E6400 only running at 1.6 GHz?

[BobDigi13]

I noticed when playing around with some of the apps in the sticky thread that my processor is only running 1.6 GHz. It is supposed to be 2.13 GHz. The multiplier is only at 6x, do I have to change this manually? I thought it would automatically run it at the highest speed. To make sure it wasn't an idle speed I ran Prime 95 but the core speed did not change

Here is an html dump of CPU-Z stats if that helps, CPU-Z stats.

 

[Mattz0r]

Were you running a Prime95 test that would stress the CPU, rather than the memory? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the default Prime95 test doesn't stress the CPU almost at all, and goes primarily for memory; you need to change it to the Small FFT's test in order to get the CPU churning.

 

[BobDigi13]

Tried a few different tests on Prime 95, including the small FFT's, the task manager graph on Windows XP showed about 50% CPU usage.

 

[hans007]

1.6 ghz is the lower speed step state.

all core 2 cpus for desktop step down to 6x multiplier for idle if power management is on. you could go to control panel and turn off your power management (its probably on minimal power management right now)

 

[Mattz0r]

Well, it sounds like it is just an issue with the chip decreasing your multiplier on-demand. Try disabling all the power saving options within your BIOS to see if it'll show up at 2.13Ghz in Windows.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: BobDigi13
Tried a few different tests on Prime 95, including the small FFT's, the task manager graph on Windows XP showed about 50% CPU usage.

Try settings the task manager to display a graph per CPU (View -> CPU History -> One Graph Per CPU).

Also, as has been mentioned, your CPU is at 1.6GHz due to speedstep lowering the speed to reduce power consumption when the CPU is idle.

 

[BobDigi13]

Turns out it was a BIOS setting that I had to change that I had missed earlier, everything seems to be working now. Running at 1.6 when idle and 2.13 when working. Thanks.

Sadly, I have been running at that slower speed for the past 4 months.