Software to Identify Cool'N'Quiet/PowerNow! Support?

[NSX05]

Hi all,

I'm currently working with some older desktop and mobile AMD K8 chips for a project and just wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions for software that could report whether Cool'N'Quiet and/or PowerNow! are supported?

It's enabled in the BIOS and I've made sure the power plan options allow the CPU to use it if it's supported.

CPU-Z doesn't seem to show any frequency or voltage fluctuations, yet CWID lists it as supported. Are there any alternatives to CWID?

Thank you.

 

[QuietBob]

Apart from motherboard support and a mobile power plan, K8 processors sometimes required a driver for these features to work in older systems. There was an AMD Processor Power Management driver for Win XP and Server 2003. Maybe try that?

 

[Jose Jeswin]

Rain- used to e my personal favorite during windows 98 and xp eras....

Benchtest.Com - Rain

www.benchtest.com

 

[NSX05]

Apart from motherboard support and a mobile power plan, K8 processors sometimes required a driver for these features to work in older systems. There was an AMD Processor Power Management driver for Win XP and Server 2003. Maybe try that?

I did think about that and thought the driver was missing, but when I swapped out the CPU for a different model, I could see the frequency dropping in CPU-Z but the voltage stayed the same. That is probably by design in some of the low-voltage chips I have.

I'm using Windows 7 as I can't find my XP disc so perhaps the driver is installed automatically.

Rain- used to e my personal favorite during windows 98 and xp eras....

Thank you for that link. I will give Rain a try.

 

[NSX05]

Rain- used to e my personal favorite during windows 98 and xp eras....

Benchtest.Com - Rain

www.benchtest.com

View attachment 360293

Hmm, that doesn't seem to do anything. I guess the CPU is too new.

Are there any other programs that offer feature detection? Perhaps CWID is misreporting for whatever reason. HWiNFO64 is firm on the frequency not changing.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

You would look to the motherboard support for cool and quiet drivers.

Here's one from biostar as an example.

https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/support/faq_content.php?S_ID=78

Hope this helps!

 

[Jose Jeswin]

then you may use SIV - System Information Viewer...

SIV - System Information Viewer

SIV - System Information Viewer

rh-software.com

has several options which may be a little complicated..

 

[NSX05]

You would look to the motherboard support for cool and quiet drivers.

Here's one from biostar as an example.

https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/support/faq_content.php?S_ID=78

Hope this helps!

I'm working with a laptop (Dell D531) at the moment. The driver appears to be preinstalled as it's working with other processors.

Perhaps the technology is just not supported by the other processor. AIDA suggests it isn't. CWID must be wrong.

then you may use SIV - System Information Viewer...

SIV - System Information Viewer

SIV - System Information Viewer

rh-software.com

has several options which may be a little complicated..

Thanks, that looks like it could be useful.

 

[NSX05]

then you may use SIV - System Information Viewer...

SIV - System Information Viewer

SIV - System Information Viewer

rh-software.com

has several options which may be a little complicated..

Given this a try; wow it's extremely verbose. Cool piece of software that I've never heard of, so thank you for sharing this.

It seems to have conflicting information. It reports FID and VID features as present (guessing this is what CWID and AIDA are also doing), but under CPU Power Levels, it lists only one P-state, and that's the full clock of the CPU.

These old AMD K8 chips are super confusing.

 

[Jose Jeswin]

Found this.....

amdk8.sys Windows process - What is it?

Windows 10/11/7 doesn't need amdk8.sys. Click here to know if amdk8 is safe and how to avoid amdk8.sys errors.

www.file.net

might help in your case...

 

[R0H1T]

How old is the system? You can try this before it was rebranded(?) as AIDA ~

Download Everest Home Edition

Download Everest Home Edition 2.20 - Now discontinued, this free app analyzes important hardware and software components of Windows and provides benchmark tools, featuring support for reports and email notifications

www.softpedia.com

 

[Harlow]

I have a bunch of old AMD systems, including socket 754 and socket 939 and I find Cool'N'Quiet works fine in Windows XP/7, but not in Windows 10.

What's even more confusing is I have two different Gigabyte Socket 939 motherboards with Phenom II X4 955 CPUs running Windows 10. On one board, the CPU speed goes up and down (800MHz to 3.2GHz). On the other board the CPU is stuck at 3200MHz in Windows 10. The only difference as far as I can determine is the motherboard chipset.

An A8-5600K APU and a 760K CPU are also locked at maximum in Windows 10. They're not important systems, so I've stopped worrying about this anomaly.

N.B. It makes no difference if the CPUs are set to stock frequency in the BIOS or overclocked. Cool'N'Quiet doesn't work most of the time for me in Windows 10.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

The only difference as far as I can determine is the motherboard chipset.

N.B. It makes no difference if the CPUs are set to stock frequency in the BIOS or overclocked.

The chipset is the N.B.

Cool and quiet require a windows driver. It's not likely W10 supports the K8 platforms.

You could try installing the Cool and Quiet driver under compatibility mode and see if that helps.

 

[NSX05]

Found this.....

amdk8.sys Windows process - What is it?

Windows 10/11/7 doesn't need amdk8.sys. Click here to know if amdk8 is safe and how to avoid amdk8.sys errors.

www.file.net

might help in your case...

I tried installing the AMD Processor Driver from Dell's website but that failed because the OS wasn't supported. I'll try doing it manually after checking to see if it's already there. Presumably it is, because I can see PowerNow! working with a different processor.

By the way guys, I already mentioned I'm using Windows 7.

How old is the system? You can try this before it was rebranded(?) as AIDA ~

Download Everest Home Edition

Download Everest Home Edition 2.20 - Now discontinued, this free app analyzes important hardware and software components of Windows and provides benchmark tools, featuring support for reports and email notifications

www.softpedia.com

Around 2006/2007. It's a Dell Latitude D531.

 

[Jose Jeswin]

Found some win 7 drivers..

AMD K8 Processor Drivers Download for Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP

Download the latest drivers for your AMD K8 Processor to keep your Computer up-to-date.

www.driverscape.com

it would be better if you download the cpu drivers from amds website...look under legacy drivers option...

win xp drivers....may work under win 7

Download AMD K8 Processor Driver - MajorGeeks

Allows the system to automatically adjust the CPU speed, voltage and power combination to match the instantaneous user performance need. This package is a user friendly localized software installation...

m.majorgeeks.com

Amd drivers from amds website....

 

[R0H1T]

Probably not, try station drivers or softpedia for older versions. Can't say which versions may work but usually the pages list compatible hardware & OS as well.

 

[NSX05]

I tried installing the AMD Processor Driver from Dell's website but that failed because the OS wasn't supported. I'll try doing it manually after checking to see if it's already there. Presumably it is, because I can see PowerNow! working with a different processor.

By the way guys, I already mentioned I'm using Windows 7.

I can confirm that it is already included with Windows 7. Also explains why the other CPU has functioning PowerNow!.

Maybe this CPU just doesn't support it and these tools are wrong.

 

[Jose Jeswin]

why don't you downgrade your OS to Win XP service Pack 3? and see if the processor works correctly?....

 

[Solaris17]

I can confirm that it is already included with Windows 7. Also explains why the other CPU has functioning PowerNow!.

View attachment 360946

Maybe this CPU just doesn't support it and these tools are wrong.

I almost wonder if it is as simple as it used to be. If you copy those .sys drivers over will 10 even post? If it does; does it work? You used to be able to do things like this back in the XP and Vista era, though driver sig enforcement might stop you now.