AMD CPU Runs at Full Load

[sendekyo]

I feel like this is a long shot given how bad my computer is at this point, but I'm willing to share my experience with the off chance that somebody has an idea to help fix my problem and squeeze a little more life out of this dinosaur.

First, here's my back-and-forth conversation I had with AMD:

My AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ runs near full load whenever I do anything graphically related. This includes playing games like ArcheAge, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Heroes of the Storm, watching videos on TwitchTV or YouTube, and even Hearthstone. The attachment is an example of the problem with Resource Monitor open as well as several screens of CPU-Z. I'd love to resolve this however possible. Thank you.

 

I understand that you have questions regarding processor high loading. If this is incorrect, please let me know as the information provided may change.

It seems a bottleneck of the processor performance but processor worked well.

Please double check the recommended system requirements of the game applications you using. ...

Best regards,

AMD Global Customer Care

 

I mentioned in my initial message this issue occurs regardless of the graphical context ranging anywhere from Star Wars: The Old Republic or StarCraft II to streaming videos from TwitchTV or YouTube. To describe the situation in more depth, I have dual displays and the majority of my hardware should be found on the image I previously attached, but I can share that image again if you require it. I play all of my games on the lowest settings possible in 1920x1080 and watch videos on TwitchTV/YouTube in 720p.

As for the system requirements, it appears that my hardware should meet or exceed all of them, and yet it struggles while both cores of the CPU hovers at full load.

System Requirements:

SWTOR: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/Requirements/star-wars-the-old-republic/11174?p=r

SC2: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/Requirements/starcraft-ii/10980?p=r

Hearthstone: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/hearthstone-heroes-of-warcraft/11787

Flash: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/tech-specs.html

 

The flash player requires the processor to do some decoding jobs.

If your processor usage is around 0% when idling and it rise to full load when the game application is launched, there is a great chance that the bottleneck is on the CPU side. (We assume that your computer works well and no virus infected)

Also you can experience the performance differences on other newer platform when using the same applications and graphics settings.

Best regards,

AMD Global Customer Care

Here's my idle temps:

The most aggravating part of this interaction was when the AMD rep essentially said I would experience the same issue with new hardware, which is ridiculous. Yes, I realize the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ is ancient, but I feel like my system actually ran better before I upgraded from the AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego. Aside from a full reformat or rebuild, I have tried just about everything else including updating my GPU drivers.

I think it's unreasonable to dump any more money into this thing, so if anyone has any tips that doesn't involve spending money, then I am all ears.

[SeanBond]

I feel like this is a long shot given how bad my computer is at this point, but I'm willing to share my experience with the off chance that somebody has an idea to help fix my problem and squeeze a little more life out of this dinosaur.

First, here's my back-and-forth conversation I had with AMD:

 

 

 

Here's my idle temps:

AMD4400_idle.jpg

The most aggravating part of this interaction was when the AMD rep essentially said I would experience the same issue with new hardware, which is ridiculous. Yes, I realize the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ is ancient, but I feel like my system actually ran better before I upgraded from the AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego. Aside from a full reformat or rebuild, I have tried just about everything else including updating my GPU drivers.

I think it's unreasonable to dump any more money into this thing, so if anyone has any tips that doesn't involve spending money, then I am all ears.

My mom had that cpu in her pc from 2009 lol. It's an awful processor. The fact of the matter is every time you play anything it will max out the cpu would never ever be able to keep up with your gpu. The fact you put extra cooling on it is somewhat surprising. 

[sendekyo]

My mom had that cpu in her pc from 2009 lol. It's an awful processor. The fact of the matter is every time you play anything it will max out the cpu would never ever be able to keep up with your gpu. The fact you put extra cooling on it is somewhat surprising.

What? The Zalman? It's the same cooler I've used for both the 3700+ (2005-2012) and 4400+ (2012-present). Just remember all the parts were great at the time. heh

I can't even recall if I ever had the stock cooler for the 3700+ because it may have been OEM.

