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Corsair. Are you ever gonna fix the high CPU usage?


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If iCUE could only have its device driver functionality.. and give the possibility to enable/disable all the optional whizzbang bells and whistles.. that would be a great step forward.

Maybe that alone would make its CPU usage go to almost zero lol

 

Just to compare with a similar software (aquasuite not to name it..) you can disable various hardware monitoring by categories (CPU, GPU, memory, motherboard etc...), and enable/disable audio and video sampling for RGB control source

By playing with these settings, depending on which functions i need for my cooling loop or RGB, i cn have my CPU usage go from like 3% with all ON to almost zero by disabling a select few.

 

So yea, hardware monitoring needs to be reworked, but adding a simple option to disable it would make it a very quick and effective workaround while the rest is worked on.

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If iCUE could only have its device driver functionality.. and give the possibility to enable/disable all the optional whizzbang bells and whistles.. that would be a great step forward.

...

 

And all those childish, pink fluffy unicorn, rainbow-coloured lights. It would be nice to have the option to disable the unnecessary ones.

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I upgraded CPU so its harder for me to test this, can someone with a badly affected CPU try moving these files out of the icue folder, into a backup folder and see if removing the CPU monitoring helps?

 

On my end i have confirmed that removing these disables/breaks nothing other than removing readings from CPU temps and mobo sensors from the dashboard

 

p1kalmig2k367.jpg

 

Works great here with my 5900x :eek:

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Works great here with my 5900x :eek:

 

sounds like we found the answer, its the CPU monitoring software that's causing the issues then

 

zen 3 are idling properly because they aren't even supported and older chips benefit when we disable it... so Corsair need to get onto the CPUID team for a badly needed update

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CPUID does not cause that i believe. but if you poll through the CPUID plugin like a monkey, it will be bad.

Still.. update the bloody thing.. :p

 

CPUID is the company that makes CPU-Z and HWMonitor - and iCue uses Hwmonitor. A very old version of it, from what others have said. Probably some weird techinical reason behind that, or a financial one (could cost them money to update it)

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Yes yes, but those two standalone programs do not cause high CPU usage. but they poll data like once a second.

iCUE is a lot more agressive, for no reason. So even if they update to the latest SDK, i doubt it will make things any different, except solve the anti-cheat iCUE detection issues people have.

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What I found out is that with my setup the performance is much worse when having icue open looking on the dashboard page.

 

The only corsair stuff I have is a HydroX Loop, with a Commander Pro.

 

I tested this with my 9900k@5Ghz and the newest Cinebench R23 which is a 10 minute benchmark:

 

13577: iCue and all of its background tasks off

13452: iCue minimized in system tray

12759: iCue open on Dashboard page on second screen where I track my CPU, GPU and Commander Pro

 

Not that big of a Deal since I have iCue closed in System Tray 99% of the time, but maybe something you guys still can optimize.

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I tested this with my 9900k@5Ghz and the newest Cinebench R23 which is a 10 minute benchmark:

 

13577: iCue and all of its background tasks off

13452: iCue minimized in system tray

12759: iCue open on Dashboard page on second screen where I track my CPU, GPU and Commander Pro

 

Not that big of a Deal since I have iCue closed in System Tray 99% of the time, but maybe something you guys still can optimize.

 

 

R23 is a dog track timed run - how many laps can you complete in 10 minutes. It takes every CPU resource available up to the 100% maximum. Any other program that is running and using any amount of CPU resources reduces your score as that means less for R23. Your score will go down if you have Chrome, iTunes, MS Office or any other program open. Your score may go up if you start killing off Windows processes and background tasks. This is not likely applicable to your normal use that usually well below 100% (and thus no fight for resources) unless you run long, heavy CPU renders or something similar to what R23 does in which case the process of closing down non-essential apps to speed up the run is probably familiar.

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It will be worse in real use, because R23 lags iCUE during the test. Can't spike as it's used to :p

 

With lighter loads, iCUE generates regular CPU usage spikes that will make games stutter and raise frame time.

 

Cinebench R23 shows the raw CPU power lost, but it doesn't show the loss of "snappiness" and reactiveness due to iCUE's load, that will be visible in apps like games, CAD or image / video editing.

