My CPU frequency drops dramatically at random times when gaming causing freezes and big FPS drops/stuttering, how can I find the cause and fix it?

[Zedaso]

Here are my PC specs:

GPU: Nvidia 980 ti - EVGA hybrid (No overclock)

CPU: Intel Skylake i7 6700k (No overclock)

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH D-15

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16 GB DDR4 (CMK16GX4M2A2133C13)

Motherboard: Asus Z170-A

PSU: Evga 650W Supernova G2

Monitor: Acer XB270hu 1440p 144hz G sync

Secondary 1080p 60hz monitor

OS: Windows 10 64 bit 

 

As an example, I was watching my CPU frequency just running around in Dark Souls 3 and here is what my CPU frequency looked like each second:
4000 Mhz - 4200 Mhz - 800 Mhz - 800 Mhz - 4000 Mhz - etc.

 

My temperatures are pretty good, I've monitored them while gaming and CPU and GPU never reach 70 degrees Celsius and everything is up to date including BIOS and all drivers.
 

Edit: I decided to check my GPU and CPU usage and noticed neither of them go over 40-50% in any game, my core clock on my GPU is only at 772 MHZ and using 778 MB in Dark Souls 3 (Testing with this game as it's probably the most demanding game I have installed right now) these values don't seem right, I feel they should be higher? I don't know much about it though.

[Jurrunio]

Does CPU frequency drop in stress tests?

[Zedaso]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Does CPU frequency drop in stress tests?

I will do another stress test and find out, not done one in a while and can't remember. When I close everything and just idle at my desk top other than having monitoring software open, my CPU frequency drops to 799 MHZ even with my temperatures at 27 degrees C

[Jurrunio]

Just now, Zedaso said:

I will do another stress test and find out, not done one in a while and can't remember. When I close everything and just idle at my desk top other than having monitoring software open, my CPU frequency drops to 799 MHZ even with my temperatures at 27 degrees C

It's normal for clock speed to drop at idle 

[svetty]

my older, 3770k had this issue too, at first i tried disabling all power saving features in windows as those can cause this issue, ended up having to disable C-states in bios for it to get fixed proper, downside of disabling C-states is that your cpu will never go into power saving mode so you end up using quite alot more electricity

[Zedaso]

 

20 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Does CPU frequency drop in stress tests?

After 10 mins stress testing in Prime95, I can say CPU frequency does not drop when stress testing, but as soon as I stop the stress test my CPU frequency dropped, and it definitely drops in games.

[Zedaso]

12 minutes ago, svetty said:

my older, 3770k had this issue too, at first i tried disabling all power saving features in windows as those can cause this issue, ended up having to disable C-states in bios for it to get fixed proper, downside of disabling C-states is that your cpu will never go into power saving mode so you end up using quite alot more electricity

That's interesting, how much more electricity are we talking though?

[svetty]

4 minutes ago, Zedaso said:

That's interesting, how much more electricity are we talking though?

I don't know the exact numbers, but it would depend on how much your PC just sits in Idle. disabling all but C0 (C0= full power state) means your CPU will stay at max frequency all the time, its very common for people that want to OC as high as possible disable c-states due to the CPU going from a idle state to full with a OC can give you BSOD.

[RawLobster]

33 minutes ago, Zedaso said:

That's interesting, how much more electricity are we talking though?

It wouldn't be much if any, a few percent at most if I were to guess while using it. The more power would really just come from it idling but not downclocking, which is already true if you OC. Even then it's not that much. It is possible that windows power settings can mess with stuff like that especially in games, so it's worth a try.

[Jurrunio]

55 minutes ago, Zedaso said:

 

After 10 mins stress testing in Prime95, I can say CPU frequency does not drop when stress testing, but as soon as I stop the stress test my CPU frequency dropped, and it definitely drops in games.

You can try high performance power plan inside windows. Basically the same as disabling C-states, but works in a software level.

[Zedaso]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

You can try high performance power plan inside windows. Basically the same as disabling C-states, but works in a software level.

I've tried playing with all the power settings, doesn't change anything, still getting random frequency drops in games which drops my FPS and makes the game stutter, it's awful.

[TheRandomness]

-Thread moved to Troubleshooting.