Laptop Processor Scaling

[randumb]

Hi. I have a Compaq Presario R3240US with an Athlon 64 3200+. The processor should run at up to 2.0ghz, but for some reason it always stays between 300mhz and 800mhz, even when I run intensive applications like Photoshop. What do I do to adjust the processo scaling?

 

[Shooters]

I'm not certain about this, but I'm pretty sure a lot of laptops use CPU thermal throttling. The warmer your machine gets, the more the system will slow the CPU down to prevent it from frying itself. So, doing processor intensive tasks can actually cause your machine to run slower, like you experiened.

If there is an option to change or even completely disable it (which is probably not recommended), then it would most likely be in the BIOS.

 

[randumb]

Originally posted by: Shooters
I'm not certain about this, but I'm pretty sure a lot of laptops use CPU thermal throttling. The warmer your machine gets, the more the system will slow the CPU down to prevent it from frying itself. So, doing processor intensive tasks can actually cause your machine to run slower, like you experiened.

If there is an option to change or even completely disable it (which is probably not recommended), then it would most likely be in the BIOS.

Point taken. However, my laptop didn't really feel very hot (at least not enough to burn my lap). I'm thinking it has something to do with PowerNow.

 

[Shooters]

I was under the impression that PowerNow decreases the CPU operating frequency when doing light tasks and automatically increases it when the workload gets heavy, so it seems a little odd that your machine throttles down when it needs speed the most. Either way, whether it's thermal throttling or PowerNow, those types of settings are usually found in the BIOS, so poke around there and see what you can find.

 

[randumb]

Originally posted by: Shooters
I was under the impression that PowerNow decreases the CPU operating frequency when doing light tasks and automatically increases it when the workload gets heavy, so it seems a little odd that your machine throttles down when it needs speed the most. Either way, whether it's thermal throttling or PowerNow, those types of settings are usually found in the BIOS, so poke around there and see what you can find.

I guess I explained it wrong. What I meant is normally my laptop runs at ~300mhz, and when I do intensive tasks it goes up to ~800mhz, but nowhere near its capability of 2.0ghz.

 

[Shooters]

Originally posted by: randumb
I guess I explained it wrong. What I meant is normally my laptop runs at ~300mhz, and when I do intensive tasks it goes up to ~800mhz, but nowhere near its capability of 2.0ghz.

Okay, I see what you're saying now. That does sound like it could be PowerNow. Have you noticed if the system has ever reached 2.0GHz, maybe when playing a game or some similarly intensive task? Your system may not think that you running Photoshop warrants the processor's full power, so it just goes up to 800MHz instead of the full 2.0GHz. Like I said, take a look in the BIOS.