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I'll chime in with my observations:

 

I get better performance by setting all fans to static high speed, generally 90%, pump to extreme, and then quit iCue. CPU usage when idle is 2% after closing. The fan speeds hold and I get higher benchmarks since there is no iCue cross talk. The downside is losing your RGB profiles. These get set to the default rainbow. RAM stores the current profile however, so rgb on that doesn't change (at least with Corsair RAM it doesn't). I could lower speeds of course, but I like them all at high speeds when benchmarking.

 

Corsair background services that will continue to run:

- Corsair.Service.exe

- Corsair.Service.CpuIdRemote64.exe

- Corsair.Service.DisplayAdapter.exe

- CueLLAccessService.exe

 

These services ping your CPU at times but under 2% combined usage. 1% CPU usage when they don't communicate.

 

If you have a ASUS motherboard, kill the LightingService.exe for added performance and drop in CPU usage. RGB takes away from performance. iCue talks to your CPU and makes fan speeds adjustments according to temps and keeps your rgb in sync. The software is doing what it is supposed to do, at the expense of performance (a very small hit at that).

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for Aura, setting a static light will make lightingservice to take no CPU at all.

You can also set hardware lighting to avoid being greeted with puke RGB cycle when closing iCUE or its services.

Since you dont use any fan control or RGB control when benchmarking, you may as well close these corsair services because they don't do anything at this stage.

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for Aura, setting a static light will make lightingservice to take no CPU at all.

You can also set hardware lighting to avoid being greeted with puke RGB cycle when closing iCUE or its services.

Since you dont use any fan control or RGB control when benchmarking, you may as well close these corsair services because they don't do anything at this stage.

 

Precisely what I was going to recommend if you don't want to have iCUE running all the time. You can set hardware lighting effects. Static lighting effects will naturally use less CPU since the other effects are software controlled.

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  • 2 weeks later...
We're exploring all scenarios to optimize CPU usage, while maintaining the same high level of functionality.

 

I think this is the problem right here.

 

Corsair's hardware and software is not highly-functional. Never has been. And it's on purpose.

 

Corsair started as an ODM that moved upmarket, but seems as surprised as anyone that they can continue setting ridiculous prices while using substandard OEMs (seasonic notwithstanding). Their fans and AIOs are, by every measurable metric, below average, yet they command some of the highest prices in their segments.

 

Better software will not happen because right now it does not sell product, and because their current strategy does not value long-term customer relations as an important factor to their success.

 

In other words, they won't fix their stuff because they don't have any reason to.

 

But they are skating on incredibly thin ice, and they have to know it. Corsair has very little actual brand loyalty, very little product specificity (secret sauce), poor customer satisfaction, tons of competition, and a really crummy value proposition.

 

I'm not expecting a miracle, but I hope that their strategy changes in the near future, and we get some better quality out of them.

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iCUE (the one free Corsair product) could become one of the major selling point to counterbalance what you just stated.

As it stands, from what i read, it's one of the main causes for people going away from Corsair. It certainly did for me.

 

The problem is, there's no numbers about it on the little excel sheet of some division manager in the company :p

Why allocate resources to the development team otherwise? they eat up budgets and produce no income.. pure loss.. Better add more LEDs to the next AIO: that sells.

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I think this is the problem right here.

 

Corsair's hardware and software is not highly-functional. Never has been. And it's on purpose.

 

Corsair started as an ODM that moved upmarket, but seems as surprised as anyone that they can continue setting ridiculous prices while using substandard OEMs (seasonic notwithstanding). Their fans and AIOs are, by every measurable metric, below average, yet they command some of the highest prices in their segments.

 

Better software will not happen because right now it does not sell product, and because their current strategy does not value long-term customer relations as an important factor to their success.

 

In other words, they won't fix their stuff because they don't have any reason to.

 

But they are skating on incredibly thin ice, and they have to know it. Corsair has very little actual brand loyalty, very little product specificity (secret sauce), poor customer satisfaction, tons of competition, and a really crummy value proposition.

