[SOLVED] My CPU usage drops to 2%-5% in every 1-2 minutes

[ValtWasTaken]

Title explains it all, my CPU usage is generally 30%-40% in games, I usually play 2010's games because my PC isn't enough to run newer games, most of them (the games I play) runs smoothly (50-60 FPS average), but in every 1-2 minutes the CPU usage drops to 2%-4% from 30%-40% and the CPU underclocks itself to 800 MHz and that causes MASSIVE FPS drop (I get around 2-5 FPS when this happens). It turns back to normal after 10-15 seconds, but it happens again after 1-2 mins. My CPU temperature is normal and there is no programs running in background. My PC also does the same thing when there's no programs/games open, so I don't think it's about the games or my GPU.

The stuff I tried:
-Updating, downgrading and reinstalling drivers
-Running disk defrag
-Updating Windows
-Deleting junk programs/files
-Lowering graphic settings
-Changing the power plan to "High Performance"
-Anti-Virus scan
-Using 3rd party programs to clean up the disk
-Checking the Task Manager for other programs that consumes the CPU
Result=nothing.
I tried everything I can, you guys are my last hope to fix that issue.

My PC's specs (I'm using a laptop):
Intel Core i5 7200U
nVIDIA GeForce 940M
12 GB of RAM
1 TB 5400 RPM HDD

 

[Groveling_Wyrm]

I would say that it is caching from your Hard Drive that is bottlenecking your computer. The 5400 speed hard drives (Especially ones they put in laptops) do not have the best speed, especially compared to SSD or NVME drives. It could seriously hold you back, as it would be caching all the video files for your games/programs. Your cpu utilization would drop while it is waiting for the hard drive to catch up.

 

[ValtWasTaken]

I would say that it is caching from your Hard Drive that is bottlenecking your computer. The 5400 speed hard drives (Especially ones they put in laptops) do not have the best speed, especially compared to SSD or NVME drives. It could seriously hold you back, as it would be caching all the video files for your games/programs. Your cpu utilization would drop while it is waiting for the hard drive to catch up.

Yeah I think so, because my HDD acting extremely slow since last 2 years. Defragging doesn't help anymore, it's always slow. I think my HDD's lifespan is about to expire (or it already did) so it looks like the only sollution is save my money and get a new HDD or a laptop, lol.

 

[geofelt]

I see many complaints about gaming laptops not performing well.
Usually gaming while plugged in.
One common cause is thermal throttling.
Laptop coolers must, of necessity be small and light.
They are also relatively underpowered.
If you run an app such as HWMonitor or HWinfo, you will get the current, minimum, and maximum cpu temperatures.
For intel processors, if you see a max of 100c. it means you have throttled.
The cpu will lower it's multiplier and power draw to protect itself
until the situation reverses.
At a lower multiplier, your cpu usage may well be at 100%
What can you do?
First, see that your cooler airways are clear and that the cooler fan is spinning.

It is counter-intuitive, but, try changing the windows power profile advanced functions to a max of 90% instead of the default of 100%
You may not notice the reduced cpu performance.

While laptop HDD performance is poor, it does not explain the frequency of your symptoms.
If you are so inclined, it is easy these days to clone your hdd to a ssd for an impressive boost in overall quickness.

 

[uWebb429]

@ValtWasTaken - The 7200U has a 15W TDP rating. Most throttling problems are power limit related and not temperature related.

What laptop model do you have? Some Dell laptops from this era go through a cycle of full speed and then full throttle. This happens over and over again.

Try running ThrottleStop.

ThrottleStop 9.6 Download

ThrottleStop is a small application designed to monitor for and correct the three main types of CPU throttling that are being used on many lapto

www.techpowerup.com

Post some screenshots of the various ThrottleStop windows so I can see what features are available on your laptop. Turn on the Log File option and play a game for 15 minutes so I can see what your computer is doing. When finished testing, exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize your log file. It will be in your ThrottleStop / Logs folder. Copy and paste the data to www.pastebin.com and post a link here. Most of these throttling problems can be solved if ThrottleStop is setup correctly.

