CPU usage report difference in Task Manager vs HWiNFO64

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parsa_strife

parsa_strife

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Sep 21, 2016
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Hello,
I've suddenly started getting audio cut outs (it cuts out and comes back after a few seconds) yesterday while playing Dota 2 and watching my CPU usage (via afterburner) it seems to have spikes up to 95%-100% (as a very short burst) and ususally sitting at 80% to 90%, It wasn't this high before usually. Before it'd be sitting at 60-70% and get to 80 and sometimes low 90s only in teamfights and didn't get this burst spikes to 95-100%.

So then I wanted to monitor the CPU usage more carefully so I opened up HWiNFO64 and Task Manager on my second monitor and it seems like they both report different CPU usages.
Task Manager usually does that if the CPU isn't sitting at its maximum CPU ratio but monitoring the CPU FREQ via both CPU-Z and HWiNFO64 it says it's running at max speed and ratio so that can't be the case I believe.
Oh and these audio cut outs are really ******* annoying .-. It's giving me cancer XD I really don't know what to do at this point... I'm confused.

And here's an screenshot:
https://imgur.com/a/w2prS
When I pressed PRN SCRN, HWiNFO was showing 91% while Task Manager was at about 78% so it didn't catch exactly that moment but close enough I guess lol

Specs:
Xeon E5440 @2.83GHz
2*2GB DDR2 @1000MHz CL6
Asus P5KPL-C/1600
XFX 9400 GT 1GB DDR2
230W unbranded PSU (you might think this is impossible but I've been using this for 4 years with this rig tho I used to have Pentium Dual E2200 OC'd to 3GHz a few months ago before I upgrade to the Xeon)
 
Solution
Roland Of Gilead
after reading your posts, and the description of the other issues, yes, it makes me think its PSU related. With your GPU producing artifacts, it could be the PSU just can't provide enough system power. Your having lots of small issues, that could be related to the PSU failing or not providing the power required. Have you got a second one you could try just to see?

The problem with older hardware, specially with PSU's, is that they degrade over time. In the case of the PSU, the amount of power delivered and efficiency of the unit are impacted. So that 230w unit is probably only giving you maybe 180w. If it's a poor make/model it could be even less. Id strongly suggest getting a new one.



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Roland Of Gilead

Roland Of Gilead

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is there a question in there somewhere? Are you asking about the audio cuts, or the difference between HWmon and Task manager showing different results?

On task manager/HWmon issues that pretty normal. Just stick with HWmon. Task manager has a habit of reporting inaccurate info for CPU details/CPU usage/ram usage.

Regarding the Audio. Your mobo and system are quite dated. In fact your mobo was originally manufactured nearly 10 years ago! Chances are something is failing on the mobo, most likely the audio chip/codec. If you have tried all the obvious things like re-installing drivers, checking cables etc, then chances are it's the mobo failing.

Maybe it's time for an upgrade?

 
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parsa_strife

parsa_strife

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Sep 21, 2016
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Yeah those were my questions.

The thing is I didn't have these audio cut outs before and didn't have this difference between Task Manager CPU usage and HWiNFO either when I had tested several times before. Oh and also I didn't have such a high CPU usage at all. So I think the audio problem must be because of the CPU usage? or maybe vice versa?

Yeah I agree that this shit is very old but it's pretty capable. This Xeon is all I need right now, I get pretty decent framerates in Dota 2 with the Xeon and didn't want to upgrade yet because I don't have a ton of money to jump into a new platform atm. I was thinking of getting a GTX 1050 2GB and a decent PSU for now.