 

I'm not expecting a miracle, but I hope that their strategy changes in the near future, and we get some better quality out of them.

 

The real problem in iCUE is that it includes overall hardware info, which is not needed at all. That is what is causing high CPU usages.

 

I do hope they either remove it or make it optional. Otherwise I will be deleting the offending files each time I install a new version.

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iCue truly wreaks havoc with my 5950x's boosting behaviour and idle states.

 

I'm keeping it permanently closed and services disabled until that's sorted out.

 

I don't expect to be paying £250 for some fans + commander pro only to get my CPU performance strangled for the privilege. Shame tbh as I like the interface of the software. :rolleyes:

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iCue truly wreaks havoc with my 5950x's boosting behaviour and idle states.

 

I'm keeping it permanently closed and services disabled until that's sorted out.

 

I don't expect to be paying £250 for some fans + commander pro only to get my CPU performance strangled for the privilege. Shame tbh as I like the interface of the software. :rolleyes:

 

Did you try deleting the monitoring (CPUID, DisplayID) files and restarting iCUE?

 

https://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1071358&postcount=168

 

My 5900X boosts are fine with iCUE opened if I do so.

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So just to chip in.. I've just removed the offending files & usage has dropped by about 10-15 degrees (5950x) without those pieces of **** clogging up the platform

 

- Without iCUE & a brand new windows install (chipset drivers, steam, etc) I was regularly getting 26-30 degrees idle temps, nominally 28 degrees.. REALLY good performance!! hardware obviously doing it's job

 

- With iCUE, c6 residency tanked to 0% & I'd regularly be 50+ degrees with iCUE open, 45-48 degrees with it closed... absolutely shocking!

 

- Moved the files, disabled LLAServices & now sitting around 38 degrees, still pretty damn bad considering I've added 8-10 degrees for some RGB....

 

hardware is a CH8 DH, 5950x, 6 LL120s on CoPro, 3 ML120s on chasis, Corsair PSU

 

I'll be honest.. I'm seriously considering ditching Corsair RGB/AIOs after this & the constant USB disconnect/reconnect issues.. Their PSUs are rock solid & great kit, I'll say that much.. & overall hardware is decent enough when it's allowed to work.. but iCUE needs a LOT of work..

 

Even dropping the polling time to 25% of it's current value & pinning it to 1-2 threads will give us great responsiveness but cut down so much on the overall excessive temps, performance degradation, and inability to park cores on Ryzen CPUs (not sure about intel) ..

 

To be honest, these should be configurable options so we can tweak them to suit the platform we're running.. not everyone needs a millisecond level update on CPU temps, especially for an AIO...!

 

(Hell, they could throw the code up on github & i'll sure the community would do the work!)

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I upgraded CPU so its harder for me to test this, can someone with a badly affected CPU try moving these files out of the icue folder, into a backup folder and see if removing the CPU monitoring helps?

 

On my end i have confirmed that removing these disables/breaks nothing other than removing readings from CPU temps and mobo sensors from the dashboard

 

p1kalmig2k367.jpg

 

This seems to have lowered temps and CPU usage on my 5800x

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I'm glad my idea of removing those files has helped so many people, i originally did it because i wasn't even seeing readings on my 5800x and assumed that was why it was idling better than my 3700x did

(same PC/hardware/OS etc, just a CPU Swap and suddenly it was idling... except icue had no CPU readings)

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Does deleting these files have any negative impact to a Corsair AIO CPU cooler? Just want to make sure the "lack" of HW monitoring that results doesn't affect the fan ramp up behavior, etc. I have a 5950x and about 8 corsair devices, with a fresh install, my iCue service is 1-3% usage constantly, but don't want to gimp the cooler. Thanks!
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Does deleting these files have any negative impact to a Corsair AIO CPU cooler? Just want to make sure the "lack" of HW monitoring that results doesn't affect the fan ramp up behavior, etc. I have a 5950x and about 8 corsair devices, with a fresh install, my iCue service is 1-3% usage constantly, but don't want to gimp the cooler. Thanks!

 

If you relied on CPU temp monitoring, it will impact you... but you were always better off relying on coolant temp, which is measured seperately on all the modern units with a USB header

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