CPU utilization logging?

K

Klaerth

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
87
I'm on the search for some sort of program that can watch and log CPU utilization (though more than juts CPU'd be grand).

I have a friend whose computer is experiencing strange spikes of PC lag in games. It will run amazingly smoothly for thirty seconds, then have five seconds of horrible stuttering. His hardware is easily capable of running these games (and it occurs in all that have been tried), and I checked the various basics (running processes in the background, malware, HDD free space, fragmentation, etc.). I'm hoping some such program will help to narrow the problem down, in an attempt to see just what might be causing things.
 
For something like that, you could probably try ProcessExplorer. The default time for the usage graphs is 5 minutes but if you expand the window, it increases.
 
If it's Vista or Windows 7, Performance Monitor can do that easily, that's exactly what it's designed for: monitoring activities/etc and creating reports and logs you can then do whatever you want with.

On Vista you can hit Windows+R (the Windows key, Winkey, etc) and then type:

perfmon.msc (then press Enter)

and on Windows 7 just click Start and type performance and it'll show up on the list (can do the Windows+R thing on Windows 7 too).

Tons of stuff you can monitor, log, and generate reports on. I use Performance Monitor on my laptop for measuring all the battery statistics when I'm doing testing; it can monitor most anything including discharge rate of the battery, charge levels, etc.

Wicked evil cool tool... :D
 
DPC Latency Checker

You might try this and see if it spikes. This isn't exactly what you are looking for but it helped me troubleshoot a friend of mines pc that was having stuttering issues. Turns out it was tied to an integrated wifi device that wasn't working properly. Would you mind posting the rig in question?
 
Post the rig? Sure thing! Mind you, it is a laptop, but it /is/ one of the gaming variety.

OS: Vista x64 (SP 2)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.3GH
GPU: GeForce 9800M GTS
RAM: 4GB

One thing I thought was odd about it is that despite having fairly good specs for a laptop that is over a year old, the HDDs are two 90GB. Surprised me, that.

The games trying to be played in question are things like Team Fortress 2, Mount & Blade, etc. No matter what the settings are (low/high/etc.), the games run perfectly smooth for about 30 second spurts. Then randomly, some horrid stuttering sets in for about a ten second period. This cycle then repeats itself.

I've had them update drivers, run programs such as MBAM/Spybot, clear some additional HDD space and defrag, etc., all to no avail. A HijackThis log shows almost no odd running processes (mind you, I'm trying to troubleshoot their problem from half the states away). Here'd be the processes shown by HjT!

C:\Program Files (x86)\Lexmark 2600 Series\lxdnmon.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOffice.org 3\program\soffice.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Lexmark 2600 Series\lxdnMsdMon.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOffice.org 3\program\soffice.bin
C:\Program Files (x86)\Winamp\winampa.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\AIM\aim.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Shared\SkypeNames2.exe

Of course, whilst playing, they close Firefox and such things, and it is of no assistance.
 
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