Windows 8.1 slowdown - CPU not clocking up

ABramley

New Member
Messages
4
Hi all,

Need some help with my Windows 8.1 machine. I'm running on a Macbook Pro 2012 model, which until fairly recently was pretty speedy in all applications.

Specs are:

Intel i7-3740QM 2.7ghz CPU
16GB RAM
Geforce GT 650M
512gb SSD

Not a powerhouse in absolute terms, but certainly powerful enough to do what I want and keep up with my requirements of light gaming on older and undemanding titles, photoshop and lightroom work and basic productivity and web usage.

Recently I've noticed slowdown across the board, with particular offenders being web browsers when viewing intensive sites (e.g. facebook), large Excel 2013 documents and any type of gaming. I know this is slowdown as opposed to the machine simply not being powerful enough for these tasks as I have previously received excellent performance from the same software - including very playable framerates from the games.

I've run a few tests myself and as far as I can see, the error could be because my CPU is locked at its minimum speed. In the attached screenshot I'm running a big export of RAW files from Lightroom, which should cause the CPU to ramp up to something like full speed. Instead, it will run to 100% usage, but the CPU speed remains constant at minimum.

no speedup.jpg

I've had a look at my power configs in the control panel, and the CPU is certainly allowed to run at 100% speed - estpecially in the high performance setting that I use most of the time when plugged in.

Am I right in thinking the lack of CPU rampup is causing my performance issues (i.e., is that also going to be the case in 3d games where I can't alt-tab to the performance monitor window?) Is there some kind of log I can run to check CPU (and GPU) speed? And if so, what is causing my hardware to say locked to its minimum performance state?

Is there anything I can do without a reformat? I was hoping to keep this machine running until Windows 10 comes along later this year.

Alternatively, should I be looking at something completely different? Maybe the hardware overheating leading to a refusal to ramp up clock speeds?

Cheers all!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64bit
Hi,

I've tried cycling through the 3 power modes and none of them seem to have any effect.

Anything else to try?

Cheers,
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64bit
Are you setting all parameters manually in the UEFI BIOS ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10.0.10122
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    My Build - Vorttex Ultimate
    CPU
    Core i7 @ 4500 MHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-Plus
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 @ 1822 MHz (OC)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon R9 280X 3GB @ 1180 / 6800 MHz
    Sound Card
    7.1 HDA
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LCD LG 22" + CRT LG 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1760 x 1320 / 1280 x 960
    Hard Drives
    1 x 240 GB SSD (System)
    3 x 500 GB HDD (Data/Media)
    1 x 2000 GB e-HDD (Backup)
    PSU
    ThermalTake 1000W PSU
    Case
    Corsair Carbide R300
    Cooling
    Corsair H60 (Push-Pull)
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wireless Mouse
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbps (Down) 5 Mbps (Up)
    Browser
    IE, FF, Chrome
    Antivirus
    AVG Internet Security 2015
    Other Info
    Some wired stuff

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro Prieview x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    MacBook Pro Core2Duo
    CPU
    T7600
    Memory
    3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon X1600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Internal
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 800
    Hard Drives
    40GB
    Keyboard
    Apple
    Mouse
    Apple
    Internet Speed
    Varies
    Browser
    Various
    Antivirus
    Defender
Hi,

Thanks for your ideas Adam. Here's a few results:

Firstly I set minimum CPU state quite high:

power state.jpg

Then I monitored the idle temperature - just running the Windows desktop:

idle temp.jpg

It's not super low, but it's not insane either.

Then I ran a stress test using Prime 95. Here's the results:

stress.jpg

That's after a minute or so's testing. The fans sped up and kept the temp hovering around that mark - the CPU frequency oscillated between 1.16 and 1.19 ghz.

After finishing the test everything returned to normal.

Finally, here's a shot of the CPU tab in resource monitor at idle (windows desktop):

CPU mon idle.jpg

I'm fairly sure that it's not a hardware issue. When I run the Mac OS everything is absolutely fine... It's also a new issue - hard to put a timeframe on it but it's not always been like this.

Thanks for your continued help!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64bit
OK so not heat then and you are still stuck at ~45% frequency.

You could try to install Hyper-V (in Windows Features) if you have 8.1 Pro. Not to use it - just it disables throttling if it is installed. I doubt it would work but is worth a try if you have Pro version.

Hopefully someone else will have an idea (except for re-install like here http://www.eightforums.com/performance-maintenance/23167-windows-8-pro-throttling.html). I don't know I'm afraid.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro Prieview x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    MacBook Pro Core2Duo
    CPU
    T7600
    Memory
    3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon X1600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Internal
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 800
    Hard Drives
    40GB
    Keyboard
    Apple
    Mouse
    Apple
    Internet Speed
    Varies
    Browser
    Various
    Antivirus
    Defender

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10.0.10122
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    My Build - Vorttex Ultimate
    CPU
    Core i7 @ 4500 MHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-Plus
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 @ 1822 MHz (OC)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon R9 280X 3GB @ 1180 / 6800 MHz
    Sound Card
    7.1 HDA
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LCD LG 22" + CRT LG 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1760 x 1320 / 1280 x 960
    Hard Drives
    1 x 240 GB SSD (System)
    3 x 500 GB HDD (Data/Media)
    1 x 2000 GB e-HDD (Backup)
    PSU
    ThermalTake 1000W PSU
    Case
    Corsair Carbide R300
    Cooling
    Corsair H60 (Push-Pull)
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wireless Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wireless Mouse
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbps (Down) 5 Mbps (Up)
    Browser
    IE, FF, Chrome
    Antivirus
    AVG Internet Security 2015
    Other Info
    Some wired stuff
Just to update you, I reformatted and everything is fine again. I tried disabling everything at startup, but that didn't help, so a reformat seemed the only way. Some software/drivers must have conflicted and broken something - it was physically running hot too, although not so hot it should have been throttling constantly.

Thanks for the help attempts anyway!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 64bit
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