Question What's causing slowness? CPU is stable/low temp, but high/unstable usage (screenshots)

[wifeguy]

computer suddenly got really slow. lagging, stuttering, having to wait a while after clicking anything for it to respond. games are running poorly.

things ive tried

• complete hard drive reformat / wipe and fresh reinstall windows
• restarting a million times please dont suggest this
• updating all my drivers
• antivirus scans, including boot-time scan that would catch it at a lower level

i am suspecting my cpu is the issue. my cpu usage according to coretemp etc is notably higher than task manager reports. the usage seems to be really high while the temp remains almost perfectly 38c (normal). are these graphs abnormal at all? physically it feels normal temp and the fans in my case are all running fine. is it like throttling itself somehow?

its just so weird cause i used to be able to run overwatch at ultra settings in 60fps, and now it barely hits 40fps on lowest settings. but my gpu stats seem fine, its def not a gpu issue. even on a completely fresh windows install with no background processes it was still super laggy whenever i clicked on like, file explorer. i dont get it! please help 🙁

basic specs

• mobo: msi z270-a pro
• cpu: intel i7-7700k (4.2ghz, 4 core 8 thread)
• gpu: nvidia geforce gtx 1070
• ram: 16gb
• psu: corsair ax1500i (yes 1500 watts)

 

[rgd1101]

the temp doesn't change. something wrong with the senor

 

[wifeguy]

yeah, the temp being limited to <40c seems to be a central issue. i also found out that my cpu speed/frequency is throttled at 0.8ghz!! i just cant figure out how to fix it 🤔

 

[wifeguy]

turns out this is a well known issue with msi motherboards. i just downloaded Throttlestop and unchecked BD PROCHOT, instantly solved the problem. this is POSSIBLY very unsafe but in the case of a faulty sensor it should be fine :3 ??

 

[rgd1101]

if it was stuck at 0.8ghz, that not the senor issue.
the temp should go much higher when you gaming.