How can I check to see if my CPU is running at its rated speed?

G

Gundam

Weaksauce
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Sep 22, 2006
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I have an I3-540 in my HTPC and I've noticed that in one of my programs (XBMC) it's been running incredibly sluggish. I thought it was my OCZ Agility SSD (which is horrendously unreliable) so I swaped it out for a new crucial M4 SSD. Unfortunately, that wasn't the problem, as it still persists.

I tried running the Windows Experience Index and received a 3.8 under CPU calculations which sounds a bit low. I know the WEI isn't exactly the best benchmarking utility to determine performance, but it's all I have. On my systems page it shows the cpu as an i3-540 3.07 ghz 1.46 ghz. I'm guessing the second number is with the cpu stepped down because it's idling?
 
Yes, that is the idle speed.

The best way to see a real-time CPU speed readout is to run CPU-Z. Just watch the speed when you load the processor.
 
ok i ran prime 95 and I'm supposed to look at core speed in cpuz right? Well it seems to fluctuate between 500mhz and 2000mhz. I'm guessing something is wrong?

wKihe.jpg
 
I'm fairly certain that Prime95 puts a continuous full load on the CPU, so it should stay at the maximum multiplier. I don't want to jump to conclusions but it sounds just like the old temperature throttling seen so much in the P4 days - the heatsinks where sometimes not enough to cool the processor, causing it to throttle down over and over again as it hit the overheat threshold.

Try downloading Core Temp (on the main page look for the small print "more downloads" to download the stand alone exe, that way you don't have to install anything). Core Temp will show both the CPU speed/multiplier and the current/min/max temperature of each core. Use this with Prime95 to make sure your CPU is not overheating - there might be something wrong with the airflow in the case (full of dust?) or the thermal paste bond between the CPU and the heatsink might be damaged (remove heatsink, clean, apply fresh thermal paste and reinstall).
 
Make sure all 4 cores are loaded in taskmanager when you look at the cpuz.
 
David_CAN said:
I'm fairly certain that Prime95 puts a continuous full load on the CPU, so it should stay at the maximum multiplier. I don't want to jump to conclusions but it sounds just like the old temperature throttling seen so much in the P4 days - the heatsinks where sometimes not enough to cool the processor, causing it to throttle down over and over again as it hit the overheat threshold.

Try downloading Core Temp (on the main page look for the small print "more downloads" to download the stand alone exe, that way you don't have to install anything). Core Temp will show both the CPU speed/multiplier and the current/min/max temperature of each core. Use this with Prime95 to make sure your CPU is not overheating - there might be something wrong with the airflow in the case (full of dust?) or the thermal paste bond between the CPU and the heatsink might be damaged (remove heatsink, clean, apply fresh thermal paste and reinstall).
Click to expand...
Airflow looks good. The comp isn't that old, and there is only a bit of dust on the cpu fan. The rest is nearly spotless. In my bios the CPU temp is shown as 92C, which if accurate is very high no? The fan seems to be spinning fine, so it looks like the culprit may be the heatsink bond. I'll remove and reapply heatsink paste tonight when I get off work.

All of this began happening after a recent move. I didn't think a jostle here and there would be enough to move the heatsink out of whack.
 
i would clear the bios settings and restore default values. you either have something set wrong in the bios or your cpu is overheating and throttling down so it doesnt burn itself up. what are your temps during prime?

my athlon ii x2 250 scores 6.4 on wei at stock speeds. yours should be higher then mine.
 
tricky0502 said:
i would clear the bios settings and restore default values. you either have something set wrong in the bios or your cpu is overheating and throttling down so it doesnt burn itself up. what are your temps during prime?
Click to expand...

Resetting the values to default was the first thing I tried. I will check prime temps tonight
 
i would manually check all of the cpu settings and make sure they are on auto. this sounds like a bios issue. what mb are your using? and are you running the latest bios?
 
tricky0502 said:
i would manually check all of the cpu settings and make sure they are on auto. this sounds like a bios issue. what mb are your using? and are you running the latest bios?
Click to expand...

h55m-usb3, updated to the latest bios last night and still the same results
 
Check the CPU heat sink. Open the case blow a house fan on it see if the temps go drastically down.
 
Gundam said:
Airflow looks good. The comp isn't that old, and there is only a bit of dust on the cpu fan. The rest is nearly spotless. In my bios the CPU temp is shown as 92C, which if accurate is very high no? The fan seems to be spinning fine, so it looks like the culprit may be the heatsink bond. I'll remove and reapply heatsink paste tonight when I get off work.

All of this began happening after a recent move. I didn't think a jostle here and there would be enough to move the heatsink out of whack.
Click to expand...


i just saw this. 92c? that would cause your cpu to throttle down. use coretemp in widows and report that temp.
 
I just remotely connected to my computer from work and installed coretemp. 105C at idle, and it's speed is at 1.2ghz. Definitely looks like a thermal issue and the CPU is getting throttled down so it doesn't burn to death.
 
You need to shut that thing down! Your cooler can't be mounted correctly.
 
tricky0502 said:
You need to shut that thing down! Your cooler can't be mounted correctly.
Click to expand...

Yep. Shut down. I wonder how much damage it took. :( It's been on nearly 6 hours a day for the past 2 weeks, most of which is from watching HD movies, which thankfully the GPU handles. It just never dawned on me that it was a heat problem because there was so little of it coming from the case.
 
Ran coretemp after reseating the hsf.. Min 48C, max 73C for core 0. Sound about right for an intel hsf?
 
Gundam said:
Ran coretemp after reseating the hsf.. Min 48C, max 73C for core 0. Sound about right for an intel hsf?
Click to expand...

they are ok, not great, not bad.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i3-530-processor-review/7

as you can see the they are getting core temps under 50c using the stock cooler (i3 530). either you fan isnt spinning at the correct speed, you have it mounted wrong, or you are using to little/much thermal paste.

does it go up to 3 ghz now?
 
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