Random High CPU Usages with i9 13900K (Happens only from time to time and only when connected to internet)

Super panda · March 19, 2023

Hey,

So I have this really weird issue with my PC these that I noticed recently. I was playing a game (Elden Ring) a few days ago and then I noticed my CPU usage is around 70%-75% instead of 15%-20% which is the normal CPU usage for when playing that specific game. I should also mention that this tanks my FPS aswell (From 130 FPS to like 85 FPS, basically my PC becomes a big CPU bottelneck when this happens). The interesting thing this is that whenever I go to task manager to check why the CPU usage is so high, My CPU usage becomes normal again, so in game it's around the 15%-20% that it used to be and my FPS is as it should be. Then after 10-15 min the same thing happens until I alt + tab and go to task manager and CPU usage goes back to a normale 15% usage.

Now I thought this only happens when playing game... but no, I was wrong, this even happens in desktop when doing daily stuff, not just in games. When this happens my CPU usage is around 70% or so and I can hear the fans of my AIO cooler ramping up so I know it's this issue again and the only way to resolve is it check a software (like cpu z, Cpuid HWmonitor, Task manager etc) that shows the CPU usage and then CPU usage goes down again. To give an example of how bad this issue is, before I had this issue my GPU score in 3Dmark time spy was 40000 + with RTX 4090 and I had a CPU score of 20000+ with my 13900K , now with this random high CPU usage I get a score of 28000-30000 for my RTX 4090 (CPU bottlenecked) and a score of 11000 for my 13900K.

So at first I thought maybe there is some kind of malware that's making me have this weird issue, so I ran a multiple tests malware bytes, adw cleaner etc etc and while I found some malwares, none of them were the cause of this issue. I also deleted some useless software, no success. I should also mention that this random high CPU usage only happens when I'm connected to internet. If I disconnect the internet, this doesn't happen hence why I still think this is malware/software related. It has nothing to do with software update or any other program, there is litterally nothing that uses so much CPU usage when this happens, it's not detectable in task manager, the only way I see the high CPU usage is whenever I have the Riva tuner OSD turned on so I can monitor the FPS, CPU usage etc. My PC is pretty optimised and I have no overheating issues.

Honestly I never had such a weird issue before... If anyone has any idea how to fix this or how to troubleshoot , that would be much appriciate it. Ofc reinstalling windows is one way to probably fix this issue but that costs way too much time and energy.

My PC Spec:

GPU: Asus Rog Strix White RTX 4090 OC

CPU: i9 13900K OC

CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i 420mm Elite Capellix AIO

Motherboard: Z690-A Asus Rog Strix Gaming Wifi D4 White

Ram: 16 GB G.Skill Trident Z loyal 4800 Mhz CL 18

PSU: Corsair 1200Hi Platinum PSU

Case: Corsair 7000D Airflow

OS: Windows 11 Pro with latest updates and drivers

Looking forward to some response.

Thanks a lot in advance!

RONOTHAN## · March 19, 2023

11 minutes ago, Super panda said:

The interesting thing this is that whenever I go to task manager to check why the CPU usage is so high, My CPU usage becomes normal again

You've got a virus. That is common malware behavior, odds are its one that most Anti-Malware software doesn't detect. You really should just reinstall Windows, it may cost time and energy to do but it's less than trying to go through all the startup files and checking them individually to see what is legit and what is posing as legit and mining some sort of coin in the background.