High CPU Usage at Idle

Hey guys, recently my W10 PC seems to be using a fair bit of CPU. I noticed this because my Battlefield 1 fps appeared to have dropped. First thing I did was roll back my nvidia drivers to the previous version, but then I noticed my cpu usage. I seem to be using 35-45% cpu usage at idle. I've never seen it go below 35% (In safe mode its around 2-3%).

Things i've tried:
- Sfc scannow at boot (it found & fixed a few things)
- chkdsk /f at boot
- Stuff from here: Windows 10 High CPU Usage Fixes
- Superantispyware scan

Hopefully someone will be able to point me in the right direction!
Thanks!

Well thats annoying. I just spent some time typing out a nice response, submitted it, aaaand I cant see it here anywhere.

Thanks for the reply dalchina, i appreciate it.

Heres a screenshot from safemode:



As for wsappax, I checked before and after a reboot, it's only comprised of ClipSVC.

I havent installed anything notable recently (been having exams for the past 3 weeks and havent had much time, hence why i didnt notice this isssue until now). I do make images every day with EASEUS and the latest one i have is from the 12th (they auto-delete after 2 weeks).

I do have a system restore point from the 10th, so i'll try that now and report back.

dalchina said:

Might as well try a clean boot as I suggested...
Clean Boot - Perform in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts - Windows 10 Forums

Oh damn that worked.

CPU is now chilling below 5% when im not doing anything.

And here I was ready to format C:/

Right, so that means one of the processes is doing it? Is there an easy step to go on from here?

Or is it potentially one of the startup apps doing it? Maybe go through opening them and see what happens...

Can i just leave my computer on selective startup now? Or is that not advised?

(Sorry for all the questions, part of me still thinks i should probably clean install Windows 10, but maybe now i dont have to do that immediately, i can put that off for a few weeks)

You also might want to take a look at Dynamic frequency scaling (also known as CPU throttling). Under Windows 10, the CPU is throttled back to 5% when the computer is idle and then gradually goes back up depending on work load. Perhaps the minimum and maximum percentages have been somehow altered from their defaults of 5% to 100%. Or on the Advanced Settings Tab, it might be set to High performance.

To check, follow this path: Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings.

Open the pull-down box and select "Balanced". On the list below, expand Processor power management > Minimum processor state.



Click on the word "Setting" and enter your desired percentage. The default is 5%. Note that if "High performance" is selected, the percentage is bumped up to 100%. This may be why your CPU is running fast. You can now retest using CPU-Z.

Mint Waxed said:

Note that if "High performance" is selected, the percentage is bumped up to 100%. This may be why your CPU is running fast. You can now retest using CPU-Z.

Cheers for the tip mint waxed, im sure thatll be helpful to the next person who stumbles accross this thread :)

Mine was on 5% though so all good.

Thanks again dalchina, i've gone through and re-enabled all the apps and processes I need, and everything is still fine. Maybe in the future i'll go back and find out which one exactly was causing the problem (if i do i'll report back here for sure). But for now it's all good!