Anyone here have an i7 3930k and Asus P9X79 Pro

[Dave3000]

A few days ago I upgraded to an i7 3930k and an Asus P9X79 Pro. I'm not sure if my CPU is faulty or if this is a BIOS issue: When I enable XMP in the BIOS, and set the turbo multiplier to Auto, all 6 cores hit 3.8GHz. The only way to get the official turbo stock clocks for active cores in XMP mode is to choose the Per Core setting (can't remember the exact name of that setting) and leave each core multiplier setting on auto, that way when 6 cores are busy, it's 3.5GHz and when only 1 core is busy it's 3.8Ghz. Anyone here with the same CPU and motherboard with the 906 BIOS experiencing the same thing with all 6 cores running at 3.8GHz when they are busy in XMP mode with Turbo Multiplier on Auto? Does it sound like a BIOS issue?

 

[BrightCandle]

Its a feature. Anandtech moaned about it in their review of the board. Basically Asus has seen fit to automatically overclock when you select XMP and has no intention of removing the feature.

 

[DigitalWolf]

Yes when you set XMP for whatever reason your target cpu speed changes to "all cores".


If you go down to your turbo option and pick: by per core... Then change it back to auto it will stay at your normal setting. You don't have to keep it on "by per core".


If you watch the Target CPU speed message on your tweak screen you'll see what happens as you change those settings (for verification purposes if nothing else).

 

[Dave3000]

I tried what you told me. It's still running all cores at 3.8GHz. I have to use the Per Core setting to get it to run at the official turbo clocks. I don't know if I have a defective CPU or not. I also noticed that when running HwInfo64 it idles at approx. 33w at 1.2GHz with all C-states enabled and Speed Step enabled. I'm concerned about the 33w at idle when my i7 2600k is 8-9w at idle.

 

[nitromullet]

There is nothing wrong with your CPU or motherboard. This is just the way the Asus X79 boards seem to work, my P9X79 LE is the same way. To run your CPU at 100% stock settings you need to set everything to "auto". I mean, everything... RAM speed, voltage, Turbo... everything. As a matter of fact, if you previously entered a manual Turbo frequency and then set overclocking to auto (which prevents you from seeing your previously entered manual frequency) you need to go back into the manual frequency and type "auto".

Basically, anything that could even be remotely construed as overclocking pretty much makes the board run the CPU at 3.8GHz on all four cores. This means pretty much touching anything in the AI Tweaker menu.

By doing this you can run your CPU at completely stock clocks and official turbo speeds, but your RAM will also only run at 1333 instead of 1600.