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I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

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entomophagy
Posts: 3
Joined: December 29th, 2015, 12:17 am

I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by entomophagy »

As the title says, I think the CPU usage for my Rainmeter skin is incorrect. I've tried several different skins but they're all displaying the same thing which is much higher than the reported CPU usage in my Windows Task Manager.

Right now I'm looking at 25% in Rainmeter while Task Manager is reporting only 11%.

Why the disparity?
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jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by jsmorley »

One thing I have found is that if a skin measures a particular core of the CPU, as in:

[MeasureCPU]
Measure=CPU
Processor=1

That that can give somewhat misleading results. Any particular core can be using a much higher percentage of its own individual capabilities than the overall CPU use, which is what something like TaskManager is really showing.

So you might check that you are using something like:

[MeasureCPU]
Measure=CPU
Processor=0

If you continue to get strange results from Measure=CPU, you might consider the AdvancedCPU plugin.

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
DynamicWindowSize=1
AccurateText=1

[MeasureCPUMax]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=AdvancedCPU

[MeasureCPU]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=AdvancedCPU
CPUExclude=Idle
MaxValue=[MeasureCPUMax]
DynamicVariables=1

[MeterCPU]
Meter=String
MeasureName=MeasureCPU
FontSize=20
FontColor=255,255,255,255
Percentual=1
AntiAlias=1
Text=%1 %
https://docs.rainmeter.net/manual-beta/plugins/advancedcpu/
entomophagy
Posts: 3
Joined: December 29th, 2015, 12:17 am

Re: I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by entomophagy »

Thanks, I'm getting a much more accurate readout now.
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jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by jsmorley »

Great. Which solution did you end up with?
entomophagy
Posts: 3
Joined: December 29th, 2015, 12:17 am

Re: I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by entomophagy »

I used AdvancedCPU. It's not perfect but it's more accurate than before.

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
DynamicWindowSize=1
AccurateText=1

[MeasureCPUMax]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=AdvancedCPU

[Metadata]
Name=
Config=
Description=
Instructions=
Version=
Tags=
License=
[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
DynamicWindowSize=1
AccurateText=1

[Variables]
BarColor=255, 255, 255
BarBack=255, 255, 255, 50

FontName=Trebuchet MS
FontColor=255, 255, 255, 160
FontHeight=12
AntiAlias=1

[MeasureCPU]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=AdvancedCPU
CPUExclude=Idle
MaxValue=[MeasureCPUMax]
DynamicVariables=1

[MeterPercent]
Meter=STRING
MeasureName=MeasureCPU
X=195
Y=40
StringAlign=RIGHT
FontColor=#FontColor#
FontSize=#FontHeight#
FontFace=#FontName#
AntiAlias=1
Text="%1%"
Percentual=1
AutoScale=1

[MeterCPULabel]
Meter=STRING
Text="CPU"
X=7
Y=0
FontColor=#FontColor#
FontSize=#FontHeight#
FontFace=#FontName#
AntiAlias=1

[MeterBar]
MeasureName=MeasureCPU
Meter=BAR
X=10
Y=25
W=180
H=5
BarOrientation=HORIZONTAL
BarColor=#BarColor#

[BarLine]
Meter=IMAGE
X=10
Y=30
W=180
H=5
SolidColor=#BarBack#
Image
AgentWindu
Posts: 4
Joined: March 23rd, 2018, 2:51 am

Re: I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by AgentWindu »

I have a similar issue with a skin I'm using but am unable to code it correctly, would you be able to take a look at it for me.

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Author=Media Maggot | Daelnz
MiddleMouseDownAction=[!WriteKeyValue Variables Colour1 #Colour2#][!WriteKeyValue Variables Colour2 #Colour3#][!WriteKeyValue Variables Colour3 #Colour1#][!Refresh]
Update=500

[Metadata]
Name=CPU Display (1 Core)
Information=Displays the current usage of the CPU (1 Core) | Middle Mouse Button changes the colour
License=Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0
Version=1.2.0

[Variables]
Colour1=Orange
Colour2=Blue
Colour3=Red

[MeterBorder]
Meter=image
imagename=#@#\images\CPU\1#Colour1#.png
antialias=1

[MeasureCore1]
Measure=CPU
Processor=0

;Bars=======================


[MeasureForBarCore1]
measure=calc
formula=((ROUND(measurecore1/10))/10)

[Meter1CoreBar1]
Meter=Bar
measurename=MeasureForBarCore1
barimage=#@#\images\CPU\1 Core CPU Bar #Colour1#.png
x=0
y=0
antialias=1


I've added Update=500 and changed it to monitor Processor=0.

All help appreciated
DaFlyingDuchman
Posts: 2
Joined: December 10th, 2020, 11:33 am

Re: I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by DaFlyingDuchman »

Hi, I am experiencing the same problem. I tried the code that was here but it still doesnt meet the acurassi that I wish of. If someone can help I will be glad to hear what you think.
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jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by jsmorley »

DaFlyingDuchman wrote: December 10th, 2020, 12:45 pm Hi, I am experiencing the same problem. I tried the code that was here but it still doesnt meet the acurassi that I wish of. If someone can help I will be glad to hear what you think.
The issue with measuring CPU usage is that any measurement is a snapshot of a moment in time. If you use these two measures:

Code: Select all

[MeasureCPUUsageMonitor]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=UsageMonitor
Alias=CPU
Index=0

[MeasureCPU]
Measure=CPU
They will both return accurate information for the averaged CPU percent usage across all cores, but be aware that they won't be the same at any given time. If you try to compare what you are getting from a Rainmeter skin and say Task Manager in Windows, or any other tool that measures CPU usage, none of them will be the same at any given time. It's not that any or all of them are wrong, it has entirely to do with what instant in time each of them is doing the measurement.

Focusing on the exact amount of CPU being used at any given time is a fool's errand in my view. CPU usage changes every millisecond or less, and can wildly swing from one millisecond to the next. What you want to monitor CPU usage for is watching for a trend of a particular process using more resources than you think it should. You want to be watching the CPU levels to see if it is consistently high, not if it is high or low at any given second.
DaFlyingDuchman
Posts: 2
Joined: December 10th, 2020, 11:33 am

Re: I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by DaFlyingDuchman »

Thanks for the reply! OK I will try it!
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sa1nt4ch
Posts: 49
Joined: December 16th, 2020, 8:30 am
Location: Switzerland

Re: I believe my skin(s) are showing incorrect CPU usage

Post by sa1nt4ch »

Hi i was strugeling with this for a some time

since neither of these codes

Code: Select all

[MeasureCPUUsageMonitor]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=UsageMonitor
Alias=CPU
Index=0

[MeasureCPU]
Measure=CPU
gave me the same numbers that perfmon did. bouth values seem to be all over the place.

The Alias=CPU uses the counter % Processor Time which returns, idel time of processes on the processor.

I found that this code returns much better result, as it returns the same values then Perfom displays.

Code: Select all

[MeasureProcessorInformationProcessorTime]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=UsageMonitor
Category=Processor Information
Counter=% Processor Utility
Index=0

[CalcProcessorInformationProcessorTime]
Measure=Calc
Formula=(MeasureProcessorInformationProcessorTime)/5
I dont know why there needs to be a divider, but it seems to be linked to the nummer of cores, so if one can test this code on a system with more then 4 cores would be great.
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