CPU @ 100%

[Emaa]

Hi!
Lately I found out that my i7-13700k runs at 100% (with all its temps and power draws relatives) where it wasn't before (surely at least a month ago)
I noticed that it runs at 100% for some minutes after I turn on the PC, while I use some more demanding software (such as actively scanning for viruses, or 3D modeling software like Zbrush or Maya) and mainly when I'm gaming.
I found out so far these 3 games where this issue happens: Cyberpunk, TheFinals and The First Descendant. But I can't exclude it may happens in all the other games.

The CPU usage isn't 100% all the time, but it looks like it alternates between a fairly normal usage (3-4% in desktop and around 20-30% in games) and 100% but especially in games it's mainly on the 100% side and falls down to normal usage during dialogues or cutscenes (real time rendered too).

The system is up to date graphic drivers included.

[Nuzicx]

Start with what process is using 100% and if it's expected or abnormal

[Emaa]

It's the application I'm using: for example in the image The First Descendant was using roughly 90% which is pretty unusual if you ask me for that processor.
And the same can apply for the other apps or games previously mentioned.
I've also never found an usage that high except for benchmarks.

[DreamCat04]

18 minutes ago, Emaa said:

It's the application I'm using: for example in the image The First Descendant was using roughly 90% which is pretty unusual if you ask me for that processor.
And the same can apply for the other apps or games previously mentioned.
I've also never found an usage that high except for benchmarks.

Maybe the game just does something so intensive that it requires all of the cores at full capacity? My 12700K also often hits 100% usage in one particular game when rendering lighting and I can't get it to 100% very often. Fortnite is also quite heavy on the CPU for the first match

[PowerPCFan]

23 minutes ago, Emaa said:

It's the application I'm using: for example in the image The First Descendant was using roughly 90% which is pretty unusual if you ask me for that processor.
And the same can apply for the other apps or games previously mentioned.
I've also never found an usage that high except for benchmarks.

It's not that unusual for a game or intense application to max out your CPU or GPU. 

[Emaa]

Just now, DreamCat04 said:

Maybe the game just does something so intensive that it requires all of the cores at full capacity? My 12700K also often hits 100% usage in one particular game when rendering lighting and I can't get it to 100% very often. Fortnite is also quite heavy on the CPU for the first match

I dunno. I'm totally sure it was doing fine less than a month ago (not over 40% in games).
And it's not about a single game, but now it looks like it does that on at least most of the apps (if not all of them)

[Emaa]

Just now, PowerPCFan said:

It's not that unusual for a game or intense application to max out your CPU or GPU. 

I know, but it unusual having this behavior on all applications from one day to the next

[PowerPCFan]

Just now, Emaa said:

I know, but it unusual having this behavior on all applications from one day to the next

Yeah I agree with that, can you list all of the apps you've noticed this behavior in? And you said it doesn't happen with all apps closed? 

[Emaa]

1 hour ago, PowerPCFan said:

Yeah I agree with that, can you list all of the apps you've noticed this behavior in? And you said it doesn't happen with all apps closed? 

It happens for some minutes right after turning on the PC, then looks pretty normal.

It happens surely on Cyberpunk, TheFinals, The First Descendant, scanning with Bitdefender, Halo Infinite, Scorn, Hellblade 1 and maybe more (I'll try 'em later)

 

-----------------------------------------------

EDIT: I have the same problem on Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Ghost Recon Wildlands.

In most cases it reaches the 100% even in menus and I get 100% spikes on opening basically all the applications until it "loads everything".
It looks almost like it rushes at 100% as soon as it gets a workload a bit heavier than idling

[Emaa]

Then, as you can see in the image, it loads all cores at max. Which is also weird :!

[Haswellx86]

It's kind of weird. Antivirus can give high CPU usage, but then you should see that CPU usage exclusive to the antivirus program and not mixed with other programs. Maybe try disabling your antivirus if any and the default Windows defender as well.

 

As a fun fact, there are many hidden power options in Windows, which you can navigate through - https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/windows-power-plan-settings-explorer-utility.416058/. There is one option called "Disable Idle", which if checked, disables CPU idling, and you will also see pure 100% CPU usage in task manager.

 

I don't think all this has to do anything with it. Idk man.

 

[Emaa]

3 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

It's kind of weird. Antivirus can give high CPU usage, but then you should see that CPU usage exclusive to the antivirus program and not mixed with other programs. Maybe try disabling your antivirus if any and the default Windows defender as well.

 

As a fun fact, there are many hidden power options in Windows, which you can navigate through - https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/windows-power-plan-settings-explorer-utility.416058/. There is one option called "Disable Idle", which if checked, disables CPU idling, and you will also see pure 100% CPU usage in task manager.

