My i3 computer recently started to only run at 99%, sometimes 98%. It has been running at 100%, with no problems, for about a year.

Every computer I have ever hooked up to BOINC has run at 100%.

The computer seems to be operating normally except for this. The preferences are set at 100% processors, and 100% CPU.

I tried: Upgraded BOINC Manager, upgraded GPU driver, upgraded operating system from Windows 8 to 8.1.

I can’t see any process running in Process Explorer that might be holding it back.

I’m not getting any errors on WU’s for any project. It just won’t run at 100%.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

It just won’t run at 100%.

Eh?

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What are you looking at that says 98 / 99%?

I'm sure you rebooted several times to do those upgrades, but have you done a complete power off / restart?

What are your temps, and are you monitoring / controlling them with some utility?

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Another Fred
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Both Process Explorer and Task Manager read 98/99%.

I have restarted several times and temps stay around 55c. Not using any type of utility to control anything.

Just thought I'd get some input to see if this is the beginning of the end for that computer. I've had a lot of computers running BOINC and all ran at 100%, this is the 1st computer that dipped when it was set to run at max speed.

Thanks

Both Process Explorer and Task Manager read 98/99%.
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So what do they show using the other 1 or 2% ? If it's the "System idle process" that's a very different indication than having some Windows service grabbing more time than you want.

                                                                   Joe

Both Process Explorer and Task Manager read 98/99%.
...

So what do they show using the other 1 or 2% ? If it's the "System idle process" that's a very different indication than having some Windows service grabbing more time than you want.

                                                                   Joe

That's just it, nothing is using the other 1 or 2%. It's just that BOINC is not running at 100%, and all preferences are set to run at 100%.

I thought I'd see if anyone ever had this kind of problem. I'll watch and see what happens. All 5 of my other computers are always pegged at 100%.

Thanks

Task Manger in 8.x now displays usage in 0.1% increments, vs 1% as in previous OS's. So if you sort by usage you will see several processes using 0.1% to 0.4%.

I see the same reported 98-99% reported by Task Manger when using Windows 8.x on my test machines. At no point does it ever display 100%. Task Manager also shows the CPU frequency as flopping between 2.74 & 2.77GHz. All other software I use on that machine shows a solid 2.8GHz & a steady load.

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What is the breakdown of CPU processes? Your Core i3 should be a dual core with Hyperthreading; so what processes are running at 25% and what process is showing as running at ~22-23%?

I tested doing some settings in power management settings for the processor. If I set it to a max of 75% then Task Manager displayed 74-75%. So it looks like the usage displayed is processor running frequency / max frequency. Which would explain the 98-99%. With how varied the display of current frequency is in Task Manager this all makes sense.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
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Task Manger in 8.x now displays usage in 0.1% increments, vs 1% as in previous OS's. So if you sort by usage you will see several processes using 0.1% to 0.4%.

I see the same reported 98-99% reported by Task Manger when using Windows 8.x on my test machines. At no point does it ever display 100%. Task Manager also shows the CPU frequency as flopping between 2.74 & 2.77GHz. All other software I use on that machine shows a solid 2.8GHz & a steady load.

My i7-4770 computer is using Win8.1 and shows 100% in task manager, with no fluctuation.
I guess it still could be something strange with Win8 computers?

Thanks

Task Manger in 8.x now displays usage in 0.1% increments, vs 1% as in previous OS's. So if you sort by usage you will see several processes using 0.1% to 0.4%.

I see the same reported 98-99% reported by Task Manger when using Windows 8.x on my test machines. At no point does it ever display 100%. Task Manager also shows the CPU frequency as flopping between 2.74 & 2.77GHz. All other software I use on that machine shows a solid 2.8GHz & a steady load.

My i7-4770 computer is using Win8.1 and shows 100% in task manager, with no fluctuation.
I guess it still could be something strange with Win8 computers?

Thanks

Is the running frequency displayed on the i7-4770 stable and a match for the max frequency with the i3-3220 fluctuating? IIRC it is displayed on the Performance tab to the let of the CPU's max frequency.
I am thinking it might be some kind of issue with how Windows is reading the frequency on older CPU's.

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I did some testing on one of my home systems and came to the conclusion that Windows 8.x Task Manager has no idea what it is doing.

At first Task Manager was displaying 2.97GHz & 99% utilization.
http://www.hal6000.com/seti/images/win8_taskman_01.png

So I thought I would overclock a bit and see what it tell me.
Hmmm... Still telling me 2.97GHz... odd.
http://www.hal6000.com/seti/images/win8_taskman_02.png

Well let's try throttling the the clock down a bit.
Still showing wrong clock frequency & now showing 66% utilization.
http://www.hal6000.com/seti/images/win8_taskman_03.png

How they are displaying usage now does make logical sense. "Utilization = % clock cycles used per core * (current frequency / max frequency)". Like many Microsoft things it is also a bit broken.

Restoring the Windows 7 Task Manager seems like the best option to me.
http://www.hal6000.com/seti/images/win8_taskman_04.png

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
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I appreciate all the work you put into this Hal9000.

I'm not sure about the frequency right now.

Maybe there is some kind of glitch with win8's and task manager.

As long as my computer isn't returning invalid results and it's not dying.

Thanks for your help