AMD Athlon 64 X2 BE2300 1.9Ghz only running at 550Mhz?

[jrichrds]

I just picked up an AMD Athlon 64 X2 BE2300 (45W energy-efficient) CPU + ECS Geforce6100SM-M motherboard.

The CPU is supposed to run at 200Mhz x 9.5 = 1900Mhz. BIOS settings look fine.

But when I run CPU-Z in WinXP SP2 (fresh install), it says it is only running at ~550Mhz:
http://img405.imageshack.us/my...=20071006022528jy8.gif

I thought it might be part of the AMD Cool 'N Quiet thing, but the speed doesn't change in CPU-Z even when I stress the CPU.

And here is CPU-Z's memory page (Micron DDR2 667Mhz) which says the memory is only running at 90Mhz?
http://img405.imageshack.us/my...=20071006022614kq9.gif

What am I doing wrong?

 

[A554SS1N]

Does it feel slow? If it still feels fast, maybe it's just a reporting error - try updating the BIOS?

 

[o1die]

You are going to have to set the cpu fsb manually, and try disabling "cool and quiet" in the bios. This board doesn't officially support the 2300 cpu. In the bios, go into the "advanced chipset features" section and enter the first area called "cpu feature". The first item is called "NPT FID Control" which allows you to set the cpu fsb. See if the setting is 200 at default. If not, set is manually. The third item is "K8 cool and quiet control". Disable it. Use F10 key to save and exit. If your cpu-z readings don't go up to about 1900 or higher, then you can return the board and cpu to Fry's for a refund, or sell the board on ebay and get a board with support for this cpu. You can find a "cpu support" section in the manufacturer's website for almost any brand board. Fry's did this to me before. They like to get rid of slow selling boards, even if they don't work properly with the cpu. If the settings in the bios are correct, then the version of cpu-z you are using may not recognize the 2300 properly. You can try a different version of cpu-z. Also, you only have 15 days to return the combo to Fry's (30 for the board, but only 15 for the cpu).

 

[bruceyg]

That's quite normal, Cool&Quiet, when idle the frequency of the CPU drops, as most laptop CPUs do, in order to improve the energy efficency.

 

[jrichrds]

Thanks for the responses! Turns out it was a bad board. Tried everything suggested to no avail. Exchanged the board for another and it's running now at the appropriate speed.

 

[rezo]

Today I encountered the exact same problem with a Gefore6100SM-M v1.0A motherboard and an AMD BE-2300 cpu I picked up at Fry's on Monday. I reset the CMOS to optimized defaults, made sure it had the latest BIOS, disabled CnQ, manually set the "CPU Frequency" and "NPT FID COntrol". No dice, both Windows system properties and CPU-Z 1.41 showed a CPU speed of 546mhz, FSB 57.5mhz, and HT Link was 288mhz. The bus speeds were 3.5x less than what it should have been. After finding this thread I decided to return the board and exchange it for another. Since its a 40 mile drive from my home to the nearest Frys I tested the exchanged board and cpu at the returns counter, I popped in the cpu and attached my hdd since the problem could only be observed in Windows. Windows booted up right away and both CPU-Z and Windows were reporting the correct 1.9ghz CPU speed. I wonder what the hell is the deal with these boards behaving this way. I've had one in my server system with an X2 5200+ thats been running like gangbusters so I was disappointed to have this difficulty with the board.

 

[jrichrds]

Originally posted by: rezo
Today I encountered the exact same problem with a Gefore6100SM-M v1.0A motherboard and an AMD BE-2300 cpu I picked up at Fry's on Monday. I reset the CMOS to optimized defaults, made sure it had the latest BIOS, disabled CnQ, manually set the "CPU Frequency" and "NPT FID COntrol". No dice, both Windows system properties and CPU-Z 1.41 showed a CPU speed of 546mhz, FSB 57.5mhz, and HT Link was 288mhz. The bus speeds were 3.5x less than what it should have been. After finding this thread I decided to return the board and exchange it for another. Since its a 40 mile drive from my home to the nearest Frys I tested the exchanged board and cpu at the returns counter, I popped in the cpu and attached my hdd since the problem could only be observed in Windows. Windows booted up right away and both CPU-Z and Windows were reporting the correct 1.9ghz CPU speed. I wonder what the hell is the deal with these boards behaving this way. I've had one in my server system with an X2 5200+ thats been running like gangbusters so I was disappointed to have this difficulty with the board.

According to everything I've read, ECS just has bad quality control.
I assume you got this combo for $88.99 too.
Although this isn't an overclocker's motherboard, I have my BE-2300 clocked @ 2.67Ghz with the stock cooler using a 281Mhz FSB.
Have you tried overclocking yours?