I've got a custom-built PC with an i5-14600k and Z790 motherboard running Windows 11. Everything was working great until last weekend when I noticed it started feeling slow. After checking Task Manager, I saw an update was running, so I let it finish and rebooted, but the sluggishness remained. The CPU usage was hovering around 6-7%, with no standout programs using resources and the CPU temps were around 35°C, so I ruled out thermal throttling. A few days later, I went back to Task Manager, and to my shock, the CPU clock speed was stuck at 0.8GHz! The CPU model and base speed looked fine. I switched power plans from balanced to high performance, but it didn't help. I reset the BIOS, but the issue was still there until I used the Intel Tuning program to reset everything, which fixed it. The strange part is that I hadn't changed any settings beforehand, with the only unusual occurrence being my cat lying on my keyboard. Is there a key combo that could accidentally limit CPU speed?
3 Answers
You might want to double-check your Power Plan settings as well. Sometimes toggling between Balanced and Best Performance in the Windows Settings can resolve weird CPU behavior like this. Just to confirm, you did check those settings, right?
I've seen similar issues in laptops where the problem arose from faulty power adapters or damaged cables. Even though you're on a desktop, it could still be something related to your power supply unit or internal connections. Have you looked into that?
I didn’t think it was hardware since the performance indicators were accurate, except for the speed being locked. The Intel Tuner reset did the trick, which is what made me lean away from hardware issues.
It sounds like your CPU throttling could be due to power delivery issues. I've worked with mini PCs that behave like this if the power adapters aren't delivering consistent power. It might be worth testing your power supply to see if that’s causing the problem.
Good point! I initially thought it was a software issue since everything else was reported correctly. But when I reset the settings in Intel Tuner, it started working again.
Yeah, I checked those first and switched to Best Performance, but that didn't help until I did the reset in Intel Tuner.