CPU doesn't drop below 30% in idle after update to 8.1

Hello,

I upgraded my OS to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8 from the store yesterday. Everything seems to be working fine - no lags or freezes, but I noticed that my PC doesn't drop below 30-35% in idle, also it doesn't downclock (balanced power settings) - it used to drop to 0.8ghz in idle and be like 1-4% in idle before the update, and now it's permanent 3.2ghz and over 30% in idle. I noticed that Service Host: Local Services and Service Host: System Services in the task manager are draining over 10% CPU each, something that didn't happen before.

I know that this information is not very specific so I probably won't get solution to fix it, so I'm asking you for any advice how to get more specific information about the problem that's causing this CPU load. It will be best If there is someone with similiar problem to mine and has a working solution.


Thanks in advance!

Hey yuliyan,

IMHO, I think you have found another real issue 8.1 issue here! I just checked my CPU idle speed and it used to throttle down to 1.57 GHz during low activity periods. However, now it appears to be fairly consistent in the 2.5 to 2.7 GHz area (I'm running an Intel G2020 @ 2,9GHz) and there does seem to be a bit more idle activity as well. Personally, I don't like the way this looks and I think you have discovered a genuine difference between 8.0 and 8.1. Now, what to do about it, I don't have a clue at this point. Maybe others can chime in and confirm this is a real issue.



It almost seems as if the throttle down parameters have changed because I'm accustomed to a 50% throttle down (or so) on my dual-core CPU. I don't like this at all. Thanks for picking this one up. Now, what to do...