Core speed fluctuation

[GruntOrama]

My core speed and multiplier, according to CPU Z, keeps fluctuating from 1600MHz x6 to 2400MHz x9. What the hell does this mean and what can I do to fix it?

 

[Hawk1]

Sounds like intel's speedstep. It drops your CPU multiplier when your system is idle or doing little work. It reverts back to normal (9x266FSB) when CPU is heavlily used/loaded. Its just a power saving feature. You can disable this in the BIOS and it will always stay at 2.4Ghz.

This is my guess though, as I don't know what chip/board you are using.

 

[SpookyWillow]

most like an intel from that 9 multi,

disable speedstep or something along those lines in bios

edit; beat me hawk

 

[GruntOrama]

Yeah its an intel core 2 quad q6600 so and a P31e chipset so that might be the problem. I'll check the bios.

 

[Hawk1]

Yeah its an intel core 2 quad q6600 so and a P31e chipset so that might be the problem. I'll check the bios.

Yeah, then pretty much guaranteed its the speedstep. Just disable and should be fine.

 

[craigwhiteside]

Yeah, then pretty much guaranteed its the speedstep. Just disable and should be fine.

thats the first thing i done when i got my E6400

 

[Hawk1]

thats the first thing i done when i got my E6400

Yup, same here. Just followed the famous Wusy's guide to Conroe OCing (BTW - wonder why his guide was take down/reworded/modified?)

 

[monkey123]

core speed and speedstep

I see this thread from 2007, but try just in case.

I have a problem with a dell laptop. the problem is that the core speed per cpuz drops from ~1998 to ~1640MHz. The problem is not speedstep. when I disable speedstep, the core max speed drops to 798 and will not go beyond that.


I am running seti which keeps the processor at 99% but for some reason the core is dropping as noted. what I notice after reboot is that the core speed is 1998MHz for several minutes then fan kicks in and the core speed drops immediate to ~1640MHz. the fan will go quite but the core speed stays at ~1640MHz.

note: my dell desktop does not react the same with the core speed rarely changing more than .1, always around max.
note: this laptop/notebook is the dell inspiron9300 with A05, latest/last, bios offered.

anyone have any idea why the core speed is dropping ~20% and how I can control that?

 

[richjordan255]

i had an isses same as this and i had to disable HPET and CE1 in cpu feature part of the bios and it stopped its intels powersaving kicking in is all your cpu is still running at the higher speed

 

[DRDNA]

You can also use the OS /power options /select either proformance or Home Office Desk . that normally will raise the CPU freq. and multi to highest.

 

[monkey123]

first, thanks for the help.

the first answer, changing the bios, might not be possible; it is a dell. not much I can do with this bios that I am aware. how did you make those changes? is there an os app that permits bios changes?

I tried the second, the home/office--I do not see a "performance" option, no impact. I tried all of them, minus the portable/laptop (was the initial setting). no change. assuming reboot not required.

any more ideas are welcome.

I greatly appreciate the ideas.

thanks.

 

[daehxxiD]

There are a couple of great progs out there, which allow you to set specific profiles (Maximum energy saving[e.g. force a specified, low, multiplier], Performance on demand [e.g. let the cpu adjust according to % of load, works like a charm], Maximum Performance [e.g. keep a specified, high, multiplier activated]) by controlling Multipliers and voltage from within windows.

Try the RMClockutility 2.35 on http://cpu.rightmark.org/download.shtml and see what you can do; if you can't figure out how to make it work I'll try and explain whatever bugs you. It is actually fairly simple to use and does not even require an install. A MUST for laptops if you ask me (especially the undervolting part).



Edit: It would appear that the Utility has some problems with Penryn, as in it can't control halved multipliers (7.5x for example)... But I think this is more of a Problem for Notebook users.

 

[monkey123]

dixxhead, great utility that has shown this is a throttling issue, imo. however, the settings do not keep the throttling inactive. how does one keep the throttling inactive? note: I am aware that built-in refinements such as throttling are not there for grins. with speedfan, my core temp is not changing more than 1C from 99% to idle load. with such a minor temp fluctuation, I assume it safe to investigate with monitor. your advice is appreciated.

thanks.

 

[daehxxiD]

dixxhead, great utility that has shown this is a throttling issue, imo. however, the settings do not keep the throttling inactive. how does one keep the throttling inactive? note: I am aware that built-in refinements such as throttling are not there for grins. with speedfan, my core temp is not changing more than 1C from 99% to idle load. with such a minor temp fluctuation, I assume it safe to investigate with monitor. your advice is appreciated.

thanks.

Rightmark should monitor your Temperatures too (check CPU-Info or Monitoring); if it is Thermal-throttling I'd advise you to check your heatsink mount and thermal paste.

How hot is your Q6600?

 

[monkey123]

first, this is a dell laptop, inspiron 9300 with 2.0GHz. not a q6600. I did not attempt to mislead, my apologies. the thread begins with exactly the same problem I have, so that is why I joined this one though more than a year after the previous entry.

to answer your question: no cpu core temp indicated per monitoring or cpu info. with speedfan, the core is 67C with no ambient indications. the core temp is about the same without the load.

do you have an idea why the settings are not maintaining and apparently trumped by the bios or os--guessing?

thanks.