[SeanBond]

What? The Zalman? It's the same cooler I've used for both the 3700+ (2005-2012) and 4400+ (2012-present). Just remember all the parts were great at the time. heh

I can't even recall if I ever had the stock cooler for the 3700+ because it may have been OEM.

the issue is that your gpu will keep putting out a rendered frames until your cpu can't keep up with the cpu calculations. Basically it's a bottleneck. You would get the same thing from having a mid range cpu and low end gpu, except your gpu would be running at 99% and you cpu wouldn't. 

[rentaspoon]

What's the issue tho? Low framerate or what?

My dads Intel core duo runs at 60 fps with the CPU at full load but it's not an issue.

Only thing I could suggest is to move to a mobo that you can over clock on the cooler you have but it would probably be a waste

[Darkman]

That CPU is quite weak for SC2.. My old i5 650 is stronger than that CPU and it chugged on SC2.. I got to say hello to 5FPS when I had giant zerg rushes come into my base..

[7850OC]

I feel like this is a long shot given how bad my computer is at this point, but I'm willing to share my experience with the off chance that somebody has an idea to help fix my problem and squeeze a little more life out of this dinosaur.

First, here's my back-and-forth conversation I had with AMD:

 

 

 

Here's my idle temps:

AMD4400_idle.jpg

The most aggravating part of this interaction was when the AMD rep essentially said I would experience the same issue with new hardware, which is ridiculous. Yes, I realize the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ is ancient, but I feel like my system actually ran better before I upgraded from the AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego. Aside from a full reformat or rebuild, I have tried just about everything else including updating my GPU drivers.

I think it's unreasonable to dump any more money into this thing, so if anyone has any tips that doesn't involve spending money, then I am all ears.

 

 

What? The Zalman? It's the same cooler I've used for both the 3700+ (2005-2012) and 4400+ (2012-present). Just remember all the parts were great at the time. heh

I can't even recall if I ever had the stock cooler for the 3700+ because it may have been OEM.

 

the main bottleneck here friend, is not the cpu (yes, i know is old) or the gpu (and yes, i know is low)

 

is the motherboard AM2  :blush:

 

- - - - 

 

i pass for a similar change, when i jump from

 

AM2 cpu - Athlon 64 x2 +6000 (2x 3000mhz)

 

AM3 cpu - Phenom II x4 945 C3 (4x 3000mhz)

 

 

 

and i was "forced" to change my "motherboard" from a crappy AM2 (super old)

 

to an awesome ASRock AM2+ (with full OC power) that can take with some small personal tweaks (don't ask) 

 

old ram, new ram, AM2 cpus, AM2+ cpus, AM3 cpus, and many OC power  B)

 

 

(i love you ASRock)  :wub:

[Clyne]

the main bottleneck here friend, is not the cpu (yes, i know is old) or the gpu (and yes, i know is low)

 

is the motherboard AM2  :blush:

I could be the mobo that's crappy........

I had a shitty ECS AM2 mobo for my X2 3600+

[sendekyo]

I know the entire computer is just a giant bottleneck, but it's hilarious that you're pointing out the AM2 motherboard as the main fault.

The fact of the matter is that it's even older than you guys figure. It's a socket 939 mobo...

[Clyne]

I know the entire computer is just a giant bottleneck, but it's hilarious that you're pointing out the AM2 motherboard as the main fault.

The fact of the matter is that it's even older than you guys figure. It's a socket 939 mobo...

The fact is that my 64 X2 3600+ is weaker than your 4400+ and it runs fine...

2 320GB HDD

2GB DDR2 Ram

HD 5450 512MB RAM

It runs perfectly fine............

[sendekyo]

That CPU is quite weak for SC2.. My old i5 650 is stronger than that CPU and it chugged on SC2.. I got to say hello to 5FPS when I had giant zerg rushes come into my base..

