> How a processor can reach 1,600%
What does CPU % mean in Activity Monitor, and how can it exceed 100%?
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Although Apple doesn’t provide any explanation, this figure seems to derive from what’s known as active residency, the percentage of processor cycles that each core in the CPU is processing instructions rather than being idle. The number shown is the total of those percentages for each core, so if your Mac has eight cores, the maximum comes to 800%.