 

[ntdouglas]

This question is asked so much, something about intel speedstep needs to be stickied

 

[DRDNA]

Speed step works half the time on the dells I support at work the other half it does what ever it likes.

 

[monkey123]

ntdouglas, please explain, I am trying to figure this out and it appears maybe a combination of factors to get this working as desired. I mentioned in a previous post that speedstep did nothing but lower the max to 798MHz on this dell. I just experimented with rmclock235 with speedstep disabled, I could not get the core speed over 798.

dixxhead, I have an admission, there was some dust built up on one of the fans, not much but it is a small fan. temp now at 58C, I know, stupid. I choose my account name wisely, it now appears. even though cooler, still have the step down from the expected max core speed.

the question I have: why are my rmclock settings not permanent?

thanks.

 

[daehxxiD]

ntdouglas, please explain, I am trying to figure this out and it appears maybe a combination of factors to get this working as desired. I mentioned in a previous post that speedstep did nothing but lower the max to 798MHz on this dell. I just experimented with rmclock235 with speedstep disabled, I could not get the core speed over 798.

dixxhead, I have an admission, there was some dust built up on one of the fans, not much but it is a small fan. temp now at 58C, I know, stupid. I choose my account name wisely, it now appears. even though cooler, still have the step down from the expected max core speed.

the question I have: why are my rmclock settings not permanent?

thanks.

No sweat about the Q6600 I confused you with the threadstarter, so it is my fault.
Unfortunatly RMClock does not force the throttling settings but only sets them once. I have the "same problem" when I'm running out of battery. E.g. the cpu clocks down to around 1,2ghz (don't remember exactly) even though I should have 2,2ghz at a 11x multiplier.

Disableing Speedstep on a Notebook won't do you any good, because instead of running at max multiplier it will run at minimum multiplier, which is 8x with halved FSB (SLFM-Mode, that's how intel calls this).

Reenable Speedstep and try the following:

Go to this page and set your voltages something like that (these are for a T7500; I don't know what your CPU is, but if it is a Merom core it should be able to reach similiar Voltages or is it a newer Penryn? (like the P7250)). Make sure you have enabled the "Maximum Performance" tab on "Current"-settings right above the voltages tab.

Now go to the Maximal Performance tab on the left and set the highest available multiplier. This should give you 2.00ghz. If it still fluctuates it might seriously be overheating, or there is just some software interfering with the throttling settings.

What OS is installed on your machine? Any "Dell power-saving" software running?
Could you give me your full system specs?

 

[monkey123]

I think you are correct; it is probably overheating. I have yet to try your example, decided to get you the specs first. I noticed this cpu provides an 8th performance state, 15x 1.3560V.

this software will not keep the settings within the advanced CPU settings regarding throttling.

currently, per speedfan, the core is at 61C.

thanks again for the help.

Processor(s)
Number of processors 1
Number of cores 1 per processor
Number of threads 1 per processor
Name Intel Pentium M 760
Code Name Dothan
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 2.00GHz
Package Socket 479 mPGA
Family/Model/Stepping 6.D.8
Extended Family/Model 6.D
Brand ID 22
Core Stepping C0
Technology 90 nm
Core Speed 1512.2 MHz
Multiplier x Bus speed 15.0 x 100.8 MHz
Rated Bus speed 403.3 MHz
Stock frequency 2000 MHz
Instruction sets MMX, SSE, SSE2
L1 Data cache (per processor) 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache (per processor) 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache (per processor) 2048 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
Chipset & Memory
Northbridge Intel i915PM/GM rev. 03
Southbridge Intel 82801FBM (ICH6-M) rev. 03
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 1024 MBytes
Memory Frequency 201.6 MHz (1:2)
CAS# Latency (tCL) 4.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# (tRCD) 4 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 4 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 12 clocks
System
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Name Inspiron 9300
System S/N 4FGW171
Mainboard Vendor Dell Inc.
Mainboard Model 0C5668
BIOS Vendor Dell Inc.
BIOS Version A05
BIOS Date 09/19/2005
Memory SPD
Module 1 DDR2, PC2-4300 (266 MHz), 512 MBytes, Hyundai Electronics
Module 2 DDR2, PC2-4300 (266 MHz), 512 MBytes, Hyundai Electronics
Software
Windows Version Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
DirectX Version 9.0c

 

[monkey123]

I neglected the other 3rd party power management question: no dell software or any that I am aware that impacts power management. the os power scheme is set to home/office.

 

[monkey123]

the problem appears related to acpi. I put the computer in a cooler section of the house, the core temp per speedfan is at 53C which is still high from what I have read. however, the acpi temp is 80C+!! I unplug the powersupply and it dropped ~20C immediately to 60s which is still high, but it was immediate. I put the machine on idle and no major change in the temps so maybe this machine has an acpi problem. I have no idea how to troubleshoot an acpi problem. could the power supply be the problem?

recommendations or thoughts are appreciated.

thanks.