Pentium D925 locked at 12x instead of 15x?

[fldavem]

I've just bought a new Pentium D 925 which is supposed to be 3.0GHz but I noticed from CPU-Z and PCWizard it's 2.4. Both also show the multiplier locked at 12 when it should be 12 to 15, I thought. I'm new to all this, but am I missing something regarding just getting my 3.0 to run at 3.0???

Thanks in advance!

 

[myocardia]

Which motherboard, and which RAM do you have?

 

[stevty2889]

Is speedstep enabled?

 

[fldavem]

Sorry for not posting that. I have the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 rev 1.3 (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128042) and 2GB (2x1GB) of GSkill DDR2800 5-5-5-15 (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231098).

I don't see a BIOS option to control speedstep.

 

[fldavem]

Could WinXP Pro (MCE) be the culprit? The boot screen says 200x15 and the BIOS setting says 15, but PC Wizard and CPU-Z say the multiplier is locked at x12. What in the wide wide world of sports is going on here?

And, on top of that the Gigabyte Easy Tune shows the speed at 3GHz and the multiplier at 15. Ugh, I'm confused!

 

[fldavem]

OK, get this - when I bring up the EasyTune and PC Wizard at the same time, the EasyTune says it's running 3GH and the PC Wizard SWITCHES BACK AND FORTH between 2.4 and 3.0!!!!! I know this may be a dumb question, but is it possible one of the cores is operating at a different freq then the other????

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: fldavem
OK, get this - when I bring up the EasyTune and PC Wizard at the same time, the EasyTune says it's running 3GH and the PC Wizard SWITCHES BACK AND FORTH between 2.4 and 3.0!!!!! I know this may be a dumb question, but is it possible one of the cores is operating at a different freq then the other????

it still sounds like speedstep, or tat maybe PC wizard isn't reading things properly. Maybe the speedstep setting is in the advanced options in your bios(while in the bios press Ctrl-F1 to bring up the advanced options).

 

[ashishmishra]

It looks like speedstep is indeed enabled and working, if you do any cpu intensive tasks like run Stress Prime 2004 for example on both cores, you will notice the CPU clock back upto 3.0 Ghz. When computer is idle it will clock back to 2.4 Ghz to save on power. It doesn't hurt your performance.

 

[fldavem]

It sounds like speedstep to me too, because it will go to 3GHz under load and back down to 2.4 not under load. So, under normal idle, would it actually be better that way or is it best to just try and turn that downscaling off?

 

[996GT2]

Unless you are overclocking and changing the multiplier on your CPU, it's best to leave SpeedStep on. The Pentium D is already a pretty hot-running chip, so allowing it to run at lower speeds and voltages when the extra power is not needed helps it save power and also reduce operating temperatures. When you do need the extra power, though, SpeedStep will bump the CPU speed back to its max, so actual performance is unaffected.

 

[fldavem]

Well, thank you all for helping me out. Hopefully, I can return the favor sometime.

-Dave