CPU usage spikes while playing online games.

[Ergo]

Hi, I have a problem where my CPU spikes to 100% while playing online games. When I check task manager there is no process that actually seems to spike. I have also tried a fresh windows install but this didn't fix the problem either. This only occurs while playing online games (starcraft II, league of legends), I tried offline games to see whether or not it had anything to do with the internet and I didn't get any cpu spikes at all playing offline games even though these games have higher performance requirements.

 

[win7person]

here is a vague answer to you very vague question.

Answer: High End games require High end hardware to be played smoothly.

 

[Ergo]

here is a vague answer to you very vague question.

Answer: High End games require High end hardware to be played smoothly.

Let me try and clear my question up for you, basically what is going on is that in the past I have been able to play all of these games without any kind of problem but the last couple of days I have been getting CPU usage spikes that make my cpu usage go up to 90-100%, when I open my task manager to see what is causing this spike nothing appears to be causing it. these spikes last for about 5 seconds and after that everything returns to normal for about a minute before spiking again. I have tried all sorts of things including re-installing windows but the problem still persists. (These spikes only occur in online games)

hope this clears it up a bit

 

[win7person]

Your CPU isn't enough to crunch the new Mainstream numbers that require more out of higher end hardware that it takes to play the new Mainstream Games. Without a complete diagnostic of your entire system, there is little I can help you with.

Apologies.

You could upgrade your CPU, Memory and Mobo - Put a minimum of 4g or 8g (optimal) of memory in it and go Intel Sandy bridge 2500 cpu. Higher end brand names will typically cost more, but if you do your homework, then you will find the differences between specific generic brand parts compared to Names that are known in the hardware community.

You want smooth game play? no spiking, and beable to see scaling/coloring differences in the games mentioned above? Upgrade.

 

[x BlueRobot]

Your CPU isn't enough to crunch the new Mainstream numbers that require more out of higher end hardware that it takes to play the new Mainstream Games. Without a complete diagnostic of your entire system, there is little I can help you with.

Apologies.

You could upgrade your CPU, Memory and Mobo - Put a minimum of 4g or 8g (optimal) of memory in it and go Intel Sandy bridge 2500 cpu. Higher end brand names will typically cost more, but if you do your homework, then you will find the differences between specific generic brand parts compared to Names that are known in the hardware community.

You want smooth game play? no spiking, and beable to see scaling/coloring differences in the games mentioned above? Upgrade.

I have the same problem with high CPU usage, however, my previous computer had less memory [1GB] and slower processor [pretty slow] than my present computer. Any guesses?

 

[MagusMagnus]

Your system is simply aging. It happens to all of them, starts out slow and then gets worse as power on hours pass by.

Within the last six months, I have noticed my WEI dropped down a few points to 3.9! And with that I have also seen it ever so slightly struggle to keep up with things I normally do on here, multiple bowers and tabs while watching video files, especially with gaming. Tiny momentary freezes, things like that. I just simply have to cut back on a few things to keep that from happening. Nothing has been changed, it's just the results of hardware aging.

CPU's in my experience are the first to start it off, then graphics cards, then hard drives and the rest after that (again, from natural aging and performance regression). Heat has got a lot to do with it too (laptops are hard hit faster for that reason), as that causes the contact point between the motherboard and the hardware to expand and contract and so on (in fact, the very same reason why your fillings will occasionally cause your entire tooth to fracture).

So... update or cut back a little bit on what you're doing with it and set your expectations of what you'll be able to do and get out of your laptop a little lower. Nothing else for it, sorry to say.

 

[Britton30]

Ergo I agree with part of the replies. Aging shouldn't be a problem I don't think, however being old is. I have an Athlon 64X2 4800+ which struggles with Youtube videos and Paint.NET. I have 2GB of RAM but it's DDR400.

Something that may help is to use CCleaner, link below my sig, to get rid of temp files. The games are also requiring more CPU and GPU cycles to run smooth as Win7Person said.

Magus is right in cutting back too, even modern browsers will tax an old system.

In start Search type in eventvwr and hit Enter. In event viewer go to the CPU tab, maybe this will give a clue to what is using the CPU.