CPU always runs at max frequency. Why ?

[Ahsan_012]

My CPU always runs at max frequency. I don't want it. Already tried :

1. Reset BIOS to Default

2. Updated BIOS

3. Restore Default in Power Plan. (It is set to Balanced now)

 

(My CPU is overclocked now as you can see but it doesn't matter whether it is overclocked or not it always runs at max frequency)

 

My specification :

Motherboard : MSI Z490 Gaming Edge WIFI

CPU : Intel Core i7-10700K (5.1GHz all core, Core Voltage : 1.350V)

CPU Cooler : MSI MAG Coreliquid 360R

GPU : Colorful iGame 3080 Advanced OC

PSU : Corsair RM 750X

[TukangUsapEmenq]

Well, it's a desktop CPU, so perhaps it's supposed to be like that, unless if you're under-clocking it.

Or perhaps enable power efficiency mode if there's any.

[DoctorNick]

Check HWinfo64 or CPU-Z

Cam is not very great. You can see the curve in cam. It's not at max all the time, but as I said, try one of the other programs. 

[DoctorNick]

Just now, dhannemon13 said:

Well, it's a desktop CPU, so perhaps it's supposed to be like that, unless if you're under-clocking it.

Or perhaps enable power efficiency mode if there's any.

At idle it's 800mhz at default

[Kilrah]

That's standard defaults for high performance desktop boards, you can see if you can enable speedstep, C-States and other dynamic adjustments in the BIOS.

[Ahsan_012]

3 hours ago, DoctorNick said:

Check HWinfo64 or CPU-Z

Cam is not very great. You can see the curve in cam. It's not at max all the time, but as I said, try one of the other programs. 

 

[Ahsan_012]

3 hours ago, DoctorNick said:

At idle it's 800mhz at default

Yes. It should be 800MHz at default. It was 800MHz until one day I turned on the XMP. Then it never came down from then.

[DoctorNick]

2 hours ago, Ahsan_012 said:

Yes. It should be 800MHz at default. It was 800MHz until one day I turned on the XMP. Then it never came down from then.

Check bios for thermal velocity boost (TVB) - if set to auto, set to disabled.

[unclewebb]

@Ahsan_012 Your Windows power plan controls if your CPU slows down when idle. Set it to Balanced mode if you want a slow CPU.

 

 

The best way to reduce power consumption when idle is to enable the C states. When a core is idle, it will enter the low power C7 state where it is disconnected from the internal clock and voltage rail. That means the core is sitting at 0 MHz and 0 volts, 99% of the time. Not sure why people still like to see their idle CPUs at 800 MHz. There are better options available. If an overclock is stable, it will still be stable with the C states enabled.

 

Here is an example of two more cores running at the exact same speed as your 10700K.

Big difference in idle power consumption which also means low idle temps and zero fan noise.

 

 

 

[Ahsan_012]

17 minutes ago, unclewebb said:

@Ahsan_012 Your Windows power plan controls if your CPU slows down when idle. Set it to Balanced mode if you want a slow CPU.

 

 

The best way to reduce power consumption when idle is to enable the C states. When a core is idle, it will enter the low power C7 state where it is disconnected from the internal clock and voltage rail. That means the core is sitting at 0 MHz and 0 volts, 99% of the time. Not sure why people still like to see their idle CPUs at 800 MHz. There are better options available. If an overclock is stable, it will still be stable with the C states enabled.

 

Here is an example of two more cores running at the exact same speed as your 10700K.

Big difference in idle power consumption which also means low idle temps and zero fan noise.

 

 

 

My CPU power plan is in Balanced mode already. I just wanted to know if something is wrong there. I guess running at high frequency doesn't necessarily means high power consumption right ? I am currently running on 5.1GHz all core at 1.350V Core voltage with C-State enabled. It is pretty stable bagging a score of 1351(single core) and 13000(multi core) in Cinebench R23. Temperature barely goes around 80 Degree under 100% load. If there is no power consumption issue there on idle state, I guess I am okay with running at 5.1GHz all the time.

[unclewebb]

@Ahsan_012 The screenshot you posted shows one thread at 92% load. An Intel CPU is not designed to slow down with that kind of load on it.

 

When your computer is idle, doe HWiNFO show that your C states are enabled? Some motherboards disable the C states as soon as you enable XMP. Your minimum power consumption is 54.27W. That is a lot more than the 1.0W that it takes to run my CPU when idle. It looks like your C states are disabled. 

 

47 minutes ago, Ahsan_012 said:

13000(multi core) in Cinebench R23

An intel 10th Gen, 8 core CPU, should be closer to 14000 in R23 when running at 5.1 GHz. Your CPU is probably power limit throttling during this test. That means it is not actually running at the full 5.1 GHz all core. The problem might be that you have too much stuff running in the background when Cinebench testing. If one thread is always fully loaded running background tasks, you will see a similar drop in all core performance.

 

[Ahsan_012]

7 hours ago, unclewebb said:

@Ahsan_012 The screenshot you posted shows one thread at 92% load. An Intel CPU is not designed to slow down with that kind of load on it.

