Using only 50% of CPU in Acer one 14 Z422

kirankjolly
kirankjolly Member Posts: 9 New User
in Legacy Laptops and Netbooks


I am using Acer one 14 Z422. I installed Windows 10 pro. Updated to 21H1 update and installed all optional updates. The base frequency of the processor is 2Ghz. But it only utilizes 50% of cpu eve if I tried to play 4k videos in two different browsers. Overall system performance is too low. How can I fix it?

Answers

  • Leostat
    Leostat ACE Posts: 3,043 Pathfinder
    If you run prime95 does it turbo to the full 2ghz? Video would be gpu decode rather than CPU :)
  • kirankjolly
    kirankjolly Member Posts: 9 New User
    Leostat said:
    If you run prime95 does it turbo to the full 2ghz? Video would be gpu decode rather than CPU :)
    I understand what you say. The above image not represent while running a cpu hungry process. All of my laptop and desktop are varying frequency based on usage. But in this laptop i am getting 50% constantly even if I run a cpu hungry application. I am sorry for describe wrong example in my question.
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,663 Trailblazer
    That's normal when more CPU isn't needed for the tasks at hand. The cores are spun down to save electricity and only sped up when you really need the CPU. Playing 4K videos doesn't use a lot of CPU, but does task the GPU. Try some CPU benchmark tests and you will see it running at full speed.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • kirankjolly
    kirankjolly Member Posts: 9 New User
    edited June 2021
    billsey said:
    That's normal when more CPU isn't needed for the tasks at hand. The cores are spun down to save electricity and only sped up when you really need the CPU. Playing 4K videos doesn't use a lot of CPU, but does task the GPU. Try some CPU benchmark tests and you will see it running at full speed.
    Could you please look at my reply to the first answer above
  • Leostat
    Leostat ACE Posts: 3,043 Pathfinder
    Could you run prime95 and hwinfo could you post an image of the performance tab and the heat / power?
  • kirankjolly
    kirankjolly Member Posts: 9 New User
    Leostat said:
    Could you run prime95 and hwinfo could you post an image of the performance tab and the heat / power?
    Windows 10 task manager while running prime95


    I will update the temperature info soon

    Ubuntu mate hw info just before launching prime95 below. Then I came to know that, it is not an os dependent issue



    lscpu output



  • Leostat
    Leostat ACE Posts: 3,043 Pathfinder
    Hmm it could be power or thermals, if you open the event viewer under the system tab is there any kernel power events or amything about the CPU?
  • kirankjolly
    kirankjolly Member Posts: 9 New User
    edited June 2021
    Leostat said:
    Hmm it could be power or thermals, if you open the event viewer under the system tab is there any kernel power events or amything about the CPU?
    A battery hard reset resolved the issue in both windows and Linux. I can see the clock speed is varying in task manager. And it goes to 2.04Ghz while running prime95. Also lscpu in ubuntu also giving variable clock speed which touched 2Ghz some times.

    But boot time is still pathetic. I tested in various operating systems and got a bad list of time. I check the time from boot to launch usable desktop state.

    Windows 2.5 min
    Ubuntu 1.75 min
    Xubuntu 1.5min
    Ubuntu Mate 1.5 min
    Lubuntu 1.25 min
  • kirankjolly
    kirankjolly Member Posts: 9 New User
    Leostat said:
    Hmm it could be power or thermals, if you open the event viewer under the system tab is there any kernel power events or amything about the CPU?
    The problem solved by battery hard reset. Now the task manager is showing variable clock speed which reached 2.04 Ghz while running prime95. In ubuntu I can see the clock speed touched nearly 2Ghz while running lscpu.

    But the boot time is still pathetic. I measure boot to usable desktop time for various os. I got a bad list of time.

    Windows 2.5 min
    Ubuntu 1.75 min
    Xubuntu 1.5min
    Ubuntu Mate 1.5 min
    Lubuntu 1.25 min


  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,663 Trailblazer
    That was so weird, the battery must have been reporting low enough power to cause the throttling. Are you running a HDD or a SSD in your system?
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • kirankjolly
    kirankjolly Member Posts: 9 New User
    billsey said:
    That was so weird, the battery must have been reporting low enough power to cause the throttling. Are you running a HDD or a SSD in your system?
    I am using 1TB Hdd and 4GB ddr3 RAM. But compare to nearly same spec other laptops, this times are huge. 
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,663 Trailblazer
    Well, the HDD is going to be a big drag on the system, you'd be much better off to be booting from a SSD instead. I don't have access to many specs on your model, because it's not offered in the USA or Canada, do you have an M.2 slot for a SSD?
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • kirankjolly
    kirankjolly Member Posts: 9 New User
    billsey said:
    Well, the HDD is going to be a big drag on the system, you'd be much better off to be booting from a SSD instead. I don't have access to many specs on your model, because it's not offered in the USA or Canada, do you have an M.2 slot for a SSD?
    No m.2 slots.
    This is the variant
    https://www.google.com/amp/s/gadgets.ndtv.com/acer-one-14-z422-6628?amp=1&akamai-rum=off
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,663 Trailblazer
    Heheh, they say the processor is an "AMD Pentium Quad Core N3700". :)
    Anyway, upgrading that HDD to a SSD will be a huge improvement, with no M.2 slot you just replace the existing 2.5" HDD with a 2.5" SSD. Start by getting the SSD and an external USB case. Put the SSD in the case and connect it to the computer. Run one of the clone software packages and clone the HDD to the SSD then shut down. Remove the HDD, install the SSD in it's place and put the HDD in the case. Boot on the SSD and verify everything is working then connect the HDD and use Disk Management to remove all existing partitions and create one full sized partition. You then have a much faster computer and an external drive for backups or data.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • kirankjolly
    kirankjolly Member Posts: 9 New User
    billsey said:
    Heheh, they say the processor is an "AMD Pentium Quad Core N3700". :)
    Anyway, upgrading that HDD to a SSD will be a huge improvement, with no M.2 slot you just replace the existing 2.5" HDD with a 2.5" SSD. Start by getting the SSD and an external USB case. Put the SSD in the case and connect it to the computer. Run one of the clone software packages and clone the HDD to the SSD then shut down. Remove the HDD, install the SSD in it's place and put the HDD in the case. Boot on the SSD and verify everything is working then connect the HDD and use Disk Management to remove all existing partitions and create one full sized partition. You then have a much faster computer and an external drive for backups or data.
    I found that the bios battery is week. I just replaced it. Now I cannot change the Num Lk in ubuntu. Sometimes in windows too. But while typing password in login screen those keys with numbers are working. But if I logout, then it will type number instead of letters. Fn+Num Lk not working in Ubuntu.
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,663 Trailblazer
    Check in the BIOS if there's a setting for default NumLk status. Set it to off...
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.

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