CPU usage spiking to 100% (and possibly causing audio cracks?)

farstruck · May 9, 2016

So I just clean installed Windows 7 because of a BSOD problem that I was having previously, and figured I would just start over fresh to eliminate a few possibilities. Anyways, after installing Windows 7 and trying to update the 145-ish updates that it had for me, a ton of them failed to install http:// (the list is pretty long of failed updates.) After they had failed I just shrugged it off and downloaded Overwatch because my friends wanted to play, but I noticed that my FPS was spiking below 50, and my audio was crackling. While I had the game running I went to my resource monitor and checked the CPU usage which was spiking to 100% and then dropping between 30%-50%, then spiking back up. So I was just wondering if the CPU usage spikes were possibly caused by not having all the Windows updates, or if it was something else.

Computer hardware-
- AsRock B85 Anniversary
- MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
- 16GB RAM
- Intel Xeon intel E3-1231V3

If any other information is needed then please feel free to ask!

And thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it!

esco_sid · May 9, 2016

BSOD in most cases involve hardware failure its most likely your motherboard malfunctioning.
but first i would check the memory if its not making any errors ( run memtest)

farstruck · May 9, 2016

esco_sid :

I was getting the BSOD before I had clean installed Windows 7, but for now that problem seems to have been resolved. I already ran Memtest and it didn't find anything.

My next course of action was to just get a new motherboard. Maybe an ASUS, but I haven't looked too far into it.

GhislainG · May 10, 2016

Did you install all Windows updates? That should be the first step.

farstruck · May 10, 2016

GhislainG :

Well I finally got the windows updates installed after having to download some program, but now I think I'm having HDD or SSD problems...

GhislainG · May 10, 2016

That can cause unexpected issues.

farstruck · May 10, 2016

GhislainG :

Getting the Windows updates definitely helped, but I'm now having problem with my Hard Drive, SSD, or both

GhislainG · May 10, 2016

Use only one at a time. No custom drivers for the SSD or the HDD should have been installed to make sure it isn't a driver issue.

farstruck · May 10, 2016

GhislainG :

Right now it's showing this: http://imgur.com/PbycHnT

my OS is installed on the SSD. The only thing that I installed was Samsung Magician (it came with the SSD) and there are some programs that were automatically installed:
Intel Rapid Storage Technology
XFast LAN
Intel Smart Connect Technology

I think those are the only ones, but prior to me clean installing Windows 7 I can't recall having this problem, so I'm not sure what's going on.

esco_sid · May 10, 2016

farstruck :

GhislainG :

Right now it's showing this: http://imgur.com/PbycHnT

my OS is installed on the SSD. The only thing that I installed was Samsung Magician (it came with the SSD) and there are some programs that were automatically installed:
Intel Rapid Storage Technology
XFast LAN
Intel Smart Connect Technology

I think those are the only ones, but prior to me clean installing Windows 7 I can't recall having this problem, so I'm not sure what's going on.

That looks fine to me ?
its normal for small spikes to read something.

GhislainG · May 10, 2016

If you don't absolutely need Samsung Magician, then uninstall it. There's nothing obviously wrong in resources monitor other than Chrome that seems to cause a lot of I/O.

farstruck · May 10, 2016

esco_sid :

Oh, I was (obviously) unaware that it was normal. It just seemed like the spiking had been in sync with the fps drops. This is a more recent screenshot that I took of the resource monitor... this is still normal right?
http://imgur.com/KIcQinm

farstruck · May 10, 2016

GhislainG :

Hmm... well, I figured out the CPU usage problem by windows updates, but the FPS issue is still there. Is it possible that it's from my graphics card?

GhislainG · May 10, 2016

The disk activity seems to be normal; most of it is caused by Chrome; therefore I presume that you use it a lot and have several windows open. Did you benchmark your video card? What game are you playing, at what resolution and settings and what are your FPS? How do they compare to other similar systems?

farstruck · May 10, 2016

GhislainG :

Yeah, it was mostly just from having multiple instances of Chrome open. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

I have not, but I'm going to run a stress test through MSI Kombustor shortly. I've literally only played League of Legends and Overwatch since the clean install. I've tried turning my settings to the lowest, and I'm playing at 1600x900. My FPS for League of Legends was (at the beginning) over 300, and then it would drop to below 50, climb back up to like 100, then drop again, and that happened consistently. Prior to my clean install I was running games at a stable FPS without any of the problems that I'm having now. Before my clean install I was getting a BSOD every couple of days of having my computer turned on (which is mostly the reason why I clean installed since I thought it would fix my problem.)

GhislainG · May 10, 2016

Something throttles, but that's easy to determine. If the GPU runs fine, then install Intel XTU, enable all hardware monitors, check Thermal Throttling in the graphics and set it for 10 or 30 minutes. Then play the game and check if the CPU ran normally (no overheat or throttling).

farstruck · May 10, 2016

GhislainG :

Well I've ran the stress test for about 20 minutes now and nothing has come up that looks abnormal... here's a screenshot so you can help confirm that though http://imgur.com/mLs6RQ5

I'll run the Intel XTU test now and get back to you after I play a game.

Oh, and just to make sure I'm doing this right... it's supposed to look like this?
http://imgur.com/HzYFQBR

GhislainG · May 10, 2016

The FPS is high, but that's at a low resolution. Intel XTU is a monitoring application; its stress test is not very useful. Use it to check if the CPU runs normally or not while playing. Also monitor the GPU to determine which one is causing the FPS drop.

farstruck · May 10, 2016

GhislainG :

Here's yet another picture of the monitor. This was taken while -not- in game, just from launching the application

http://imgur.com/QbCmkMQ

GhislainG · May 11, 2016

As you can see in XTU, your CPU throttles. That issue has to be resolved; check the cooler and make sure it's installed correctly (all pins fully inserted and locked in place). In the graphics zone, select the first 3 and thermal throttling only; too many lines is not useful. To see the temperature and throttling at a given time, hover the graphics and the values will be displayed on the left.

farstruck · May 11, 2016

GhislainG :

So after looking at the chart I just shut my computer off and made sure that the heatsink was completely in place, and APPARENTLY it wasn't... so I reseated it and the problem has gone away for the time being. I should have checked to make sure everything was in place before doing anything with my computer, since I could have easily been without a CPU right now. I'll update this if the problem does for some reason come back, but I haven't had anything happen since last night. Thank you so much for all your help. I seriously appreciate you.

GhislainG · May 11, 2016

You'd have to be very unlucky to damage the CPU; even without a cooler it would shutdown before being damaged. Because the cooler was partially cooling the CPU, throttling was enough to keep it at less than 100°C.

CPU usage spiking to 100% (and possibly causing audio cracks?)

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