Oh also there's something else that's really strange imo, overclocking the CPU changes base GPU usage by the percentage of the CPU overclock. It's really weird. Like if the CPU is at stock settings (2.83GHz) my GPU usage bottoms out at 0% and tops out at 99% but then if I overclock the CPU to 3.4GHz the GPU usage bottoms out at %14 (MSI Afterburner, HWiNFO, GPU-Z all of them show the same) and tops out at 113% lol and also I can't have the GPU at 650MHz core clock anymore because it will crash and before that I even get artifacts just idling in the desktop in windows, I have to downclock the GPU as I overclock the CPU. Idk how this even happens.
Tho I guess this isn't so relevant to my main problem and question of the thread but still I thought it's worth mentioning.
 
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parsa_strife

parsa_strife

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Sep 21, 2016
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Okay after some testing with music playing, Stress testing the CPU I don't get any audio cut outs, but when I launch Furmark and start testing I get frequent audio cut outs. Could it be some power related problem? Like PSU or potentially even the mobo not able to deliver enough power to audio chip while GPU and CPU are draining a lot at the same time?
 
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Roland Of Gilead

Roland Of Gilead

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Aug 8, 2008
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after reading your posts, and the description of the other issues, yes, it makes me think its PSU related. With your GPU producing artifacts, it could be the PSU just can't provide enough system power. Your having lots of small issues, that could be related to the PSU failing or not providing the power required. Have you got a second one you could try just to see?

The problem with older hardware, specially with PSU's, is that they degrade over time. In the case of the PSU, the amount of power delivered and efficiency of the unit are impacted. So that 230w unit is probably only giving you maybe 180w. If it's a poor make/model it could be even less. Id strongly suggest getting a new one.



 
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Solution
Roland Of Gilead

Roland Of Gilead

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whats happening with your CPU/GPU clocks is very weird. But the more details you give the more I suspect its the PSU.
 
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parsa_strife

parsa_strife

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Sep 21, 2016
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Yeah it makes sense that the PSU is the problem! It's a really old PSU and it's not even branded or anything so it's pretty shitty quality (it's really light-weight too) I'm surprised it lasted so long tho xD And it'd probably still last more if I hadn't put a more power hungry CPU in my rig ;p
I don't have any other PSU to test out. I'll be getting a new one pretty soon.

Tho I might actually have to go with a GT 1030 since I'm not so patient and getting sick of this 9400 GT xD

Thanks for the help! I appreciate it!
 
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parsa_strife

parsa_strife

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Sep 21, 2016
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The clock thing actually makes sense now if it's cus of the PSU. The more power CPU gets, the less the GPU gets since the PSU is at its limits.

But what I find really weird and never found any answer to it, is that my base GPU usage increases based on how much I OC the CPU! 2.83GHz (stock) 0%-99%, 3.2GHz 9%-108% and 3.4GHz 14%-113%. (Every monitoring program shows the same: GPU-Z, HWiNFO64, MSI Afterburner)
 
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Roland Of Gilead

Roland Of Gilead

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well, that has me scratching my head. There should be no correlation between the both. The only thing that could impact both would be a change in the PCIe frequency. Typically if you increase it past it's 99.65 (this is an approximate value as it changes from board to board) lets say to 100.5 it will OC the CPU, but also has a side effect of OCing other components, including GPU.
On the PSU, there are plenty of reasonably priced units. I've always liked the EVGA Supernova G2 which the lowest is 550w. But it's a quality unit that doesn't break the bank. Seasonic S12ii 520 is also a very good unit. They will last you a long time, and I think both have a 5-7 year warranty.

Glad to have helped somewhat. Have a good one :)
 
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parsa_strife

parsa_strife

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Sep 21, 2016
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I guess the PCIe gets OC'd then because the board says 1337MHz FSB speed supported (1600MHz OC) so I guess past 1337 it overclocks everything on the board such as the PCIe but from what I've seen all other boards also only support 1600MHz as OC and I've seen people with highly overclocked E5450s up to 4GHz and their GPU usage is just as normal as ever. I guess their boards are meant to be OC'd while on mine they just put it on it for the sake of it being there xD Since it really has a bad bios as well, like it doesn't even let me set VCore manually!

Anyway that's for another topic I guess xD Thanks a lot again!
 
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