CPU meter accuracy

[jmiller29]

I've been using Rainmeter for years and have been loving it.
However, I just built a new computer and after installing Rainmeter, I find that the CPU meter is WAY off.
When the Task Manager performance meter say 57%, rainmeter says only 8%.
Is there some setting I need to tweak for a modern CPU?

Thanks!!

[SilverAzide]

I've been using Rainmeter for years and have been loving it.
However, I just built a new computer and after installing Rainmeter, I find that the CPU meter is WAY off.
When the Task Manager performance meter say 57%, rainmeter says only 8%.
Is there some setting I need to tweak for a modern CPU?

Thanks!!

This is old news at this point, but if you are just recently upgrading your CPU or Windows version (or both) this might be new to you. There are many posts on this topic:

[Bug] Skins show lower than actual CPU Usage in Windows 11 22H2
New computer on intel 13th gen W11 (CPU Usage is wrong)

There are several other threads also. In short, MS made a significant change to the way performance is reported in Win11 22H2. They actually changed it in Windows 8, but no one really noticed until 22H2. The change is the way they determine how "busy" your CPU is. The Rainmeter CPU measure and the CPU alias in the UsageMonitor measure use method that use time-based performance counters. Task Manager has used "utility-based" performance counters since Windows 8, but significantly changed things in 22H2 -- especially if you have a hybrid CPU. The upshot is that time-based counters report performance lower than before. Microsoft insists that utility-based counters are more accurate, but core performance can exceed 100%, especially with most newer processors that have low base clocks and run in turbo/boost mode frequently.

So the answer to your question is "it depends". There's no "setting" you can tweak, other than to change your skin to use utility counters instead of time-based counters. A CPU Meter skin that does both is here, but even then some people don't want either of MS's choices. HWiNFO recently updated their sensor reporting to use a method that more closely follows the pre-22H2 approach, so you can create or adjust an existing skin to use this as an alternative method.