scared to do so as my knowledge is intermediate at best. I've also reverted back to XMP Profile 1, from XMP profile 2.

Were you able to view the image I hypoerlinked on the original post? Do those CPU utilisation %'s look problematic?
 
Updating the BIOS is not the nail biting, stress inducing nightmare it used to be. These days it is basically about as mandatory as periodic graphics card driver or chipset driver updates. In fact, it's totally common now that a lot of hardware won't even run, or run correctly, without updating the BIOS.

Plus, your board has BIOS flashback which means you can update the BIOS without even having a CPU, memory or graphics card installed. I would highly recommend that you familiarize yourself well with the process, watching the video at the link below and reading the manually outlined instructions written below that, as well as perhaps finding another one related specifically to using ASUS BIOS flashback, and then update to the latest version.





Latest BIOS firmware download available here:



And the CPU utilization really depends on a variety of things. What game you are playing at the time? What your quality settings in game are at? What resolution you are playing at? For 4k, if you are playing at very high or ultra settings, I'd say for most games yes, your CPU utilization might be higher than expected but then again you're also running a CPU that is three generations behind at this point and is a mid tiered model, not an upper tiered model like an i7 or i9, while using a very capable graphics card. Even so, seems a little high to me but really depends a lot on your settings. If you're running medium or lower settings at 4k, or even high with some sliders to the left, it might be completely normal.

Try running at Ultra, if you are not already, and see what the CPU utilization looks like. Also, what game were you playing at the time?
 
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Appreciate the detailed response and support.

So I was playing The Witcher 3 at mostly ultra settings with a handful of settings turned down to high when I captured the HW usage info I provided in the screenshots. Ray tracing was turned off as were hairworks, as both are very resource intensive.

The thing is, I last played this game around 2 months on the same settings and had stable 90-100 fps even in places like Novigrad nad other built up central hubs in the game. I now get 60-70fps in the same place (using the same settings). I also play world of warcraft and whilst CPU utilisation on that is much lower, I'm still getting these random large fps drops for a second before jumping back up. GPU utilisation is always at 100% regardless of the game.

The other strange thing I found whilst further testing last night is that my framerate barely changes when I go from max settings to lowest settings. I tested this across a few other games as well and had the same results. What could that indicate?

Oh I forgot to mention my power supply on my origianl post. I have a Corsair CP-9020151-UK AX850 80 Plus Titanium Certified Power Supply Unit, AX Series, 850 W, Fully Modular.

I appreciate my CPU is mid range a little dated now, however, I only use my PC to play half a dozen or so games and nothing else. I literally have no other applications or prgrams installed on my rig - it's just for gaming. Regardless, my performance has been great for the past 2 years since I built it and it's only now that I'm having such issues for the 1st time.

I'll definitely read the info on the links you sent and familiarise myself with BIOS updates moving forwards. Is it worth reinstalling Windows again and doing all of this on a clean slate? If so, what's the best order to do updates in? I read somewhere last night that it's advisable to update chipset drivers before updating your BIOS for example.
 
There's no need to do a clean install before updating the BIOS. You might consider doing one AFTER if nothing changes, but I think it's unnecessary to do as a prerequisite.

So, do this. Download HWinfo, which is the monitoring utility I greatly prefer and recommend that most people use rather than HWmonitor, Open hardware monitor or really just about anything else. Install it and run it. Choose the "Sensors only" option and make sure that "Summary" is not checked. Once open, expand the HWinfo window from top to bottom of the screen and just wide enough to capture each column.

Run your game again and run it for five or ten minutes or so. Then take screenshots of all the sensor values. It may take three or four screenshots and scrolling down in between to capture them all. Post them here as explained at the following link.

 
No, you don't need AI Suite. You update the BIOS IN the BIOS using the built in BIOS update utility. Updating from Windows, unless it's absolutely necessary, is a good way to introduce additional variables into the equation that make failure to complete the flash process at least minimally more likely. Whenever possible you want to use BIOS flashback, if the board has that, or if it doesn't, then the utility in the BIOS and to be honest I even prefer using the built in BIOS update utility before Flashback whenever possible.

And your board HAS BIOS flashback, like I said before. So ignore any instructions on updating the BIOS from within Windows. It's not a preferred process if you can do it another way. In your case, I'd just use BIOS flashback and follow the instructions in the video and in the written guide at the link I posted before.

The drivers, just download and unzip and then install them, then restart the system.
 
Morning mate and Merry Christmas.

I didn't have a working flashdrive the other day so I updated my BIOS via AI Suite 3. As I'd recently reinstalled Windows as part of my troubleshooting (and had nothing on my PC), it went very smoothly and I'm now successfully on the version you sent me the link for. I'll be sure to use the better methods you advised in the future though, now I see how simple it actually is.

Yesterday I actually re-installed Windows again, as before I'd simply done a factory reset before and I read that underlying issues can sometimes still remain using that method. So I did a full clean install via a media download to a USB and booted from that.

I'm in the process of installing HWInfo but I just got this message, what should I do here?

P.s. I can now confirm the following:

  1. every troubleshooting step so far has failed to fix my issue (incl. BIOS update & chipset driver updates)
  2. I'm seeing the same low/unstable framerates even when I turn all graphics options down to the lowest settings
 
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As far as the ASUS sensor warning in HWinfo goes, I've never seen it actually cause a problem so I always click "continue" BUT I uncheck the mark next to "never ask again" so that if it DOES have a problem then the next time I run it I can change that option. I have read of some rare occasions where people actually did have problems monitoring a specific sensor but in that case I think they simply had to change options the next time and if so then putting "never ask again" would make sense.
 
That's interesting... I don't know what to do in that case. The 10 minutes I spent in game getting that data was Novigrad in The Witcher 3. Previously I would get 80 - 90 fps in the exact same location, now it consistently drops down as low as 55.. thats just not right.

I've also seen noticable fps improvements across all of my games whenever I lower resource-intensive graphical settings. Fps barely increases in any of my games even when I put all settings to their lowest since I noticed these issues.

Maybe my monitor? I'm guessing that's the only part of the system that doesn't get picked up by those sensors right?
 
Monitors don't have a direct impact on the hardware that drive frame rates. Your monitor simply displays whatever it is sent aside from sync considerations that are built in.

I'd go through the recommendations below, and in addition I'd take a close look at your Nvidia control panel settings. It's possible a driver update may have changed something or even that Windows did a driver update that superceded your manually installed Nvidia drivers.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release. In cases where you DO already have the latest BIOS version, simply resetting the BIOS as follows has a fairly high percentage chance of effecting a positive change in some cases so it is ALWAYS worth TRYING, at the very least.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.


Second,

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.



Fourth (And often tied for most important along with an up-to-date motherboard BIOS),

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.



And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way