Yeah, I have to run just about everything using the lowest possible settings. Not sure about SC2, but I peak around 30FPS in AA.

The fact is that my 64 X2 3600+ is weaker than your 4400+ and it runs fine...

2 320GB HDD

2GB DDR2 Ram

HD 5450 512MB RAM

It runs perfectly fine............

Okay, well, that's actually good news. That either means my motherboard is crap like everyone is trying to tell me or that there's something else at work.

Everything worked fine for a period of time until I had trouble installing AMD GPU drivers, so I wonder if I screwed something up during all the uninstalls/reinstalls? I last formatted in 2012, so I guess that's worth a shot?

[Clyne]

Okay, well, that's actually good news. That either means my motherboard is crap like everyone is trying to tell me or that there's something else at work.

Everything worked fine for a period of time until I had trouble installing AMD GPU drivers, so I wonder if I screwed something up during all the uninstalls/reinstalls? I last formatted in 2012, so I guess that's worth a shot?

The last time i'd booted it up was in June, so i have no idea what's going on in there. I thinking of turning it into a F@H machine. My ECS mobo was a POS. It wasn't stable enough to handle a little overclocked 3600+. 

[Faa]

Motherboard bottleneck? No lol. Those games are CPU limited and with the single core performance of this CPU it's no surprise that it hits 100% load.

"ArcheAge, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Heroes of the Storm, watching videos on TwitchTV or YouTube, and even Hearthstone." For those games you're better off upgrading to an Intel G3258 (70$) and a H81 board (40$) or a 4690K/Z97 board.

[7850OC]

Motherboard bottleneck? No lol. Those games are CPU limited and with the single core performance of this CPU it's no surprise that it hits 100% load.

"ArcheAge, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Heroes of the Storm, watching videos on TwitchTV or YouTube, and even Hearthstone." For those games you're better off upgrading to an Intel G3258 (70$) and a H81 board (40$) or a 4690K/Z97 board.

the cpu bottleneck "can be reduced" with some "overclocking"

 

but... old motherboards "don't let you do a s of overclocking"

 

so yeah, the "motherboard" is stopping any progress that we can do here

 

- - - - 

 

still, he is right here

 

I know the entire computer is just a giant bottleneck, but it's hilarious that you're pointing out the AM2 motherboard as the main fault.

The fact of the matter is that it's even older than you guys figure. It's a socket 939 mobo...

if is that old... is a lost cause 

[sendekyo]

Yep. It's old, but previously it was at least capable of watching 1080p videos on YouTube and source quality streams on TwitchTV. I couldn't do much else while that was happening, but at least it could do it.

That was less than a year ago, so nothing hardware-related has changed since then. The only thing that's changed has been the GPU drivers and software updates.

[7850OC]

Yep. It's old, but previously it was at least capable of watching 1080p videos on YouTube and source quality streams on TwitchTV.

 

I couldn't do much else while that was happening, but at least it could do it.

That was less than a year ago, so nothing hardware-related has changed since then.

 

The only thing that's changed has been the GPU drivers and software updates.

 

well, there is also a chance that some external program (malware, virus, or even a s antivirus)

 

have kidnapped your cpu performance and there is that thing of you tube that run 60 fps now

 

but is all theories so far 

[Linux User]

Yep. It's old, but previously it was at least capable of watching 1080p videos on YouTube and source quality streams on TwitchTV. I couldn't do much else while that was happening, but at least it could do it.

That was less than a year ago, so nothing hardware-related has changed since then. The only thing that's changed has been the GPU drivers and software updates.

Is it throttling?

But seriously, that thing's ANCIENT. Just get an APU based system or a G3258 based system if you want to save money and you'll experience WORLDS better performance

[Speedyv]

I'd say it's about time for an upgrade. 

Looks like you have gotten a few years of performance, maybe time to retire.

