CPU multiplier jumping erratically

[Likwid_Nitrogen]

I'm troubleshooting the poor performance of a system I built a while ago for my parents:

Asus p5VD2-MX SE
Core 2 Duo E4300 Conroe
2gb Corsair PC2 5400

Loading CPU-Z I found some interesting things.

The CPU's multiplier is jumping erratically from 6 to 9 and back, changing processor speed from 1.2ghz to 1.8ghz. 1.8ghz is the correct operational speed.

VCore is jumping from ~1.36 to ~1.26 and back, and seems to be happening in sync (causing?) the multiplier change. Asus' website FAQ says this is normal, happens during increased processor load.

Checked out CPU Usage in Windows Task Manager, it showed a spike to ~60% every couple of seconds, traced that down to the Linksys wireless utility. Handed control of that to Windows Wireless, disabled that, and watched as CPU Usage hovered around zero.

Was hoping that this fixed the issue, but CPU-Z still reports VCore throttling and CPU multiplier jumping.

On a probably unrelated note, their hard drive is close to failing.

In the BIOS, multiplier is set at 9, and the bios has no voltage control options.

Any ideas?

 

[Dangman]

That's Intel's Speedstep in action. Basically, don't worry about it.