I7 7700k Kaby Lake CPU spikes on any task

[jearbearissexy]

GPU: ASUS ROG Geforce GTX 1080 STRIX A8G 8GB
CPU: I7-7700K 4.2GHz
MEMORY: 16GB Corsair Vengance DDR4
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS ROG Maximus IX Hero
STORAGE: SAMSUNG 500GB SSD and 250 GB SSD
POWER SUPPLY: EVGA 650W V2 ( Could weak power supply cause this?)
WINDOWS 10 HOME 64-BIT

I've had problems with my CPU % spiking very high even with the smallest tasks. Having a stream open on my second monitor makes chrome use an upward of 15% or more of the CPU. Launching Rainbow 6 spikes it to 100% and Borderlands 2 spikes the usage to 85% when loading an area and instantly drops to around 40%. I did a clean install of windows and that had fixed any previous problems BUT this. I used to set around 50-60% on rainbow six and maybe 20% on borderlands 2. Using border less windowed helps CPU usage and so does enabling V-sync to cap my frames but nothing seems to keep it at a normal %. I have the newest drivers for CPU and GPU and any settings I can set to GPU rather than CPU I enable. This problem has been happening for maybe a month now but even a clean install of windows hasn't fixed this and I've tried changing values in registry, disabling services and turning off super fetch. I'm pretty much lost at this point and have tried anything I could find. I do know 60% CPU doesn't hurt but I know its not normal for how high end my PC is. I dusted out my PC and ran anti virus scans and nothing seems to help. Any help is much appreciated!

 

[CompuTronix]

... 7700K 4.2GHz ... Windows 10 ... CPU % spiking very high even with the smallest tasks ... stream open on my second monitor makes chrome use an upward of 15% or more ... Rainbow 6 spikes it to 100% and Borderlands 2 spikes the usage to 85% ... instantly drops to around 40% ... I used to set around 50-60% on rainbow six and maybe 20% on borderlands 2 ... problem has been happening for maybe a month ...

jearbearissexy,

On behalf of Tom's Moderator Team, welcome aboard!

A recent CPU microcode update from a BIOS flash or from Microsoft could account for the increase you've noticed in CPU utilization. However, there are other factors you should also consider, some of which you may already be aware, but let's go over it anyway.

Core temperatures respond instantly to changes in load.

Intel’s specification for Digital Thermal Sensor (DTS) response time is 256 milliseconds, or about 1/4th of a second. Since Windows has dozens of Processes and Services running in the background, it’s normal to see rapid and random Core temperature “spikes” or fluctuations, especially during the first few minutes after startup. Any software activity will show some percentage of CPU Utilization in Windows Task Manager, where unnecessary Tray items, Startups, Processes and Services that contribute to excessive spiking can be disabled.

6th Generation processors introduced "Speed Shift" technology in Windows 10, which responds much faster to changes in workload than "SpeedStep" due to having many more Core speed and Core voltage transition levels.

Since 7th through 9th Generation Speed Shift is twice as fast as 6th Generation, some users complain of Core temperature spikes which can also cause fluctuations in fan RPM at idle. Motherboard manufacturers are implementing BIOS updates that include separate SpeedStep and Speed Shift settings with more flexible fan curves and time delay options.

There's a 75 page thread that's been ongoing in Intel's Forums since January 2017 concerning the spiking problem inherent to the 7700K. The title "Thermal sensor issue i7-7700k?" is misleading, as the OP misidentified the problem, since there's no issue with the Digital Thermal Sensors. However, around page 37 they finally began to accept the root cause of the issue, which is Speed Shift - https://communities.intel.com/thread/110728?start=540&tstart=0

Disable Speed Shift and Race To Halt, and if Vcore is in Auto or Adaptive, change it to a fixed voltage then recheck for spiking.

Once again, welcome aboard!

CT