[sendekyo]

well, there is also a chance that some external program (malware, virus, or even a s antivirus)

 

have kidnapped your cpu performance and there is that thing of you tube that run 60 fps now

 

but is all theories so far 

Haha yeah... I've considered malware, too.

I use AVG, Auslogics Disk Defrag, Malwarebytes, and CCleaner. I run everything at least monthly, but AVG runs whenever the hell it feels like and I hate it for it.

 

Everything comes back clean. :blink:

[FellTheSky]

so basically your 2005 cpu its not keeping up with your 2014 tasks (9 years later), and therefore you are mad with amd?

[sendekyo]

so basically your 2005 cpu its not keeping up with your 2014 tasks (9 years later), and therefore you are mad with amd?

The aforementioned tasks met my expectations when I was still using a single core CPU. It continued to run sufficiently while using the dual core CPU for a little over a year and it was only recently that it stopped running properly.

 

I know this computer sucks for gaming. I just finished a SWTOR flashpoint with an average of 10 FPS. That's bad, but so is the computer, and I accept that. Sorry if trying to figure out my issue annoyed you?

 

I'd say it's about time for an upgrade. 

Looks like you have gotten a few years of performance, maybe time to retire.

Yes! Definitely! I already started planning in a separate thread.

[7850OC]

Haha yeah... I've considered malware, too.

I use AVG, Auslogics Disk Defrag, Malwarebytes, and CCleaner. I run everything at least monthly, but AVG runs whenever the hell it feels like and I hate it for it.

 

Everything comes back clean. :blink:

unintall AVG and Malwarebytes and Auslogics Disk Defrag  :mellow: 

 

(and do a last clean before the purge of all crap programs)

[-rascal-]

My HTPC was running an Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (65W, socket AM2, Brisbane variant). I eventually upgraded it to a Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (89W, socket AM2, Windsor variant). Again, It still have this PC running.

It did the job for gaming when it was my primary PC. Athlon 64 X2 4400+ paired with a Radeon HD 4850: Crysis1 and SC2 was where it was at.

 

Running SC2 on the lowest settings causes the game to be even more CPU dependent.

 

Although the Athlon 64 X2 CPUs are no longer the fastest dual-cores on the block, they can still hold up for mid setting gaming. SC2 shouldn't be much of an issue -- as long as there are no swarms of 200/200 army supply death balls battling it out.

If you are gaming and streaming at the same time, then I could see that being too much for the CPU. If you are just running a game, it should be okay.

 

As @Faa mentioned, the motherboard should NOT be at fault.

I'm using some cheap OEM Foxconn 690G socket AM2 motherboard for my system.

 

I'd open up task manager and see what is using up unnecessary RAM and CPU resources.

I notice that your HDD activity is spiking constantly; are you constantly reading / writing to your HDD? It shouldn't do that if you are just watching INcontroL or ( LiquidTLO  ) stream on TwitchTV.

 

If there are suspicious processes running (i.e. several instances of runDLL, or some other random crap), I'd do a few anti-virus / anti-malware whole computer scans with something like MalwareBytes Anti-Malware.

Also perform some general maintenance on PC (i.e. disk clean-up, clean out your temp folder, etc).

 

You could also give your CPU a mild overclock, to give it a little boost. I was able to get my 4400+ up to ~2.66GHz by just purely adjusting the Bus Speed, and bumping the stock voltage up by a very small amount (basically left it at stock. I didn't even fudge with the HTT Link, or the RAM divider. I just let them be.

Stock was 2.3GHz (200 X 11.5) ---> 2.66GHz (231 X 11.5)

[7850OC]

My HTPC was running an Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (65W, socket AM2, Brisbane variant). I eventually upgraded it to a Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (89W, socket AM2, Windsor variant). Again, It still have this PC running.

It did the job for gaming when it was my primary PC. Athlon 64 X2 4400+ paired with a Radeon HD 4850: Crysis1 and SC2 was where it was at.

