Reporting wrong CPU usage

[sky0matic]

Hi there,

Is this plugin suppose to show the computer's CPU usage ? Because if so, I think there may be an issue somewhere, because it's not reporting the correct usage.

See the screenshots below :

OS : Windows 11 Pro 22H2 CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800U

[jdtemple]

I'm having the same experience.

[Razer0123]

Same issue, used to work before i formatted

[leecollings-sb]

Same issue here also on Windows.

[dwfinkelstein]

Same. Number that appears does not come close to matching.

It seem the API that is being used for Windows requires averaging over time. The way it is called in this application, is more of an instantaneous CPU usage, and with this API, that will rarely match what is seen in Task Manager.

I don't currently have C++ setup on my dev workstation or I would create a submission.

Here's a sample that might work using WMI instead of the PDH methods being used in the current code.

#include <iostream.h>
#include <comdef.h>
#include <Wbemidl.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "wbemuuid.lib")

class CpuUsageWMI {
private:
    IWbemLocator *locator;
    IWbemServices *services;

public:
    CpuUsageWMI() : locator(nullptr), services(nullptr) {
        CoInitializeEx(0, COINIT_MULTITHREADED);
        CoInitializeSecurity(nullptr, -1, nullptr, nullptr, RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_DEFAULT, RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_IMPERSONATE, nullptr, EOAC_NONE, nullptr);
        CoCreateInstance(CLSID_WbemLocator, 0, CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, IID_IWbemLocator, reinterpret_cast<void**>(&locator));
        locator->ConnectServer(_bstr_t(L"ROOT\\CIMV2"), nullptr, nullptr, 0, nullptr, 0, 0, &services);
    }

    int getCurrentCpuUsage() {
        IEnumWbemClassObject* enumerator = nullptr;
        services->ExecQuery(bstr_t("WQL"), bstr_t("SELECT * FROM Win32_Processor"), WBEM_FLAG_FORWARD_ONLY | WBEM_FLAG_RETURN_IMMEDIATELY, nullptr, &enumerator);

        IWbemClassObject *clsObj = nullptr;
        ULONG uReturn = 0;

        while (enumerator) {
            HRESULT hr = enumerator->Next(WBEM_INFINITE, 1, &clsObj, &uReturn);
            if (0 == uReturn) {
                break;
            }

            VARIANT vtProp;
            hr = clsObj->Get(L"LoadPercentage", 0, &vtProp, 0, 0);
            int cpuUsage = vtProp.intVal;
            VariantClear(&vtProp);

            clsObj->Release();
            return cpuUsage;
        }

        enumerator->Release();
        return -1; // In case of error or no data
    }

    ~CpuUsageWMI() {
        services->Release();
        locator->Release();
        CoUninitialize();
    }
};

int main() {
    try {
        CpuUsageWMI cpuUsage;
        std::cout << "Current CPU Usage: " << cpuUsage.getCurrentCpuUsage() << "%" << std::endl;
    }
    catch (const std::exception& e) {
        std::cerr << "Error: " << e.what() << std::endl;
    }
    return 0;
}

[fcc48]

Can confirm - same issue here

[FreemoX]

Just to jump on the band wagon; can confirm this is an issue. In my case, it seems to report a value closer to its own CPU usage, rather than the total system CPU usage

[matthewboniface]

+1 same issue for me - elgato CPU consistently reports significantly lower than task manager

[misticx]

Same problem for me, since Rainmeter is also showing a wrong CPU usage, this might have something to do with some Windows 11 update, because both programs stopped working at the same time.

[Venjjeance]

I think @FreemoX may be correct. My image only seems to cycle 0 - 1% and after reading through the thread, it does seem to really only show Stream Decks uses with the decimal dropped. If Stream Deck is at 1.8%, it just shows 1% / 0.7% is just 0%; at least anecdotally it matches Stream Deck's own usage. In either case, this isn't working as intended, and as @misticx points out, it is definitely possibly a Win 11 update issue - I've had some other non-Stream Deck processes affected semi-recently by Win 11 updates.

Will be nice to see an update to resolve this.

[danielabbatt]

Agreed - this is really poor and pretty much useless now unfortunately.