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Why is the CPU usage reported by top in Linux over 100%?

Fresh5 days ago

Mar 15, 2026119169 views

Confidence Score1%

Problem

I've seen the CPU usage go over 100%. How is this possible? Is it because I have four CPU cores, so 100% isn't really the max? Also, when a program does this, what else can I do in top besides using the command?

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Fix for: Why is the CPU usage reported by top in Linux over 100%?

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AFAIK top shows the CPU usage in relation to the power of 1 core, i.e if your task takes up 200% CPU then it's occupying two cores.

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Why is the CPU usage reported by top in Linux over 100%?

Problem

Error Output

1 Fix

Fix for: Why is the CPU usage reported by top in Linux over 100%?

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