How do I know if my CPU is overloaded?
Open Task Manager and watch the CPU column with everything you normally run open and the market moving. Under about 25% is healthy. Sitting at 70, 80 or 90% means the processor cannot keep up, and the machine is the reason your platform feels slow.
Key takeaways
- Task Manager is the tool and it is already installed. Click Start, type task manager, and open it. It works on every version of Windows back to XP.
- Two columns matter: CPU and memory. Watch both while your normal set of platforms and browsers is open.
- Under 25% is healthy with a full trading load. Consistently at 70% or higher means the processor is the bottleneck.
- Chrome is usually the largest single consumer, because every tab keeps running scripts, reloading advertisements and tracking in the background.
- Twenty browsers with thirty tabs each is not a hardware problem you can buy your way out of. Some of the fix is discipline rather than a new machine.
- The benchmark score answers the other half. Task Manager tells you how hard the machine is working now; the benchmark tells you how much it can do at all.
- Below 45,000 on the benchmark, no amount of closing tabs will make the machine keep up with a live open.
- Not sure where your machine stands? The free benchmark test takes about two minutes.
Casey:
Yeah, I'm gonna try to cut down. This ties into another question, you mentioned it a little bit, but I have a great system. We talked about it ahead of time, however, I abuse it. I will have like 20 chrome tabs open, no, 20 browsers open and then each one will have like 30 tabs. Then I've got like four or five trading platforms. Then I got my Zoom just like you said. And the next thing you know, simple tasks on my PC are starting to slow down. And I'm like, I can't even get into the trading menu because it's locking up and I'm thinking this trading platform's junk, but really, I'm just abusing my platform. I have to get a little, it probably the answer for me is in a better computer, the answer is to have a little more discipline on what I'm running.How to Check Whether Your CPU Is Overloaded
EddieZ:
There's a way you can monitor that if you're not familiar. If you click the start button and type in task manager. I'm on Windows 11, but this works all the way down to XP and you open a window called Task Manager. That might a have couple of different views. Do you see tabs at the top: processes, performance? If you look at the columns, there's a column for CPU and there's a column for memory. My memory right now says 14%. If you have a ton of browsers open and tons of tabs open, that thing is going to show like 70%, 80%, and 90% of the memory. When you open, if I had to guess right now, the number one user in that column, if you look under apps, the one using the biggest percentage is probably Chrome right now on your computer.Casey:
Yeah.Why Chrome Is Usually the Biggest Offender
EddieZ:
Chrome can be a big hog. There's a lot of tracking going on in the background and you know, if you have ads coming in, it's reloading all the ads into all those browsers. You want to close as many of those as possible, especially the tabs, more tabs you have open. A tab is really just a whole other browser open. That will help you a lot. You can monitor how much of your memory you're using. That's probably what's slowing you down. You're getting up towards the top of the memory or you're abusing your CPU too much.Casey:
If I just watch that and downgrade it a little bit, close some stuff.EddieZ:
Yeah. It will tell you. You'll see it in task manager. At the top of those columns, it can sort by memory and it can sort by CPU usage. Just like in an Excel spreadsheet. If you click the top of the memory, it'll show you which programs are using the most memory. For me, it's Chrome also. If you shut down a couple of tabs, you'll see that number start to drop. Then see what happens with your computer as you start approaching the top of the memory, like you get over 80%, your computer is trying to write data to the hard drive to make up new space. That's where you start to get locked up and that's where you're going to have your problem. How much Ram do you have in there?Casey:
I just closed it. How would I find that? I just closed the task manager.EddieZ:
Go back to your system information window.Casey:
Okay. I'm there now. I had it open still.EddieZ:
Okay, it's like the 25th line down under time zone. It says install physical memory.Casey:
I have 32.EddieZ:
That's plenty. That’s a lot. This machine I'm running has 64. I would recommend at least 32 GB of RAM if you consider yourself a power user like you are. Absolutely these days, 32 is what you need. But still, you can use that up pretty quickly if you have tons of browsers open. You have Zoom. You have a video feed coming in. Anything with a video feed is going to use a lot. And then your trading application is going to use a ton as well.* * * * * *
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I check my CPU load?
Click Start, type "task manager" and open it, then look at the CPU column or the Performance tab. Check it with everything you normally run open and the market moving — an idle machine tells you nothing useful. Under about 25% under a full trading load is healthy. Consistently above 70% means the processor is at its limit.
Why are there so many background processes running on my computer?
Most are Windows itself, which legitimately runs dozens of small services. The rest are usually programs that installed a helper set to start with Windows — updaters, sync tools, manufacturer utilities. Individually they are small; together they take real memory and processor time all session. The Startup tab in Task Manager is where you turn off the ones you did not ask for.
What should memory usage be in Task Manager?
Under about 70% with everything you normally run open. Above that, Windows starts moving live data onto your drive as overflow, which is dramatically slower and is what you feel as hesitation at the worst moment. If you are regularly near the ceiling, more memory fixes it far more cheaply than a new computer.
Is Chrome slowing down my trading computer?
Very likely, if you keep many tabs open. Every tab holds memory and many keep running scripts, refreshing advertisements and tracking in the background. Chrome's own task manager, under the three-dot menu, shows which tab or extension is responsible so you can close that one rather than guessing. It is regularly the largest single consumer on a trading machine.
How do I know if I need a new trading computer or just better habits?
Both numbers together answer it. If Task Manager shows high usage but your benchmark score is above 45,000, the machine is capable and the problem is how much you have open. If the score is below 45,000, no amount of closing tabs will be enough, because the processor cannot keep up with a live open regardless of what else is running.