 

When your computer is idle, doe HWiNFO show that your C states are enabled? Some motherboards disable the C states as soon as you enable XMP. Your minimum power consumption is 54.27W. That is a lot more than the 1.0W that it takes to run my CPU when idle. It looks like your C states are disabled. 

 

An intel 10th Gen, 8 core CPU, should be closer to 14000 in R23 when running at 5.1 GHz. Your CPU is probably power limit throttling during this test. That means it is not actually running at the full 5.1 GHz all core. The problem might be that you have too much stuff running in the background when Cinebench testing. If one thread is always fully loaded running background tasks, you will see a similar drop in all core performance.

 

Actually I found out the problem. I use rainmeter in my everyday life and completely forgot about it. Turned it off and CPU cooled down. Is the power consumption okay now ?

 

And, Intel C-State is in auto mode in Bios. Should I enable it ?

[unclewebb]

Your package power consumption shows 25.79W. The screenshot I posted shows 1.0W. That is still a big difference. 

 

As far as I know, CPUID HWMonitor does not report C state activity. Try using HWiNFO.

No one knows for sure what an AUTO setting means in the BIOS. Your motherboard might change the meaning of AUTO after you enable XMP. If HWiNFO does not report any C state activity, that means they are not enabled. 

 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, unclewebb said:

 

No one knows for sure what an AUTO setting means in the BIOS. Your motherboard might change the meaning of AUTO after you enable XMP. 

 

 

+1 - My Asus board flat out pops a warning about enabling XMP and the consequences of overclocking. It over-volts Vccio and system agent voltages as well as putting the cpu into a high performance state. Which is good I think. Something about increasing performance or something. The all core loads should be lower than 5100mhz however...

[Ahsan_012]

15 minutes ago, unclewebb said:

Your package power consumption shows 25.79W. The screenshot I posted shows 1.0W. That is still a big difference. 

 

As far as I know, CPUID HWMonitor does not report C state activity. Try using HWiNFO.

No one knows for sure what an AUTO setting means in the BIOS. Your motherboard might change the meaning of AUTO after you enable XMP. If HWiNFO does not report any C state activity, that means they are not enabled. 

 

What does this means ? C-State not working ? 

[unclewebb]

5 minutes ago, Ahsan_012 said:

C-State not working ? 

Your screenshot shows that the C0 C state is working but it does not show C7 Residency like my screenshot shows. Not working means that the BIOS has likely disabled these. If you enable C7 in the BIOS, this should show up in HWiNFO and it should reduce your idle power consumption and temperatures. When performing any task, any unused cores will automatically be reduced to 0 MHz and 0 volts if these cores can enter the low power C7 state.

[Ahsan_012]

24 minutes ago, unclewebb said:

Your package power consumption shows 25.79W. The screenshot I posted shows 1.0W. That is still a big difference. 

 

As far as I know, CPUID HWMonitor does not report C state activity. Try using HWiNFO.

No one knows for sure what an AUTO setting means in the BIOS. Your motherboard might change the meaning of AUTO after you enable XMP. If HWiNFO does not report any C state activity, that means they are not enabled. 

 

After enabling the C-State.

[Ahsan_012]

3 minutes ago, unclewebb said:

Your screenshot shows that the C0 C state is working but it does not show C7 Residency like my screenshot shows. Not working means that the BIOS has likely disabled these. If you enable C7 in the BIOS, this should show up in HWiNFO and it should reduce your idle power consumption and temperatures. When performing any task, any unused cores will automatically be reduced to 0 MHz and 0 volts if these cores can enter the low power C7 state.

Should I change "Package C State limit" value where I can select from C0-C7 ? Or enable C1E Support ?

[unclewebb]

Your C state data shows that you still have a lot of stuff running in the background. I keep a close eye on things and avoid any programs that run 24/7 in the background. This is an easy way to increase performance. My cores average over 99% in C7 when my computer is idle at the desktop. Windows is very efficient when setup properly. Many apps are not.

 

My desktop computer only uses package C3. This is not as important as looking for useless background apps.

 

[Ahsan_012]

9 minutes ago, unclewebb said:

Your C state data shows that you still have a lot of stuff running in the background. I keep a close eye on things and avoid any programs that run 24/7 in the background. This is an easy way to increase performance. My cores average over 99% in C7 when my computer is idle at the desktop. Windows is very efficient when setup properly. Many apps are not.

 

My desktop computer only uses package C3. This is not as important as looking for useless background apps.

 

My CPU is barely using 1%. I am an architect and continuously use many Autodesk Apps, Rendering Software and all. I guess somehow they are messing it up. But can't find them.

[unclewebb]

5 minutes ago, Ahsan_012 said:

My CPU is barely using 1%

The tab you are on in the Task Manager is not accurate. Try using the Details tab or the Resource Monitor. You might find something in there. Some monitoring apps are not very efficient and interfere with the CPU spending time in C7. GlassWire might be a problem.

 

This is more of an issue for laptops. At least you found one program that was chewing up the CPU cycles that you can probably live without.