CPU Usage between 40-50% at idle???

[RussianSensation]

Hi. My current setup is an overclocked P4 2.6@3.2ghz @1.6V (actual) 1.54 effective, on Abit IS7 with 1.7 bios.

Lately i've purchased the Zalman CNPS7000 heatsink and installed it on my cpu which allowed me to increase the clock speed from the previous overclock of 3055 to 3200. However, even after increasing the voltage from 1.575 to 1.60 I have noticed this unusual occurance as of late. Sometimes, the mouse will become very jerky and when I move it, the cursor will move a little and get stuck then move again (in essence as if one motion is divided into 2 or more making it impossible to operate the desktop). Naturally I closed my Seti@home and all other programs and under Perfomance in Windows Task Manager my CPU Usage still remained extermely high and fluctuated between 43% and 49% idle. I then checked in Processes for any unusual processes, but was unable to find anything I haven't seen before.

I am not sure what is causing the problem. What surpises me is that when I lower the clock speed to my previous overclock of 3.055ghz, the problem disappears. My educated guess is to increase the voltage even more from the 1.60 setting. I have a Costa Rica chip so it might require higher voltage for stability than do the Malaysians. However, I personally do not associate this "lag" as instability and that is why I am unable to find a solution.

Any help or suggestions for a solution of this problem would be appreciated.

 

[TheBDB]

When looking at the running processes, it should tell you what program is using the CPU.

 

[egale]

If the problem goes away when you lower the clock speeds, you don't have the problem, you have answered one of your questions. There is a limit to how much you can o/c something even with extra cooling and voltage.

If you look in task manager (Ctrl-alt-del) you will see exactly what process is eating cpu time.

 

[AnarchyInTheUS]

It is probably more likely a software problem than a hardware problem. Check the task manager and see what program is used the most CPU power. If it doesn't show up, it could easly be spyware/adware. Run Spybot Search and Destroy, a free program that can be found with a simple search on Yahoo. If it doesn't quit after that, then I would check the hardware.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanx for the clarification next time I have this happen again i'll check exactly what process is causing this "slow down"

...So in other words you are saying that eventually the processor will start to show unusual signs...that means it has reached its overclocking limit??? I am surprised my processor only goes to 3.2 ... most ppl are able to get their 2.6 beyond that. But i guess this could be a possibility.

 

[RussianSensation]

Ok guys this problem happened again and i'll describe it a bit better.

Last night i went to bed and had Seti@Home Running (2 instances)

When I woke up in the morning and the mouse was jerky again. Then I went into Windows Task Manager and it says Seti.exe CPU@50 , and another Seti.exe CPU@50, then in Task Manager i tried to end those processes but every time I would press End Process, the Seti.exe would close and 2 seconds later come up again!!! Then I just went to the top of the start bar and right clicked on the Quick Icon for Seti and closed it. Then went into Task Manager again it says System Idle Process -- CPU @99. However under Perfomance CPU Usage only showed 42% (still at idle though). Surpisingly 2 minutes later the system began to respond again. Does this sound like I've reached my overclocking limit? If so will increasing the voltage do anything in this case? I know its not the temperatures because mine never exceed 60*C at full load.

I reformatted both of the hard drives last night prior to this and i guess that didnt work.

 

[yipperzz]

it could also be your ram or motherboard that doesn't allow you to overclock as high as others. just try to lower the speeds and see if that solves the problem. it's a lot easier to do than reformatting everything.

 

[Zinn2b]

If you are running XP Home or PRO I would recomend u go to PC Pitstop and run there ful batter of test its free and it may tell u what your problem is its a vary good test and takes only a couple of min. if you have installed all the updates this could be the problem also it would seem microsoft is loading spy ware on there updates it slows performance andcan use up the cpu but it also kinda sounds like you have picked up a worm that your virus software is missing take the test

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: Zinn2b
If you are running XP Home or PRO I would recomend u go to PC Pitstop and run there ful batter of test its free and it may tell u what your problem is its a vary good test and takes only a couple of min. if you have installed all the updates this could be the problem also it would seem microsoft is loading spy ware on there updates it slows performance andcan use up the cpu but it also kinda sounds like you have picked up a worm that your virus software is missing take the test

Why dont you just stop posting this useless paranoid crap!!!

How can it be a virus or worm when he slows his overclock down the problem dissapears !!!

What surpises me is that when I lower the clock speed to my previous overclock of 3.055ghz, the problem disappears.

 

[fredtam]

It is more likely that its the fact that you have two instances of Seti running utilizing 100% percent of the processor and maybe a couple of apps. When you give it another command it has a hard time moving on to that command. What priority do you have Seti running at? It will continue to eat up cpu until the given instructions are completed. You are just bogging down the cpu.

 

[GaryShandling]

Blaster worm = 100% Cpu