My processor core is spiking during idle and i dont know why

[PowderdToastMan]

Hey guys i was hoping ya'll might have some suggestions to fix this problem for someone like me who is only mildly tech savy.

 

I have an i5-2500k that has never been overclocked. Occasionaly i noticed in recent weeks that the first core of the processor would start spiking uncontrollably while the pc was at idle and no programs were running. I assumed this might be a heat issue and removed the side panel to allow more access to air. This seemed to correct the problem. As any good scientist would tell you, correlation does not imply causation so im unsure if this was the origin of the issue. In the past two days, the problem seems to have begun again and nothing i do stops it from happening. My temps are well within normal range and ive cancelled several non essential programs to see if they were causing it. still no change and a constant first core spike...

 

does anyone have any suggestions on how i may diagnose this problem. Im on my work computer right now and cant test any theorys till later today.

 

This is not a store bought computer, i made it myself about a year and a half ago

 

Processor - I52500k

motherboard - gigabyte UD5 - z68p

powersupply - corsair 650

GPU - radeon 6850

hard drives:

Mushkin 90,000 iops ssd / 120gig - operating system

mushkin 90,000 iops ssd / 240gig - steam and games

Hitachi green Hdd 1tb - storage

[Dan3345]

I am not sure heat would cause a processor core to spike in use. I have the same CPU as you, and occasionally core 1 gets some heavy use and then dips back down when I am doing nothing. The OS does some framework stuff you can't see occasionally that takes up a lot of sudden and unexplainable processor use. I would say as long as it doesn't last too long, and you don't get too warm while its happening or your computer doesn't slow down from it you have nothing to worry about.

 

However there may be a problem, so we here would need to see what programs you have running in the background. What antivirus are you using? Things like that.

[FMod]

The CPU is supposed to do some work in the background.

 

You can go to power options, advanced, configure min and max power state there if you want to reduce power use a little.