 

Running SC2 on the lowest settings causes the game to be even more CPU dependent.

 

Although the Athlon 64 X2 CPUs are no longer the fastest dual-cores on the block, they can still hold up for mid setting gaming. SC2 shouldn't be much of an issue -- as long as there are no swarms of 200/200 army supply death balls battling it out.

If you are gaming and streaming at the same time, then I could see that being too much for the CPU. If you are just running a game, it should be okay.

 

As @Faa mentioned, the motherboard should NOT be at fault.

I'm using some cheap OEM Foxconn 690G socket AM2 motherboard for my system.

 

I'd open up task manager and see what is using up unnecessary RAM and CPU resources.

I notice that your HDD activity is spiking constantly; are you constantly reading / writing to your HDD? It shouldn't do that if you are just watching INcontroL or ( LiquidTLO  ) stream on TwitchTV.

 

If there are suspicious processes running (i.e. several instances of runDLL, or some other random crap), I'd do a few anti-virus / anti-malware whole computer scans with something like MalwareBytes Anti-Malware.

Also perform some general maintenance on PC (i.e. disk clean-up, clean out your temp folder, etc).

 

You could also give your CPU a mild overclock, to give it a little boost. I was able to get my 4400+ up to ~2.66GHz by just purely adjusting the Bus Speed, and bumping the stock voltage up by a very small amount (basically left it at stock. I didn't even fudge with the HTT Link, or the RAM divider. I just let them be.

Stock was 2.3GHz (200 X 11.5) ---> 2.66GHz (231 X 11.5)

 

oh, i have a great respect for the Athlon 64 x2 +6000 line friend

 

some of they can even do 1080p alone (after 9 years)

 

(and then, the s fanboys say we are bad)  <_<

 

- - - - 

 

anyway, i agree with you on that is software problem

 

that s antivirus is pure crap in weak systems like this one (and unnecessary also)

 

- - - - 

 

to tell the true...

 

a "virus" will do less mess than that s antivirus here

 

(but this is just me and my mind) 

[sendekyo]

I'd open up task manager and see what is using up unnecessary RAM and CPU resources.

I notice that your HDD activity is spiking constantly; are you constantly reading / writing to your HDD? It shouldn't do that if you are just watching INcontroL or ( LiquidTLO  ) stream on TwitchTV.

 

If there are suspicious processes running (i.e. several instances of runDLL, or some other random crap), I'd do a few anti-virus / anti-malware whole computer scans with something like MalwareBytes Anti-Malware.

Also perform some general maintenance on PC (i.e. disk clean-up, clean out your temp folder, etc).

 

You could also give your CPU a mild overclock, to give it a little boost. I was able to get my 4400+ up to ~2.66GHz by just purely adjusting the Bus Speed, and bumping the stock voltage up by a very small amount (basically left it at stock. I didn't even fudge with the HTT Link, or the RAM divider. I just let them be.

Stock was 2.3GHz (200 X 11.5) ---> 2.66GHz (231 X 11.5)

Thank you very much for not trying to belittle me for asking a question.

The only items that I had launched in that screenshot were CPUID, Resource Monitor, Firefox, and Pidgin. Everything else is running in the background in some capacity, whether intentional or not. I made a cursory glance at my task manager, and there's a lot of stuff, but nothing seems horribly out of the ordinary. I have used HijackThis in the past, but it may not be working correctly anymore. I can't upload my log to my typical site for analysis, but there are a lot of (files missing) tags. Do you suggest an alternative program similar to HijackThis?

AVG, MalwareBytes, CCleaner, and Auslogics Disk Defrag are all part of my general maintenance, but the scans do not yield anything.

I actually built this machine with the intention to overclock, but never did. I have a vague idea of where to start, but I wonder if I'm better off reformatting before I even begin. I hate starting from scratch, but a format may be in my best interest if it's possibly software related.