New CPU at 105%?

[kiesan88]

So I built a brand new computer for music production with Ableton Live 8. Got everything assembled and gravy. A few new tracks in and my CPU meter is clocking in at 105% usage.

So I decided to run a performance test with Ableton and it read in at 300%. Did the exact same test on my 4 year old HP laptop, and it clocked in at 83%.

I am stumped at whats wrong. Updated the BIOS, made sure everything is up to date (I keep this computer off the network, but I ran an update to make sure). I really don't want to have a 700$ paperweight.

Tower Specs:
Mobo: ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AMD 790X Socket AM3
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 3Ghz 2MB
Ram: 4GB (in 1GB sticks)
Graphics: Nvidia 5800GT 1GB
HDD: WD Caviar 320GB SATA-3G HD 7200/8MB
OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Laptop specs (for comparison)
HP Pavilion DV8233CL
Intel T2300 Core Duo 1.66
1GB ram
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400
Windows XP SP3

 

[JogaBonito1502]

I think it may be a glitch in the Ableton software. Run the same performance test again, but this time hit Ctrl+Shift+Esc and keep an eye at the bottom where it should read "CPU Usage: X%".

 

[kiesan88]

Oh. Found the issue. The ASUS board had software installed with the drivers. Apparently it was set on a power saver mode which crippled the cpu.

EPU-4 Engine was what came with the MOBO. Just set it to high performance instead of power saver

 

[Kage]

I hope for a music based workstation; you actually have a sound card that isn't built into the motherboard?

 

[Remeniz]

I hope for a music based workstation; you actually have a sound card that isn't built into the motherboard?

Yep. Also there's BIOS and OS tweaks you can do to make for an efficient music machine.

 

[kiesan88]

I'm using a NI Kore right now. My internal card adds artifacts to everything so it's completely unusable. A new interface is my next purchase.

Also Remeniz, what BIOS tweaks do you know of?