First CPU Core always have usage way higher than the others

[JoedMorano]

Im having problem with my CPU where the first virtual core is always higher usage than the rest. I understand that most programs look at the first core that they can see and only use that, I learnt from research beforehand. But I don't think the delta should be this large. Back when this laptop was relatively new, I can run League of Legends up in the 100s even during events with a lot of elements going on. Now, its barely reaching 40 fps during those team fights. I know this is not a GPU problem because the GPU never reaches 100% when I play LoL. I do not remember when exactly this problem started, but the laptop's performance did slowly diminish up to this point. (wasn't confident enough to post in forums 'til now)



The screenshot attached below was taken the moment I can turn on task manager. Thanks in advance

https://screenshot.net/n8d7xsw

Laptop: Acer Aspire V3-575G
CPU: Intel i5-6200U
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 940M
RAM: 8GB
Windows Version: Windows 1709 (OS Build 16299.192)

 

[GhislainG]

The first thing I noticed is Disk 0 that seems to be 100% busy.

 

[JoedMorano]

The first thing I noticed is Disk 0 that seems to be 100% busy.

i think its because the other startup programs were still booting up. when the laptop is idle with only steam, garena, and a few webpages on chrome is running (music player isn't playing), it looks like this

https://screenshot.net/v32w6fv

 

[GhislainG]

I see the CPU is quite busy; is it running at its rated frequency?

 

[JoedMorano]

I see the CPU is quite busy; is it running at its rated frequency?

it says on task manager that its base speed is 2.4ghz, but its running at 2.6ghz. im guessing its the boost clock. when it does slow down to around 1.3-1.4ghz when im on battery saver tho, they all even out to about the same usage. but when at a higher speed like this, there is a difference in the 1st core while the other three logical cores are much more similar. i thought that the 1st physical core might have a problem, but shouldnt it mean that the 2nd logical core should also have the usage jump?

 

[GhislainG]

It's normal for the first core to be more busy; the kernel doesn't try that hard to optimize the load between cores as that would serve no useful purpose.

 

[mikemefistous]

I see you have an intel CPU. A well-known intel technology is called intel Turbo Technology.

What it does, is that if it sees an App that is mostly using 1 of your 4 cores, it'll increase the frequency/voltage on that 1 core automatically and decrease the voltage/frequency on the other cores, to make sure the CPU stays overall in the same temps.

Some other ways this technology works, to my limited understanding, is that it'll also kind of automatically overclock all 4 cores in some occasions, as long as the temps are relatively safe.

What you can try doing, is going to your BIOS settings and disabling this setting. Look it UP, it's most likely going to be called Intel Turbo Mode/Technology or smth.

For my personally, on my Desktop Gigabyte Motherboard's BIOS, i can find that setting under the CPU frequency settings tab, where i can manually overclock my CPU.

Some other setting you might want to disable( but i am not an expert so i don't recommend you doing it on your laptop) is called "Thermal Throttling". This setting will monitor your CPU's temps and if it sees they are going above the safe limits that intel has set for them, it'll automatically lower the voltages/CPU clock speed to reduce the temps.

 

[jr9]

- Many applications do not use every physical or logical core on your processor and use one or two cores. This is normal.
- There is nothing wrong with the cores. If your processor had issues internally then you would be experiencing system crashes.

How are your CPU temps? Programs that can give you this info are Speccy, HWInfo, CoreTemp.

You seem to have notable background CPU usage. Look for any applications that are using the CPU heavily when idle and close them down if possible. Consider running a clean boot using msconfig with all startup items disabled and try running the game.