Getting impatient: Why is my Core 2 Duo 3.0 running at 2.4?

[HollowRopes]

I recently purchased an Asus PK5C motherboard along with a Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz chip (and some PC6400 OCZ RAM, if that matters at all). After installing the CPU, whenever I check CPU-Z or any other program that can detect processor speed, it shows that it's running ~2.39GHz ~2.41GHz. What gives? Is this going to require a BIOS flash, because I haven't had a floppy drive in years... Hopefully there's another way to get around this. Any suggestions?

 

[Diogenes2]

Speed step ... Drops the multiplier when no work is being done --

Start some encoding or something that is very CPU intensive .. Then Check CPUz ..

 

[Rhoxed]

sounds like it could be speedstep, try to turn it off in your bios.

 

[konceptz]

Speedstep

Edit: Link Fixed.

 

[HollowRopes]

Alright, I started doing a lot of stuff at once on the computer, and the speed did bump up to 3.0. I also went into the BIOS, found the Intel SpeedStep thing and turned it off, but it's still doing the same thing. Dunno what to do now...

 

[Xvys]

On some newer bios you can't turn off Speedstep. Another power saving bios feature is C1E. You could try disabling that, or just live with it. These features merely lowers the multiplyer and voltage to make your cpu run cooler (and last longer), but speeds up to full speed instantly when you need it.

 

[HollowRopes]

So basically there's no reason to worry that it's showing a lower speed (since the CPU isn't doing as much). The only thing I've really noticed is Windows loading up slower than usual, but after that, everything -seems- okay, even though some games aren't running quite as well as I thought they would (I had a 2.2Ghz before this, and I can't really notice too much of a different [the game I'm currently playing is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]). I'll try to look for the C1E option, and let you know what I found out. I just feel uncomfortable with the fact that my computer is randomly changing speeds instead of sticking to one speed.. For some reason, it makes me concerned about certain application/games that don't seem to speed the CPU up at all (like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) while I'm playing. I just wish I had the raw 3.0GHz to deal with. Lemme check the BIOS again. Thanks.

 

[SexyK]

You shouldn't be worried. I don't know any good reason to turn off speedstep and C1E unless you are doing serious overclocking, or like higher electric bills. The feature is foolproof - there will never be a situation where an application demands more speed but the system doesn't clock up to meet the demand. Run some benchmarks with and without and you will see.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It would be interesting to do some work to measure the latency of SpeedStep kicking in, to see if there is any significant lag or not.