Question i5 6600k increased CPU load decreases CPU clock

[Yetin123]

Hello all. I've been having issues with my CPU for a while now, whenever my CPU hits 90+% utilization I get severely decreased performance in particularly video game. Games like CSGO, Destiny 2, WoW etc become virtually unplayable. If I can keep the CPU load below 90 I always 200 frames or more with most games but as soon as it hits 90+ my FPS will drop to 10-25. I was using Intel Extreme Tuning Utillity to figure out if I could overclock to overcome this issue, when I noticed during a benchmark that my core clock speed decreases whenever CPU utilization reaches 85+%. As soon as it drops below that the core freq returns to 4.2, and when above it drops to 3.5-3.8. Surely this isn't normal considering I'm using High Performance settings in windows energy savings tab. My CPU heat is around 35-45 degrees celsius at high load.

Specs:
i5 6600k
GTX 1070 8GB
2x8gb 2133mHz G.Skill Ripjaw
MSI z170A Pro Gaming motherboard.

 

[mdd1963]

I'd perhaps search your BIOS thoroughly for anything that might be limiting power /temp, and, of course double check that Windows power plan is set to at least Balanced Mode, if not Performance (my Balanced mode works perfectly with my 7700K/Z270, with CPU loping along at 800-1200 MHz when not doing anything but surfing, and, hitting 4.7 GHz all-core turbo under load via just a few clicks in Intel XTU...)

I doubt the mainboard really knows what the 'cpu utilization' truly is, but, at high clocks/full load, naturally the power consumption often follows...perhaps at your core voltage, you might be hitting the 91 watt TDP peak, and perhaps the mainboard might be throttling back because of it...

 

[Yetin123]

Windows power plan is set to High Performance with min/max at 100%. Regarding core voltage, the strange thing is that when I try to increase it performance actually drops. Instead of jumping between 4.2GHz and 3.8 it'll jump between 3.5 and 3.8.
I also couldn't find anything in BIOS regarding power/temp. I'm really at a total loss here.

Edit: I've even tried to fiddle with the powerplan settings, trying to limit CPU utilization to around 85% but XTU reports that it completely disregards this limit and hits 98% easily.

 

[RayOfDark]

I could be wrong, but I suspect that whatever you're using to read CPU temps with is wildly inaccurate and the CPU is thermal throttling. My 6600K occasionally hits 85°C on air (perfectly safe) at 4.5GHz and still never throttles.

Try CoreTemp for realtime CPU temps. It also logs the maximum temperature for the current session. I have this launch with Windows and sit in the taskbar for quick and easy reference whenever.

CoreTemp - https://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

If you feel like carrying out a more in-depth analysis, Afterburner logs all temps and percentages to a handy graph. You'll then know for sure whether it's your CPU or graphics card throttling due to excessive heat.

Afterburner - https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/msi-afterburner-beta-download.html

If you're overclocking the GTX 1070, Afterburner will deal with that for you too.

If the CPU or graphics card are definitely throttling, try cleaning your fans. If that doesn't help, try backing off a little on the overclocks. A lower overclock can be much faster than a higher one if it helps to avoid thermal throttling.

I'd also recommend not using any software utilities to overclock a CPU. Do it all manually in the BIOS then you know exactly where you stand. There are plenty of online guides regarding manual overclocking on Z170 motherboards.

Good luck.

 

[Yetin123]

I could be wrong, but I suspect that whatever you're using to read CPU temps with is wildly inaccurate and the CPU is thermal throttling. My 6600K occasionally hits 85°C on air (perfectly safe) at 4.5GHz and still never throttles.

Try CoreTemp for realtime CPU temps. It also logs the maximum temperature for the current session. I have this launch with Windows and sit in the taskbar for quick and easy reference whenever.

CoreTemp - https://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

If you feel like carrying out a more in-depth analysis, Afterburner logs all temps and percentages to a handy graph. You'll then know for sure whether it's your CPU or graphics card throttling due to excessive heat.

Afterburner - https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/msi-afterburner-beta-download.html

If you're overclocking the GTX 1070, Afterburner will deal with that for you too.

If the CPU or graphics card are definitely throttling, try cleaning your fans. If that doesn't help, try backing off a little on the overclocks. A lower overclock can be much faster than a higher one if it helps to avoid thermal throttling.

I'd also recommend not using any software utilities to overclock a CPU. Do it all manually in the BIOS then you know exactly where you stand. There are plenty of online guides regarding manual overclocking on Z170 motherboards.

Good luck.

Thanks I'll try that.

 

[Yetin123]

So during my GPU benchmark it maxed out at 60C @ 2000MHz and my CPU hit a max of 51C during that benchmark. I was told that "confidence level is 90%" but I'm not sure what that means.

When at average 70% CPU load all 4 clocks average 50*c according to CoreTemp.

 

[Yetin123]

Update:

So I seem to have actually figured this out. In Intel Extreme Tuning Utility there's this setting I can OC called "Processor Core IccMax" It was set at 100,00 A. I was getting random Current Limit Throttling warnings and I figured I could try increasing the IccMax. So I set it 105,00 and now everything works fine.

Update 2:
I tried to set my CPU clock at 4.5 with IccMax at 112.00A and the computer completely crashed and upon restart it had reset all OC settings to default.

 

[RayOfDark]

I was just typing up a reply to your previous reply saying that the CPU power limit is usually adjustable in the BIOS and it was probably set too low.

As I said before, I really would recommend following a good online overclocking guide for your specific motherboard and doing it all manually in the BIOS rather than using software. You'll learn much more and probably achieve a higher and more stable overclock.

 

[Yetin123]

I was just typing up a reply to your previous reply saying that the CPU power limit is usually adjustable in the BIOS and it was probably set too low.

As I said before, I really would recommend following a good online overclocking guide for your specific motherboard and doing it all manually in the BIOS rather than using software. You'll learn much more and probably achieve a higher and more stable overclock.

That's what I started out doing, but using software is so much simpler as I can adjust on the fly based on what readings I get.

 

[mdd1963]

So, as we predicted above, the '100' value (100%?) was essentially the default 91 watt TDP power limit being slightly exceeded during the OC....?