[SOLVED] My CPU is not running at full capacity.

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Agwebberley

Oct 13, 2019
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My CPU won't run at full capacity (36%). I have tried everything in other forums but nothing works. When I try to run a CPU heavy game my PC maxes out at 36% as if it were 100%. My Pc doesn't crash or overheat.

My Build

MotherBoard: Crosshair Formula-Z W/ the latest BIOS.

CPU: AMD FX-4130 Quad Core (Although Windows is reading it as two cores and 4 logical processors)

RAM: 32 GB DDR3

GPU: AMD Radeon R9 390

SSD: 128GB Seagate W/ my operating System on it

Hard Disks: Various hard disks pulled from many different computers

Power Supply: 550W CoolMax ZX-600
 
Solution
Rogue Leader
Agwebberley said:
The CPU requires a water cooler which I don't have. If I underclock it it should run fine. It is just insufficient cooling. I hope... What is a VRM?
Click to expand...

100% that CPU does NOT require a water cooler, in addition had the prior owner been using a water cooler and the system did not have a fan cooling the VRMs or good enough airflow in the case to cool them off, thats yet another reason they could have burned out.

Again if this board had problems with another CPU, and now the CPU you bought, whats the common denominator here? Your Cpu is literally behaving as if the VRMs can't provide enough voltage.

VRMs are the parts of the board that take the 12v your PSU supplies and brings it down to the voltage your cpu needs (less than...
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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There is no actual way to measure core temps on the FX production models. They lack the thermal sensors found in Intel cpu's. AMD engineers during prototype testing used 'engineering samples' that had modified cores to allow testing. They came up with 62°C as maximum core temp.

Thermal margin software uses a seriously complex algorithm that measures loads, voltages and other readings to come up with a defacto temp, taken from that max. So a thermal margin of 60 would literally mean your cpu is not working at all, as any chipset under any kind of load uses voltage and amperage running through resistance, which creates heat.
 
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Rogue Leader

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boju said:
Maybe Userbench give an indication where cpu speed is at? Try and post link to results page.


Could lowering maximum processor state in Windows power plan limit cpu usage as well or is it just frequency?
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You can see in his screen shot of his task manager his clock speed is being limited to 1.37Ghz

I agree with your suggestion about power state that could be the issue, although often that happens when you drop a hard drive in with Windows installed already from another system. Hes cleared both CMOS and says he did a fresh Windows install. Still thats possible.
 
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Rogue Leader

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Ok either the sensors are broken or something is very wrong with your CPU. Multiplier should be at like 20, voltage should be at around 1.3-1.4 and obviously the clock should be higher.

Please check your BIOS settings again. Is it reading the CPU properly? is everything on Auto? Can you reset/clear it again? In the BIOS disable "Cool N QUiet", also if it is available disable APM (Application Power Management)

In windows go into power settings and make sure you're in High Performance mode. Then try it again.
 
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86zx

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I had this issue with a system once make sure in the bios everything is set to turbo or high performance and make sure windows is in high performance mode you may have to dig through the power menu a bit, go to advanced power settings and such
 
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Agwebberley said:
It seems to be the multiplier how can you change that?
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The multiplier isn't a thing that can break. While you can change it both in the BIOS and in AMD overdrive, there is a fundamental problem somewhere along the way that is causing it to be low.

When I asked you earlier about resetting the CMOS, did you do that and leave everything alone, or did you do that and change some settings? I need you to try it completely clean, reset it, and leave it all on whatever the defaults are.
 
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Agwebberley said:
I have tried just leaving the defaults. No matter what I do it doesn’t change. Maybe the cpu is defective.
Click to expand...

I'm leaning in that direction, considering you've tested changed EVERYTHING that could cause or effect that issue.

Just to confirm, you did say you did a fully clean windows install right (like formatted the drive etc)?

There is only 1 other thing that can cause this which would be overheating VRMs on the motherboard, but how that problem would show itself is the CPU would work right and then throttle down to show the issue you see. Unless your motherboard itself is failing and one or more VRMs are bad. Then they wouldn't provide the voltage needed for the CPU to work.

You can test this, in AMD Overdrive go into the CPU settings and set the multiplier to 17x and the voltage to 1.4v, set the clock speed to 3.8, and turn off turbo or boost. See if it crashes.
 
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Agwebberley

Oct 13, 2019
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Rogue Leader said:
I'm leaning in that direction, considering you've tested changed EVERYTHING that could cause or effect that issue.

Just to confirm, you did say you did a fully clean windows install right (like formatted the drive etc)?

There is only 1 other thing that can cause this which would be overheating VRMs on the motherboard, but how that problem would show itself is the CPU would work right and then throttle down to show the issue you see. Unless your motherboard itself is failing and one or more VRMs are bad. Then they wouldn't provide the voltage needed for the CPU to work.

You can test this, in AMD Overdrive go into the CPU settings and set the multiplier to 17x and the voltage to 1.4v, set the clock speed to 3.8, and turn off turbo or boost. See if it crashes.
Click to expand...


I formatted my drive before installing windows on it. I tried what you said with Overdrive and my computer went to a black screen (I don't know if that counts as crashing). I eventually forced the computer to turn off because even though the computer was still on it wouldn't leave the black screen except a few times the cursor came up then disappeared again.
 
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Agwebberley said:
I formatted my drive before installing windows on it. I tried what you said with Overdrive and my computer went to a black screen (I don't know if that counts as crashing). I eventually forced the computer to turn off because even though the computer was still on it wouldn't leave the black screen except a few times the cursor came up then disappeared again.
Click to expand...

Yeah something is wrong with either your CPU, motherboard or both. It should have had no problem accepting those settings. Did you buy the board new? It may have some burnt VRMs, which is not something you can fix. Or there is some issue with the CPU which is only repairable by replacing it.
 
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