 

I don't think all this has to do anything with it. Idk man.

 

But if I'm not doing a scan I get < 1% of usage from all the antivirus processes combined, so it shouldn't be its fault too

[Haswellx86]

1 hour ago, Emaa said:

But if I'm not doing a scan I get < 1% of usage from all the antivirus processes combined, so it shouldn't be its fault too

Then you have no idea how much the antivirus programs are active even when not scanning. If the antivirus software supports real time protection, which it should, it is constantly monitoring everything a process is doing and every file activity. They are a big toll on your system. No matter how fast of a system you have, you will see performance improvement by disabling them, not only because there is less load on the system, but because stuff is not being stopped for checking and monitoring by the antivirus engine.

[Emaa]

12 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

Then you have no idea how much the antivirus programs are active even when not scanning. If the antivirus software supports real time protection, which it should, it is constantly monitoring everything a process is doing and every file activity. They are a big toll on your system. No matter how fast of a system you have, you will see performance improvement by disabling them, not only because there is less load on the system, but because stuff is not being stopped for checking and monitoring by the antivirus engine.

Okay, but it always ran fine even with the antivirus on, I don't know why now it should behave this way.
I can try disabling it, but I'm confident nothing will change

Edit: I tested some games with the real time protection turned off, and nothing changes :l

[GuiltySpark_]

Can you verify with something other than Task Manager what is going on? HWiNFO, for example. TM isn't exactly the most trustworthy option. 

 

Total usage and CPU package power. The latter of which will confirm if its actually fully utilized or there is some sort of reporting bug, of which I've seen before.

 

If this was my system I'd be in full lockdown/cleanup mode. EVERY piece of software I don't absolutely need would be uninstalled. Startup tab in Task manager would be gone through and everything I don't need starting at boot disabled. If I didn't find a resolution within an hour or two I'd be whipping out the Win 11 install USB as I'd consider the current install hosed and I don't have to time beyond that to troubleshoot.

[Emaa]

13 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

Can you verify with something other than Task Manager what is going on? HWiNFO, for example. TM isn't exactly the most trustworthy option. 

 

Total usage and CPU package power. The latter of which will confirm if its actually fully utilized or there is some sort of reporting bug, of which I've seen before.

 

If this was my system I'd be in full lockdown/cleanup mode. EVERY piece of software I don't absolutely need would be uninstalled. Startup tab in Task manager would be gone through and everything I don't need starting at boot disabled. If I didn't find a resolution within an hour or two I'd be whipping out the Win 11 install USB as I'd consider the current install hosed and I don't have to time beyond that to troubleshoot.

I checked with HWI too, and all cores looks used at 100% 
 

Probably tomorrow I'll start uninstalling unnecessary software, then :!

[GuiltySpark_]

1 minute ago, Emaa said:

I checked with HWI too, and all cores looks used at 100% 

What about CPU package power and temps? If you collapse a lot of those options we'll be able to see more.

[Emaa]

 

9 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

What about CPU package power and temps? If you collapse a lot of those options we'll be able to see more.

Temps rises until roughly 90-92°C for P-cores and around 10 degrees less for E ones

[Emaa]

I also noticed that the first process that uses the CPU most is "System" and after some digging I found out that it may be a malware infection, so I installed malwarebytes and did a quick scan, but I didn't found anything relevant.

Eventually tomorrow I'll do complete scans too :l

[Haswellx86]

1 hour ago, Emaa said:

I also noticed that the first process that uses the CPU most is "System"

Well that gives some information. It is not a malware doing this. The System process is the Windows Kernel. You can't kill it.

 

Well I don't actually remember specifically the System process taking up CPU. Usually there are some other background processes which sometimes just choose to wake up and fully eat up a CPU thread for some time. You can kill those but not the System process. The only thing to do is wait for whatever it is doing to stop. Additionally, if it is doing noticeable drive I/O, then you can get some more information in Resource Monitor (Win+R > resmon). In the disk tab, you can see what processes are doing drive I/O and where. The System process will usually have multiple sub processes running, and it is commin to see them doing I/O with the page file, the drive MFT, some important DLLs, etc.

 

1 hour ago, Emaa said:

and after some digging

Don't keep digging on trash websites and posts. It is highly unlikely that it is a malware. If so, you should actively see wrong stuff on your computer.

 

Actually, you still haven't shown us the processes tab in task manager. Show is some pictures of your task manager (processes tab) when you are having the problem.