 

[ValtWasTaken]

I see many complaints about gaming laptops not performing well.
Usually gaming while plugged in.
One common cause is thermal throttling.
Laptop coolers must, of necessity be small and light.
They are also relatively underpowered.
If you run an app such as HWMonitor or HWinfo, you will get the current, minimum, and maximum cpu temperatures.
For intel processors, if you see a max of 100c. it means you have throttled.
The cpu will lower it's multiplier and power draw to protect itself
until the situation reverses.
At a lower multiplier, your cpu usage may well be at 100%
What can you do?
First, see that your cooler airways are clear and that the cooler fan is spinning.

It is counter-intuitive, but, try changing the windows power profile advanced functions to a max of 90% instead of the default of 100%
You may not notice the reduced cpu performance.

While laptop HDD performance is poor, it does not explain the frequency of your symptoms.
If you are so inclined, it is easy these days to clone your hdd to a ssd for an impressive boost in overall quickness.

My CPU usually works in 70c-80c in-game and it never goes over 90c. But the thing I noticed is the CPU underclocks itself to 800 MHz when the "massive drop" happens and CPU usage drops to 2%-5%, but the temp is still around 70c-80c while this situation happens, so it doesn't go into a throttle.
I'm really wondering what's causing it.

 

[ValtWasTaken]

@ValtWasTaken - The 7200U has a 15W TDP rating. Most throttling problems are power limit related and not temperature related.

What laptop model do you have? Some Dell laptops from this era go through a cycle of full speed and then full throttle. This happens over and over again.

Try running ThrottleStop.

ThrottleStop 9.6 Download

ThrottleStop is a small application designed to monitor for and correct the three main types of CPU throttling that are being used on many lapto

www.techpowerup.com

Post some screenshots of the various ThrottleStop windows so I can see what features are available on your laptop. Turn on the Log File option and play a game for 15 minutes so I can see what your computer is doing. When finished testing, exit ThrottleStop so it can finalize your log file. It will be in your ThrottleStop / Logs folder. Copy and paste the data to www.pastebin.com and post a link here. Most of these throttling problems can be solved if ThrottleStop is setup correctly.

I have an Asus, but I don't remember it's model.

As I said in my reply above, my CPU is usually working on 70c-80c in-game and when that situation happens the temp is still around 70c-80c, so I really don't think the CPU is throttling.
But I'll do the ThrottleStop as you asked me to do it.

 

[ValtWasTaken]

@uWebb429 Ok so, here's the results:
https://pastebin.com/mXDSLtDz

And here's a screenshot taken before the test:
Here

 

[uWebb429]

I really don't think the CPU is throttling.

When people hear the word throttling they immediately think about thermal throttling. Your computer is not thermal throttling, it is power limit throttling. There are lots and lots of laptops that have this issue. Here is an example from your log file.

   DATE       TIME    MULTI   C0%   CKMOD  BAT_mW  TEMP    VID   POWER
2021-08-31  21:44:29  15.29   91.8  100.0       0   79   0.6606    6.4   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:30  14.00   50.7  100.0       0   79   0.6648    5.3   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:31  14.38   31.7  100.0       0   78   0.6788    4.6   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:32  18.54   15.0  100.0       0   78   0.7802    4.0   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:33  24.78   12.8  100.0       0   78   0.8701    4.4   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:34  28.47   11.0  100.0       0   78   0.9329    4.6   PL1

The far right column shows the reason for throttling. PL1 is the long term turbo power limit. The column to the left of that column shows how much power your CPU is consuming. It goes as low as 4.0 Watts and still, your computer continues to power limit throttle. The 7200U has a 15W TDP rating and the CPU temperature is under 80°C so there appears to be no legitimate reason for throttling.

