core i7 860 not running at full speed (have read sticky)

[boing]

Firstly, i wanted to say i've read the sticky but it seems to be about sleep states and power savings and i don't think thats my problem.

I'm running the following system

CPU..........Core i7 860 (2.8Ghz)
MB...........Gigabyte P55-UD4 bios F6
Ram..........6Gb DDR3
OS............Windows 7 64 bit

when i checked easy tune it says the clock is running at 2Ghz max (under load) dropping to 533 Mhz unloaded. Now i know the processor has turbo mode and sleep modes but even under extreme multi threaded loading (3Ds Max rendering) with all cores at 100% it remains at 2Ghz.

I checked the bios (not an expert before you ask any tricky questions....) here's what i found

QPI frequency...............4798
Uncore frequency..........2399
Mem frequency.............1333

turbo ratio...................15
non turbo ratio.............15
turbo frequency...........1999
non turbo frequency......1999

CPU clock ratio............15x
CPU frequency.............2.0GHz

Turbo boost................auto


as i say i'm not an expert but it seems to me as if that's more than just a sleepy CPU, it seems that it is fundamentally set almost 1Ghz below where it should be. I was under the impression that modern boards set themselves, is there something i should have done when building it?


any help is appreciated.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Increase your multiplier for the CPU.

 

[boing]

is this something you would normally have to do on these boards? do they not auto-configure?

Also if i change the CPU clock ratio do i have to manually set the turbo and non turbo ratios?

 

[Phil1977]

I have a 860 and a GB board (although another model).

I flashed the latest bios, cleared CMOS and had the same bug. The cpu multi was low.

I urge you to clear CMOS and don't touch any of the advanced cpu settings (Turbo, Speed step, C1E) Leave them as they are.

But the CPU multi set that to 22. That makes sure the cpu runs at 2.93 GHz when loaded with 4 cores.

The cpu will run even faster for 2 or 1 threads. But most tools can't show you this. But the cpu will perform faster and you will see this in single or double threaded benchmarks. E.g. superpi you should see a big difference with Turbo set to Auto vs. Turbo set to off...

Intel doesn't need much tweaking. Leave everything at auto and you are set. The cpu multi bug is the only thing you need to change.

 

[boing]

so a multiplier of 22 is standard for this CPU? (i don't want to stress the system unduly, just get the normal performance level) also, why do you think i need to clear CMOS as opposed to just resetting the multiplier?

 

[Phil1977]

Clear CMOS just resets everything to defaults. It's just a tip.

Yes 22 is standard for this cpu!

 

[*kjm]

so a multiplier of 22 is standard for this CPU? (i don't want to stress the system unduly, just get the normal performance level) also, why do you think i need to clear CMOS as opposed to just resetting the multiplier?

No it is not it should be set at 21. The Core™ i7-870's multiplier is 22 not the 860.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=41316

 

[boing]

phil, kim, thanks for the feedback, by a combination of peoples advice i've got it sorted.

For anyone else with a similar problem the solution was to load the optimised bios settings then change turbo mode from auto to enable and change the c3/c6/c7 state support from auto to enable also. The optimised settings will indeed give you a multiplier of 21.

voila, speedy new computer

 

[Phil1977]

860 has a 22 multi as long as you leave all the power savings features on auto. I am not making this up. You can select 21 and 22 in the BIOS.

Go into Bios and see for yourself.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Yep, x22 is available on mine.

 

[mfenn]

My 860 on a GA-P55A-UD4P has the multiplier set to 22 on Auto. This technically results in 2.93GHz, but the CPU runs at 2.80GHz when under "normal" load (according to Intel's turbo monitor thingie at least).

 

[aigomorla]

No it is not it should be set at 21. The Core™ i7-870's multiplier is 22 not the 860.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=41316

Your correct, but the board allows you to manually set a +1 on bios as the turbo on feature.

860 has a 22 multi as long as you leave all the power savings features on auto. I am not making this up. You can select 21 and 22 in the BIOS.

Go into Bios and see for yourself.

Yes because of turbo on allowing a +1 multi to be adjusted to your cpu.
But the base stock on that cpu should be 21x. Under heavy load it will activate turbo on and become 22x.

And when EIST is activated it will go down to 15x.


But it looks like in the Op's case, it was manually set to the lowest, so if ur not after overclocking, goto bios, set factory default, or optimized settings, and then reboot.

That should fix your multi problem.

 

[ekoostik]

the solution was to load the optimised bios settings ... The optimised settings will indeed give you a multiplier of 21.

Good work figuring that out. I've helped a number of people who have mysteriously had their multiplier set to 15 and only recently figured out that they had not been selecting Load Optimized Defaults after loading a new BIOS.

And when EIST is activated it will go down to 15x.

Actually, it will go down to x9.