Processor utilization spikes @100%

[kmixon]

hello. I'm new to the board and to the 2133. I downgraded to XP Pro and have noticed the proc spikes to 100% OFTEN. any ideas?

Thanks in advance..

[Warder]

Welcome to the boards Keith.

Have you checked the task manager to see what process is doing it? You can sort list by utilization so you can see the culprit easier.

If that doesn't get you going in the right direction, can you let us know what you're doing (or not doing) when this happens, any software that is running (especially AV) and what drivers did you use?

[cbauer210]

Sorry to highjack this thread but I was just about to ask this same question....I downgraded to xp and while it is worlds better than vista, I still very often see the CPU spiking to 100% when opening applications, saving documents, and doing other simple things. When the task is done it goes back down to about 15-30% at idle.

By comparison I tried similar tasks on my high end macbook pro. I know that is like comparing apples to oranges but the CPU meter barely even moved. It would go up maybe 5%....10% at most.

Is this normal for the Mini-Note? Is it THAT underpowered. I have the 1.6ghz model with 2gig memory. I installed all the XP drivers from the HP website so most of the running process I have going are from those drivers but they dont seem to be consuming much cpu. Besides that I have AVG installed as well which is using a little cpu. Is there anything I can do to take some of the load off the cpu?

[mikez]

hello. I'm new to the board and to the 2133. I downgraded to XP Pro and have noticed the proc spikes to 100% OFTEN. any ideas?

Thanks in advance..

Does the display you are looking at mention what clock speed is being used during those spikes?
100% utilization at 0.8Ghz, 1.6Ghz or something in between?

The clock speed should step up to maximum before the utilization hits 100%.
Optimum is to vary the clock speed so that utilization stays 90-100% and only
drop below that when the clock speed hits its lower limit.
That way you are not running the processor (and consuming power) any faster
than required to get the work of the moment done.

[cbauer210]

hello. I'm new to the board and to the 2133. I downgraded to XP Pro and have noticed the proc spikes to 100% OFTEN. any ideas?

Thanks in advance..

Does the display you are looking at mention what clock speed is being used during those spikes?
100% utilization at 0.8Ghz, 1.6Ghz or something in between?

The clock speed should step up to maximum before the utilization hits 100%.
Optimum is to vary the clock speed so that utilization stays 90-100% and only
drop below that when the clock speed hits its lower limit.
That way you are not running the processor (and consuming power) any faster
than required to get the work of the moment done.

I dont 100% follow.....I am not a total techie so bear with me. Is this a setting that can be changed? Change the clock speed?

[mikez]

The machine uses a variable speed processor.

The big advantage of the VIA C7-M ulv processor is that it can step in a clock cycle;
Intel products take 16 or more cycles to make a step change.

It is something the operating system controls.
There is also limited user control, like turning it on/off/etc.
Amount of control accessible to the user varies with the Operating System used.

[cbauer210]

I am running XP.....where would I go to make these adjustments and optimize the performance from the CPU?

[Flasher T]

I still very often see the CPU spiking to 100% when opening applications, saving documents, and doing other simple things. When the task is done it goes back down to about 15-30% at idle.

Is this normal for the Mini-Note? Is it THAT underpowered.

Effectively: yes. The C7-M is very weak on floating point operations (around the same as a Pentium III). So it'll need all the power it can get for specific calculation-heavy tasks. You might be able to overclock the CPU, but it's an architecture thing - the C7 is just not designed to do the same things as well as mainstream Intel/AMD chips.

Don't look at the CPU meter, and you'll be fine. [g]

[Flasher T]

I am running XP.....where would I go to make these adjustments and optimize the performance from the CPU?

Google for overclocking utilities. Rule of thumb is, if you don't already know what to do about it, you're better off not messing with it. Like the others said, it's designed to utilize the CPU at close to 100% while keeping the frequency down.

Simplest thing you can do is go to Control Panel > Power Options and set your power scheme to Minimal Power Management.

[mikez]

I am running XP.....where would I go to make these adjustments and optimize the performance from the CPU?

Google for overclocking utilities. Rule of thumb is, if you don't already know what to do about it, you're better off not messing with it. Like the others said, it's designed to utilize the CPU at close to 100% while keeping the frequency down.

Simplest thing you can do is go to Control Panel > Power Options and set your power scheme to Minimal Power Management.

True.
But cbauer210's next post will be about short battery run times, we can see that one coming.