CPU usage at 100%

[GoBanaenae]

Hello, I've been having issues with my CPU lately,

My CPU is an intel core i3-540 (yes, I know it's very old) and whenever I play my games (mainly CSGO) the CPU usage seems to skyrocket to 100% in all 4 threads and it affected my FPS greatly (CSGO from 60FPS to 10-20FPS) I benchmark my other games as well and it's the same problem CPU always goes up to 100% while my GPU (GT 1030) is only at 10-15% usage. I never had this issue before when I built my PC a year ago. 

Another note is that the CPU thermal is at 60c at idle and I already checked if there's any demanding programs that runs in the background, there is none. and CPU 2 and CPU 4 Usage is 100% at idle. 

Thank you in advance for your help 

[glenalz81]

60c at idle doesn't sound great. What is your cooling situation?

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

5 minutes ago, GoBanaenae said:

Another note is that the CPU thermal is at 60c at idle and I already checked if there's any demanding programs that runs in the background, there is none. and CPU 2 and CPU 4 Usage is 100% at idle. 

then its not idle for sure. better solve that first.

try some antivirus programs and expect to reinstall fresh windows if everything fails.

[GoBanaenae]

4 minutes ago, dgsddfgdfhgs said:

then its not idle for sure. better solve that first.

try some antivirus programs and expect to reinstall fresh windows if everything fails.

Thank you for the quick reply! As far as I know my PC doesn't have anything malicious, but I will double check it. Will Malwarebytes suffice? 

[GoBanaenae]

6 minutes ago, glenalz81 said:

60c at idle doesn't sound great. What is your cooling situation?

My cooling situation? I'm not sure what you mean, sorry but I guess I use a standard fan cooler. 

[manikyath]

60°c idle doesnt mean much, what sort of load temps are we talking about?

 

the i3-540 is quite fast to overheat and throttle, talking from experience here.

[Schakal_No1]

If task manager does not show any programs hogging the CPU and you are still at 100%, you most likely have some bad driver. I'd just reinstall the PC and monitor, at which step the CPU is already in such heavy usage after install:

- is it already after windows install?

- does ist start after MB driver?

...

[GoBanaenae]

6 hours ago, manikyath said:

60°c idle doesnt mean much, what sort of load temps are we talking about?

 

the i3-540 is quite fast to overheat and throttle, talking from experience here.

Terribly sorry for the late response! 60c idle and while gaming as well (hovers around 60-67 but rarely reaches 70), I don't remember the past temps of the cpu when I had no issues with it, all I know is that the CPU usage was never like this. Also do you know any solutions on how to fix the CPU 2 and CPU 4 getting 100% usage while idle? 

[GoBanaenae]

6 hours ago, Schakal_No1 said:

If task manager does not show any programs hogging the CPU and you are still at 100%, you most likely have some bad driver. I'd just reinstall the PC and monitor, at which step the CPU is already in such heavy usage after install:

- is it already after windows install?

- does ist start after MB driver?

...

Reinstall the PC and Monitor? I don't quite get that I'm sorry, can you please elaborate? 

[manikyath]

1 hour ago, GoBanaenae said:

Terribly sorry for the late response! 60c idle and while gaming as well (hovers around 60-67 but rarely reaches 70), I don't remember the past temps of the cpu when I had no issues with it, all I know is that the CPU usage was never like this. Also do you know any solutions on how to fix the CPU 2 and CPU 4 getting 100% usage while idle? 

while the game is running (get into something like a bot match or practisce, and set it to windowed mode to make troubleshooting easier)

open task manager and note the top 5 processes (and their value) when sorting by:

- CPU usage (obviously)

- RAM usage

- disk usage (this one will often make windows services pop up..)

 

chances are, when it's a software issue, the problem will be among this list.

[Bitter]

Check the minimum processor state under the power plan settings for Windows, it should be set to 0% for minimum state and 100% for maximum state.

[Princess Luna]

Honestly there's no miracles, upgrade the CPU.

[Bitter]

That won't fix the high use at idle though, or the 60c idling temps.

 

Otherwise I do agree, faster 1st Gen Core I CPUs are cheap but the upgrades for the 540 aren't so great, all dual core I think for 1155, depends on which chipset and board. Need to know that to make any suggestions.

[GoBanaenae]

6 hours ago, Bitter said:

That won't fix the high use at idle though, or the 60c idling temps.

 

Otherwise I do agree, faster 1st Gen Core I CPUs are cheap but the upgrades for the 540 aren't so great, all dual core I think for 1155, depends on which chipset and board. Need to know that to make any suggestions.

I'm planning to upgrade to something like an i5-750 or 760 some time in the near future, but for now I wanna stick to my old one. 

[GoBanaenae]

9 hours ago, manikyath said:

while the game is running (get into something like a bot match or practisce, and set it to windowed mode to make troubleshooting easier)

open task manager and note the top 5 processes (and their value) when sorting by:

- CPU usage (obviously)

- RAM usage

- disk usage (this one will often make windows services pop up..)

 

chances are, when it's a software issue, the problem will be among this list.

Thanks, I will try that and post an update. 

[GoBanaenae]

7 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

Honestly there's no miracles, upgrade the CPU.

Yes I am planning to upgrade, but for now I want the issue fixed.