CPU spike for several secs

[Andranos]

Hey guys, new here so I apologize if I'm posting on the wrong section

I got this problem which you might be familiar with, my CPU usage is spiking really bad when playing games or watching video. sometimes, it reached to about 90-100% and goes back to 5-10% in several seconds. I'm not quite sure what the problem is since I updated my graphic driver to the latest one and my laptop is clean from viruses. I'm using bitdefender total btw

My system specs:

System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: M17xR3
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2820QM CPU @ 2.30GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16366MB RAM
Page File: 8091MB used, 24638MB available
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTX 460M
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Display Memory: 4048 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1488 MB
Shared Memory: 2559 MB

Thanks in advance guys, Cheers!

 

[Jad Chaar]

Not really sure here, but maybe try disabling "Intel Turbo Boost" in the BIOS. Keep in mind though, this may increase heat output.

If you dont receive any frame drops, you dont really need to freak out about this.

 

[Andranos]

Not really sure here, but maybe try disabling "Intel Turbo Boost" in the BIOS. Keep in mind though, this may increase heat output.

If you dont receive any frame drops, you dont really need to freak out about this.

Well the thing is, my game is laggin really bad because of this
and my fps is dropping from 60 to 5-10ish

 

[Jad Chaar]

Well the thing is, my game is laggin really bad because of this
and my fps is dropping from 60 to 5-10ish

Try disabling turbo boost then.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Why disable turbo boost? This is the option to overclock one or more cores when the extra speed would be good. Disabling it doesn't increase temperatures in any way.

I think we're looking at the wrong end of the stick here. Post a screenshot of your Processes tab, ordered by CPU usage, during the spike. Something on your PC is causing it, this will allow us to find the source.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Why disable turbo boost? This is the option to overclock one or more cores when the extra speed would be good. Disabling it doesn't increase temperatures in any way.

I think we're looking at the wrong end of the stick here. Post a screenshot of your Processes tab, ordered by CPU usage, during the spike. Something on your PC is causing it, this will allow us to find the source.

I would think disabling it would increase temperatures because all the cores will be running @ max clock speed all the time.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Disabling it would just disable the overclock option. You normally see this listen on laptops as "up to xxxGHz".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Turbo_Boost

 

[Jad Chaar]

Disabling it would just disable the overclock option. You normally see this listen on laptops as "up to xxxGHz".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Turbo_Boost

I wouldnt call it an overclock though. It just increases clock speed based on usage. It has a max speed. The turbo frequency is just the max clock speed. It isnt really a overclock.

 

[St1ckM4n]

We're getting a tad off-topic here, but I'll explain how I understand it:

The i7 3770K is a well-known CPU, so I'll use as an example. The CPU default clock is set to 3.5GHz. If some application is single-threaded for example and taking up 100% of core0, the CPU can evaluate the power and thermal loads to see if it can be boosted. If yes, this core will be overclocked via the multiplier increasing (this was 1st-gen i7's, Turbo has changed since then I believe) to result in a clock speed of 3.9GHz.

However, all 4 cores won't be OC'd to 3.9GHz if the temps start going higher, or the power load doesn't agree with the Windows Power Setting, etc.

Disabling Turbo Boost in the BIOS will just mean that there is no automatic clock speed boost performed by the CPU. 3.5GHz will be the max.

 

[tipstir]

Are you seeing those numbers in Windows WEI. Mine is 3.4GHz / 3.7GHz Max Turbo FREQ. Turbo only comes on if the system demands more CPU.

 

[Jad Chaar]

We're getting a tad off-topic here, but I'll explain how I understand it:

The i7 3770K is a well-known CPU, so I'll use as an example. The CPU default clock is set to 3.5GHz. If some application is single-threaded for example and taking up 100% of core0, the CPU can evaluate the power and thermal loads to see if it can be boosted. If yes, this core will be overclocked via the multiplier increasing (this was 1st-gen i7's, Turbo has changed since then I believe) to result in a clock speed of 3.9GHz.

However, all 4 cores won't be OC'd to 3.9GHz if the temps start going higher, or the power load doesn't agree with the Windows Power Setting, etc.

Disabling Turbo Boost in the BIOS will just mean that there is no automatic clock speed boost performed by the CPU. 3.5GHz will be the max.

View attachment 76500

Ah, I didnt know it took the thermal threshold into mind. Thanks again Stick for clearing things up xD!

 

[Andranos]

Hmm, I just tried to change the max processor state to 99% and it actually reduced the spike occurrences by a bit. Usually the spike occurs every minute and now, it only occurs every 3-5 mins.

@ St1ckM4n
Actually, only the actual game itself has the high CPU usage and it increased drastically when the spike occurs usually it sits around 10 then it jumps to 30-50 then revert back to 10ish. I'll try to get the image up but it's kinda hard since it's really hard to alt + tab when the game is laggin with 1-5 fps to get the precise screenshot and of course, the lag only occurs when I'm in game.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Make it 100%.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Which game is it by the way? Even then, your laptop is good, this shouldn't be happening.

 

[stonarda]

Sometimes it can be caused by a lack of memory from the GPU. If the GPU runs out of memory, I believe it has to use the RAM which is of course a lot slower, causing the lag. Try running a game abd see if you can find software that will record the graphics card's memory usage. wounder if anyone else can help with finding such a program.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Sometimes it can be caused by a lack of memory from the GPU. If the GPU runs out of memory, I believe it has to use the RAM which is of course a lot slower, causing the lag. Try running a game abd see if you can find software that will record the graphics card's memory usage. wounder if anyone else can help with finding such a program.

Both the 460M and his CPU use DDR3.

 

[stonarda]

But the GPU will have to go through the motherboard to use it, thus making it slower