What's you real CPU speed?

[Cattykit]

1. First of all, below area few tools you need:

Tmonitor http://www.cpuid.com/tmonitor.php
CPU Tweaker http://majorgeeks.com/CPU-Tweaker__d6079.html
i7 Turbo http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/Turbo.zip

2. Here's my setup:
CPU: i7 860 @ 20x 185 = 3.7ghz (Manual voltage, 1.3875v)
M/B: Asus P7P55D with latest BIOS

3. Here's the part I'm confused about:

Even if I turn off all the energy saving features that I can think of (Intel SpeedStep, C State, and C1E,) all cores are running @ 1670 mhz following Tmonitor's real-time reports (Of course, the speed does fluctuate if there's demand.)
However, other supposed-to-be-accurate programs such as I7 Turbo, CPU tweaker reports all core running @ 3717 mhz.

So, if Tmonitor is correct, it seems like I can't just get it to work at its full speed. Is this the way I7 is suppsed to be? What does Tmonitor say on your computer?

BTW, I checked Window's power saving options and there's no section about throttling CPU speed when not in use. I just don't know why it's not there.

 

[ilkhan]

change to high performance power mode and it'll lock it at top multi. (or power save for locked at low multi)
And CPU-Z does fine for real-time CPU speeds.

 

[aigomorla]

3. Here's the part I'm confused about:

Even if I turn off all the energy saving features that I can think of (Intel SpeedStep, C State, and C1E,) all cores are running @ 1670 mhz following Tmonitor's real-time reports (Of course, the speed does fluctuate if there's demand.)
However, other supposed-to-be-accurate programs such as I7 Turbo, CPU tweaker reports all core running @ 3717 mhz.

So, if Tmonitor is correct, it seems like I can't just get it to work at its full speed. Is this the way I7 is suppsed to be? What does Tmonitor say on your computer?

BTW, I checked Window's power saving options and there's no section about throttling CPU speed when not in use. I just don't know why it's not there.

Can you put the cpu on load with a program like IBT, or Prime95?

Also while your cpu is under load can you run this program out?
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225450

My friend wrote that program, it tells you what your real load is vs your clock load.
You shouldnt be on power save mode.

I dont know why your going into C1E state when your C1E is diabled.

 

[Cattykit]

change to high performance power mode and it'll lock it at top multi. (or power save for locked at low multi)
And CPU-Z does fine for real-time CPU speeds.

Doing so doesn't make difference and CPU-Z is not known for providing "real-time" CPU speeds. However, though it doesn't update CPU speed in real-time, it should be accurate overall but in my case, if Tmonitor is right, CPU-Z is totally off as it reports 3710.7 mhz all the time.

Can you put the cpu on load with a program like IBT, or Prime95?

Also while your cpu is under load can you run this program out?
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225450

My friend wrote that program, it tells you what your real load is vs your clock load.
You shouldnt be on power save mode.

I dont know why your going into C1E state when your C1E is diabled.

When I run programs like Intelburn, Prime95, or Linx, all the cores run @ 3710 mhz.

I tested the system with all the power saving features turned off and the result is just the same as with those features turned on.
One thing I noticed is that although IntelSpeedStep is turned off in BIOS, I7Turbo and CPU Tweaker reports EIST being on. Even if I turn it off using those programs, the result is the same.

EDIT:
Even if I stablize(lock) multiplier which is confirmed by I7Turbo program (which means all the power saving features are off), Tmonitor reports the cores running @ 1600 mhz. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[rge2]

Yep that is one of the bugs with Tmonitor, incorrect idle MHz, always reports multi as 12 at idle, regardless of settings or actual MHz/multi. For example on my OCed 4.4ghz 23x192, Tmonitor will report 12x192 or 2304 regardless of settings.

 

[mike.shine]

change to high performance power mode and it'll lock it at top multi. (or power save for locked at low multi)
And CPU-Z does fine for real-time CPU speeds.

|Thats the one tool that does everything

 

[Brunnis]

Doing so doesn't make difference and CPU-Z is not known for providing "real-time" CPU speeds.

CPU-Z updates the CPU clock once every few seconds or so. On all computers I've ever ran it on, it always varies +-0.5 MHz or something. So, yes, it does provide real-time readouts. And I've never seen it report wrong CPU clock frequencies either, as long as it supports the CPU in question.

It's quite easy to verify which program is right. Just run some of the benchmarks in Everest or SiSoft Sandra and check your scores against the ones built-in. At 1600 MHz, your performance should be around half of an i7 975.

Personally, I believe Tmonitor is off.

 

[Cattykit]

CPU-Z updates the CPU clock once every few seconds or so. On all computers I've ever ran it on, it always varies +-0.5 MHz or something. So, yes, it does provide real-time readouts. And I've never seen it report wrong CPU clock frequencies either, as long as it supports the CPU in question.

It's quite easy to verify which program is right. Just run some of the benchmarks in Everest or SiSoft Sandra and check your scores against the ones built-in. At 1600 MHz, your performance should be around half of an i7 975.

Personally, I believe Tmonitor is off.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=95282&page=2

"i7 Turbo just lets you see what multiplier each core or thread of your CPU is actually running at.

The multiplier in Intel CPUs can be very dynamic changing 60+ times per second, up and down but most software like CPU-Z only samples your multiplier once per second and reports that. The CPU-Z method is prone to errors, especially at idle and there will be situations where it is not accurate at all. I didn't like seeing that so I wrote i7 Turbo that uses the Intel approved method to calculate the multiplier in real time. It's a tool that gives you a much more accurate look at what your multiplier is really up to."

The problem here is not CPU running at 1.6 ghz all the time. The problem or the question here is Tmonitor reporting CPU running at 1.6 ghz when in idle. As mentioned before, once CPU gets loaded by using Prime95, Linx, or Intelburn, Tmonitor reports CPU running at the full speed: 3.7 ghz that is.

By turning all the power saving features off, I believe CPU should be running at its full speed even when in idle but that just isn't the case. I wonder if i7 is designed to be that way which sounds strange.

 

[rge2]

By turning all the power saving features off, I believe CPU should be running at its full speed even when in idle but that just isn't the case. I wonder if i7 is designed to be that way which sounds strange.

Intel did not design the i7 to disregard bios speedstep settings. Twmonitor is simply buggy.

You can actually read multi straight from cpu register with MSR tool and confirm, or use calculated multi which is even more accurate or just use Unclewebbs I7 turbo since he followed intel's published correct method for calculating mhz.