Windows 7 Dual core 100% CPU USAGE???

[GizmoTheMogwai]

My computers been working fine for a few months now, i've had a few BSOD's but i'm pretty sure they were driver errors.

I was playing Mirrors edge today when it froze up with a black screen and I had to manually shut down. I started up the computer again and it still said the 3.2ghz overclock was working, so I though all was well. I decided to back up a few of my Steam games and when the program was running my CPU usage was consistently 100% , it took ages to open any other program and everything was laggy. I was also getting this when burning a disk. I've never had this problem before.


Does anyone know of a way I can check everything is ok, i'm sure that with a overclocked DC CPU I should not be getting 100% usage on desktop?

 

[gurusan]

task manager..... arrange processes by CPU usage.

 

[GizmoTheMogwai]

It doesn't look to me like there are many processes going on, so why such a high CPU usage?

 

[alex24]

It's steam, it's using 99% there.

 

[gurusan]

a quick google doesn't turn up too much other than reinstalling steam.

 

[GizmoTheMogwai]

It's steam, it's using 99% there.

Aaah, didn't see that.

 

[GizmoTheMogwai]

Also, what is this system idle and why does it say it's using 99%?


EDIT: Duuuh, sorry i'm being stupid.

 

[Hotwired]

Also, what is this system idle and why does it say it's using 99%?

It means the system is 99% idle - not doing anything

 

[GizmoTheMogwai]

So what is the normal CPU when running games, and are there any programs that use 100% CPU usage normally?

 

[gurusan]

So what is the normal CPU when running games, and are there any programs that use 100% CPU usage normally?

In some games they can get to 100% but it's usually quite dynamic, if it's chilling at 99-100% then chances are something else is whoring out the CPU.

 

[GizmoTheMogwai]

In some games they can get to 100% but it's usually quite dynamic, if it's chilling at 99-100% then chances are something else is whoring out the CPU.

So it's unlikely it would be a hardware problem, and more likely a software problem?

I have no problems with reformatting etc, it's just hardware problems, with my current location, would be a major P.I.T.A

 

[mufc802]

So what is the normal CPU when running games, and are there any programs that use 100% CPU usage normally?

If it's GTA4, then if its only a dual core it will likely use 90-100% CPU.

 

[gurusan]

So it's unlikely it would be a hardware problem, and more likely a software problem?

I have no problems with reformatting etc, it's just hardware problems, with my current location, would be a major P.I.T.A

Absolutely software problem. Try reinstalling steam 1st.

 

[GizmoTheMogwai]

Thanks for the quick responses lads, Overclockers has always served me well for tech help