~half performance although CPU-Z shows correct speeds

[oskara]

Hi,

First of all: Note that this is NOT the standard speedstep issue... Speedstep is disabled in BIOS and all monitoring software reports the expected 100% speeds.

Just got a new system (Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS4, C2D E8500, 2x2G PC8500) and according to all performance tests I've run, it's got about half the performance of what it should have.

I've tested CPU FPU/ALU and Memory Bandwidth in SiSoft Sandra, and it looks really bad:

CPU Arithmetic

Didn't get a screen of the mem bandwidth, but it was at about 1/3 of comparable reference systems in Sandra.

According to CPU-Z everything is fine:

CPU
Memory

Anyone have a clue?

Thanks.

 

[phaxmohdem]

Does it feel half as slow as it should using non synth benchmarks? games?

Fresh install of Vista? have you tried any other OS's to see if the slowdown persists?

Have you installed the latest and greatest chipset drivers and whatnot?

Also check to make sure your cpu heatsink is secure, and the thermal paste is applied properly. a overheating CPU could cause throttling.

 

[oskara]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, fresh Vista 64 install, latest chipset drivers. Installed 32bit XP yesterday only to check the performance there, and I get the same results. Same benchmark scores (roughly) and I've also run SuperPI: 1M SuperPI takes 32s...

CPU-Z would show the throttled CPU frequency, wouldn't it? Will double check the heatsink...

 

[phaxmohdem]

Yeah, if you have CPU-Z running in the background while you super-pi, if it is throttling it SHOULD show up.... doesn't mean that it will though. I believe in my old Pentium D rig I could see in CPU-Z when it started throttling.

I don't know what else to tell you... maybe use the clear CMOS jumper on the motherboard, and see how it runs at stock settings, even with the speedstep stuff enabled.

 

[oskara]

Something is seriously wrong. This morning it took like 10 tries to even get past the POST. Did a clear CMOS in the process, but it still took a few more tries so I don't think that fixed anything. I'm gonna start swapping components with a friend and see what happens. I'm suspecting a broken motherboard.

 

[Spivonious]

What do you mean "get past the POST"? Did it freeze? Shutdown? Not boot into Windows?