[Nuzicx]

Is the CPU hanging (see spoiler) or is it an excessive load, ie it has processes that want to execute but are waiting for free CPU time (see stackoverflow link to troubleshoot). if the load is below your core/thread count your Okay. Load is measured over minutes. Please disable anti-virus during testing.

 

If the CPU's actions are non-nefarious (not a virus), just being utilized to its full potential like in a game, i don't see a problem. I see 97% usage in games, its normal, yes the game can run on lower spec'd systems but it's trying to give you the best experience, thus more usage.

 

Spoiler

A CPU hang, also known as a system hang or freeze, occurs when the central processing unit (CPU) stops responding to inputs or executing processes as expected. This can happen for a variety of reasons, including:

1. Software Issues:

   • Buggy or incompatible software.
   • Infinite loops or deadlocks in programs.
   • Driver conflicts or issues.

2. Hardware Problems:

   • Overheating of the CPU.
   • Faulty RAM or other hardware components.
   • Power supply issues.

3. Resource Exhaustion:

   • Insufficient memory or disk space.
   • Excessive CPU usage by one or more processes.

4. Operating System Malfunctions:

   • Corrupt system files.
   • Issues with system updates or configurations.

When a CPU hang occurs, the system typically becomes unresponsive, and user inputs (such as keyboard or mouse actions) may not have any effect. The only way to recover from a hang is often to restart the system.

Do you have a specific situation or system in mind where this issue is occurring?

 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/630503/getting-system-load-on-windows

[Emaa]

14 hours ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

Well that gives some information. It is not a malware doing this. The System process is the Windows Kernel. You can't kill it.

 

Well I don't actually remember specifically the System process taking up CPU. Usually there are some other background processes which sometimes just choose to wake up and fully eat up a CPU thread for some time. You can kill those but not the System process. The only thing to do is wait for whatever it is doing to stop. Additionally, if it is doing noticeable drive I/O, then you can get some more information in Resource Monitor (Win+R > resmon). In the disk tab, you can see what processes are doing drive I/O and where. The System process will usually have multiple sub processes running, and it is commin to see them doing I/O with the page file, the drive MFT, some important DLLs, etc.

 

Don't keep digging on trash websites and posts. It is highly unlikely that it is a malware. If so, you should actively see wrong stuff on your computer.

 

Actually, you still haven't shown us the processes tab in task manager. Show is some pictures of your task manager (processes tab) when you are having the problem.

 

[Emaa]

2 hours ago, Nuzicx said:

Is the CPU hanging (see spoiler) or is it an excessive load, ie it has processes that want to execute but are waiting for free CPU time (see stackoverflow link to troubleshoot). if the load is below your core/thread count your Okay. Load is measured over minutes. Please disable anti-virus during testing.

 

If the CPU's actions are non-nefarious (not a virus), just being utilized to its full potential like in a game, i don't see a problem. I see 97% usage in games, its normal, yes the game can run on lower spec'd systems but it's trying to give you the best experience, thus more usage.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

A CPU hang, also known as a system hang or freeze, occurs when the central processing unit (CPU) stops responding to inputs or executing processes as expected. This can happen for a variety of reasons, including:

1. Software Issues:

   • Buggy or incompatible software.
   • Infinite loops or deadlocks in programs.
   • Driver conflicts or issues.

2. Hardware Problems:

   • Overheating of the CPU.
   • Faulty RAM or other hardware components.
   • Power supply issues.

3. Resource Exhaustion:

   • Insufficient memory or disk space.
   • Excessive CPU usage by one or more processes.

4. Operating System Malfunctions:

   • Corrupt system files.
   • Issues with system updates or configurations.

When a CPU hang occurs, the system typically becomes unresponsive, and user inputs (such as keyboard or mouse actions) may not have any effect. The only way to recover from a hang is often to restart the system.

Do you have a specific situation or system in mind where this issue is occurring?

 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/630503/getting-system-load-on-windows

It uses literally all the threads the CPU has and the 100% load goes on as long as I play/use "heavy" applications.
It's not caused by an antivirus, I already made test disabling them and the issue's still there.
It's a i3 13th gen a game shouldn't be able to load it this much, at least not the games I play.
On top on that, it started behaving like this less than a month ago.

[Emaa]

By the way, even being at 100% the system feels still responsive as normal.
But the things that really bothers me are thermals and power draws, because it reaches up to 90-ish ° C drawing around 150+ W doing stuff that was able to achieve consuming half of that :!

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

48 minutes ago, Emaa said:

 

Well well well, look at that selfish process "bdservicehost" which is bitdefender. 
It's hogging all your CPU power for some reason and scanning 199MB/s it seems. 
Try turning off your bitdefender during games, then it should stop?