iCUE & Very High Power Usage

[Guest]

I did not see a thread about this specific issue, so if there is please disregard and point me in that direction. I also wasn't sure which section this was supposed to go in, since it's a laptop but deals with a program. This can also be considered more of a PSA if anything.

 

TL;DR

The iCUE software creates a massive power drain after install which shortened my battery to one hour of use...idling.

 

Longer Version

I recently began to experience terrible battery life on my laptop (specs below) recently and so wanted to investigate the issue. I don't expect much on a 'gaming' laptop, but I figured just over an hour doing nothing but having Chrome open was unacceptable. I also noted that the fans were at a constant 'whirring'...not fully ramped up but obviously in use attempting to cool the system. Long story short, I discovered that after I uninstalled the iCUE software (program used to interface with my Corsair headphones), the power drain issue was magically gone and I was now getting much better battery life, upwards of four hours (which for me is good and am perfectly happy with). But did the software really do this? I installed the program and tested it and sure enough, the problem was back...uninstalled it and it went away. I posted some screen shots of my Task Manager before the install and after, with the ONLY difference between the two was this piece of software. I noticed that the 'System' process is the center of my issue, and after Googling apparently that's like THE process that controls like everything. Great.

 

So I guess I'm curious, anyone else know what's going on? Is this a Corsair, Razer or Windows issue? A combination of all three? I don't NEED the software to use the headphones, but I'm somewhat baffled that it would have this affect on my system...could it be impacting others? For the record I have the latest Windows Updates and am grabbing the software from Corsair's website and it's the default install.

 

System

Razer 15 Base Model 2020

i7 10750H

16GB RAM

RTX 2060

Razer Blade 15 Base Edition - Full HD 144Hz - GeForce RTX 2060 - Black | PC

 

 

[Thoryan94]

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I just stumbled onto the same issue. Just bought a MSI GE76 Raider with 3080 and battery life was 4-5 hours before installing iCUE, but after installing iCUE I'm lucky to get 1.5 hours. Guess I'll be configuring the hardware profiles.