The MULTI column shows that instead of your CPU running at 3100 MHz, it drops down to 1400 MHz. You will definitely notice that when gaming.

There are times when your CPU runs fine and then there are times where it goes through these throttling episodes. The log file shows this happening over and over again.

Different computers leave different options unlocked. There is no generic answer. You need to post some more screenshots before I can make some suggestions. I need to see the FIVR window, the TPL window and the Options window.

 

[ValtWasTaken]

When people hear the word throttling they immediately think about thermal throttling. Your computer is not thermal throttling, it is power limit throttling. There are lots and lots of laptops that have this issue. Here is an example from your log file.

   DATE       TIME    MULTI   C0%   CKMOD  BAT_mW  TEMP    VID   POWER
2021-08-31  21:44:29  15.29   91.8  100.0       0   79   0.6606    6.4   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:30  14.00   50.7  100.0       0   79   0.6648    5.3   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:31  14.38   31.7  100.0       0   78   0.6788    4.6   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:32  18.54   15.0  100.0       0   78   0.7802    4.0   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:33  24.78   12.8  100.0       0   78   0.8701    4.4   PL1
2021-08-31  21:44:34  28.47   11.0  100.0       0   78   0.9329    4.6   PL1

The far right column shows the reason for throttling. PL1 is the long term turbo power limit. The column to the left of that column shows how much power your CPU is consuming. It goes as low as 4.0 Watts and still, your computer continues to power limit throttle. The 7200U has a 15W TDP rating and the CPU temperature is under 80°C so there appears to be no legitimate reason for throttling.

The MULTI column shows that Instead of your CPU running at 3100 MHz, it drops down to 1400 MHz. You will definitely notice that when gaming.

There are times when your CPU runs fine and then there are times where it goes through these throttling episodes. The log file shows this happening over and over again.

Different computers leave different options unlocked. There is no generic answer. You need to post some more screenshots before I can make some suggestions. I need to see the FIVR window, the TPL window and the Options window.

Thanks for explaining, I don't know so much detail about processors so I might be wrong in some stuff.
I won't be able to get on my computer for a few days, but I'll send the screenshots as soon as I can.

 

[ValtWasTaken]

@uWebb429 I got some time to get on my computer and take the screenshots, here's all the screenshots you asked for:
FIVR:

https://imgur.com/a/zAcpm1Q

View: https://imgur.com/a/zAcpm1Q

TPL:

https://imgur.com/a/509QU6U

View: https://imgur.com/a/509QU6U

Options:

https://imgur.com/a/o6ueHT9

View: https://imgur.com/a/o6ueHT9

 

[uWebb429]

@ValtWasTaken - In the Turbo Power Limits window, check the MMIO Lock box. This will lock out the secondary power limits which are not necessary.

Clear the Disable Power Limit Control box and check the Speed Shift option.

In the Options window change PROCHOT Offset from 10 to 3. This will allow your CPU to run hotter before thermal throttling starts. The Intel default for this setting is 0 so setting this to 3 is not going to hurt anything.

After you make these changes, do some testing and run another log file.

 

[ValtWasTaken]

@uWebb429 I did the test again after doing changes you asked. There's no PL1 errors this time, but I still did experience some FPS drops even it's not so massive like before.
Here's the results: https://pastebin.com/G5EpNJ85

 

[uWebb429]

@ValtWasTaken - Your computer is running steady during that log file. It is maintaining the maximum 31.00 multiplier. If you need better FPS, you need to upgrade to a faster computer. There is only so much you can do with a low power 7th Gen computer.

 

[ValtWasTaken]

@ValtWasTaken - Your computer is running steady during that log file. It is maintaining the maximum 31.00 multiplier. If you need better FPS, you need to upgrade to a faster computer. There is only so much you can do with a low power 7th Gen computer.

Yeah, as expected. Thanks for trying to help me anyway, I submitted your reply as an answer.