CPU usage and Windows 10 anniversary update (AE 1607)

Neptuune · 30 Sep 2016

Hello, fine people of the internet.

First thing, I apologize if this subject have been solved before.
I browsed through older threads for a while, and looked up on Google, but so far I didn't find a solution to my problem, or maybe I missed it.

I'm here because I'm encountering troubles since a couple days, when I installed the Windows 10 anniversary update.

Let me start from the beginning.

A month ago, I bought myself a new, quite powerful MSI laptop.
The main purpose of this laptop is musical production, using Cubase 8 and a couple of other programs.
For a few weeks, everything worked perfectly fine.
This new laptop allowed me to expand dramatically the possibilities of Cubase compared to my old system.
I could run big projects with 60+ tracks, heavy plug-ins and fancy virtual instruments super smoothly.

But a few days ago, the Windows 10 anniversary update installed itself, and since then, I'm having trouble with my programs.
For instance, Cubase shows heavy signs of CPU and RAM usage (called VST performances, in the program itself.
In the task manager, the CPU peaks at 20-25%) on another project I started a week ago or so, comprising 20 tracks, which used to run extremely smoothly (the said VST performances weren't reaching 2% before the update), but now performs super bad (VST performances now show a 20-25% resources usage when the project is loaded but idle, and the counter will suddenly ramp up to 100%, either if the project is idle or playing back, causing massive glitches, audio drop-outs, and other artifacts). Even empty projects show sign of resources usage, which doesn't make sense at all.

I tried a few other audio programs (Guitar Rig 5, Studio One 3, and Reaper), and they all show a much, much higher CPU usage than they should. So since it all started after the installation of this anniversary update, I figured it should come from there.

I already checked out the power settings, they're all set on maximum performance.
I also already checked out the BIOS, but I don't think anything changed there.

So yeah, I'm kinda helpless right now, and hope someone will be able to help me.

Thanks in advance.

dalchina · 01 Oct 2016

Sometimes some programs need updates as well. However, you mention several programs. You can check to see if other users of these specialised programs are experiencing similar difficulties.

There are some significant updates to the anniversary edition (which first came out in early August). It's possible those may help. However there have been hiccups downloading and installing those- two big ones have been withdrawn and replaced by MS!

You have 10 days from installing the AU to roll back- you may wish to consider doing that, and let things settle for a while and try again.

Meanwhile please post a screenshot of your task manager demonstrating high CPU use. Make sure you click the CPU tab so the column is organised with processes using most CPU time at the top.

Neptuune · 01 Oct 2016

CPU usage and Windows 10 anniversary update (AE 1607)-capture1.png

CPU usage and Windows 10 anniversary update (AE 1607)-capture2.png

Hey.

Sadly, Steinberg's people and other Cubase users couldn't help.
The only other person who seem to have the same problems as me has no idea about how and why it does that.
But we both run on Windows 10 64-bits, with an i7 CPU, and 16Gigs of RAM, so it most likely comes from Windows messing up with resources allocation.
One of our mutual friends runs the exact same program (we all have the latest version btw), with an i7 CPU and 16Gigs of RAM as well, but on Windows 7 64-bits, and there's no problem for him.

Also, here are the screenshots.
As you can see, it's really weird, because the task manager hardly shows signs of CPU usage (I mean, 2% for Studio One and around 5% for Cubase are normal values), but the programs themselves are showing much heavier CPU usage, although there was just a midi file playing when I took these screenshots.

It's almost like the programs can't properly use the CPU and RAM power anymore, when there was absolutely no problem before the Windows update.
Plus, it also does that in Cubase : Cubase Elements 8 VST performance problem - YouTube
Well, only the "average load" bar overflows since I reinstalled and reset Cubase preferences, but the top one, the "average load" shows how much resources the software use. When it reaches 100%, Cubase shows a 20-25% CPU usage in the task manager.

Would it be possible that this update messed up with the processing power allocation, or bridled resources for some reason ?

Oh, and yeah, I read about uninstalling this update, but I deleted the Windows.old folder with the Disk Cleanup utility, so the previous version is no more.
I don't think I still can uninstall the update now, right ?

dalchina · 01 Oct 2016

Hi, unless you were exceptionally lucky - as in .000000001% or less - having deleted Windows.old you can't roll back. The only way you could revert to the previous build easily is if you used disk imaging (which we strongly and frequently recommend) or system imaging (Windows Backup and Restore).

I'm just wondering- there's no way those programs are using the GPU rather than the CPU, is there? (Not sthg I know anything about yet but I am somewhat aware GPU resources can be used...). Just thinking out of the box about how the programs may view resources differently.

Neptuune · 01 Oct 2016

Hmm, now that's an interesting take on my problem.
Since GPUs can be used for various things such as video compression / rendering when you stream on Twitch for example, I guess it could also be used for other things.
That would explain why the VST performance on Cubase shows (light) signs of use without anything opened other than the program itself. The GTX960M isn't exactly a powerful GPU. I don't know if it's possible, but that's definitely something I'll submit to Steinberg's customer service when I get in touch with them again.