Why does processor report 1/2 the advertised speed? (PICS)

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ChrisII

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
91
Hello,

I've been having some difficulties with my laptop. I don't know if it's normal or not so any help is appreciated. Basically my processor (P4 3.06GHz) is running at 1.55-1.6Ghz.

Actually it kind of switches between 3.06 or 1.6. I was running SuperPI (out of curiousity), with CPUz on and that's how I found out.

picture:

http://tinypic.com/kd8xfl.jpg

So what gives? How do I get it to run at 3.06 all the time? Though I'm a newbie, I have done my research (thus finding this site) and have disabled power management in windows (set it to Desktop/Home Computer).

Regards,

Chris
 
thats completely normal, its to save battery, it will jump to full speed when needed.
 
Are you running on that battery when you took that picture?

If you're looking to run at full speed all the time, you must plug it in.

If you open up the system in the control panel, you'll see that the core speed changes there too.
 
I'm plugged in, nearly all the time. This laptop is plugged into so many things it's pratically a desktop.

I've had major performance issues with games, even when running at ultra low resolutions (640x480, Call of Duty, low textures, low everything.). The game would go fast, then slow down to a CRAWL, the go fast again. It would cycle like this forever.

I'm not totally dellusional; laptops aren't gaming PCs. However, I have a relatively fast processor, relatively ok graphics card, and generally a relatively modern laptop (purchased 1year and a half ago, at the time the top speeds were 3.2GHz for laptops).

So basically this is normal? I would have to get speedswitch XP?

Regards,

Chris
 
My T42 also runs at slower speeds to save on battery, although it always runs at full speeds when plugged in.

And as for games, I haven't got a game that I couldn't run. Usually with medium graphics at 800x600 :) So laptops can be good for gaming. Although i'm planning on building a SFF system at some point this winter.
 
Even with speedswitch, the processor still slows down when running Super Pi. I cracked open Windows Task Manager, CpuZ and of course Super Pi and I get the following:

CPU still throttles (according to CpuZ)
CPU only working at 50% (According to Task Manager), even when CpuZ is reporting full 3.06GHz speed

I've played around with the settings of SpeedSwitch and must admit that I'm not entirely sure that I fixed it as I should:

In "User Policy" tab I put Maximum Performance and Sleep State to S5
In "Machine Policy" I put Sleep States to S5
In "CPU Policy" I put no for "Allow Demotion". I also put "DemotePercent" @ 100.

Any thoughts still?
 
ChrisII said:
Even with speedswitch, the processor still slows down when running Super Pi. I cracked open Windows Task Manager, CpuZ and of course Super Pi and I get the following:

CPU still throttles (according to CpuZ)
CPU only working at 50% (According to Task Manager), even when CpuZ is reporting full 3.06GHz speed
Click to expand...
Hyperthreading. A single threaded CPU intensive application will only show 50% utilization. You need two intensive apps a well multi-threaded app to get 100% utilization, like running a second instance of SuperPI at the same time.
 
SLee said:
Hyperthreading. A single threaded CPU intensive application will only show 50% utilization. You need two intensive apps a well multi-threaded app to get 100% utilization, like running a second instance of SuperPI at the same time.
Click to expand...
Agreed, your P4 probably has HT turned on. Usually for normal usage you want to have this ON, but if your having problems with games, have the latest drivers, and think its HT that's doing it, you can try and turn it off in the BIOS (if you have this option).

~Hope this helps
 
you can stop speedstep by changing power options to "always on"

no need for third party software...
 
Same note, can one do the opposite of this on a desktop (change to portable), so it'll throttle down to save heat/electricity when not in use? hmmm... sounds good. My roommate's and my PC heat up the room by 5C at least...
 
sorry, but no socket 478 chips support that.

Athlon 64's and 6xx (and newer) p4's do support cool'n'quiet and speedstep though.
 
I'll give that a try. I'll disable Hyperthreading (it's possible through BIOS) and then I will see.

Regards,

Chris
 
Ok,

1- I tried using "Always On" but it doesn't do anything diffrent. It switches between 3.06 and approx 1.5Ghz.

2- Disabled Hyperthreading, used SpeedSwitchXP, and get the following:

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/6773/untitled6zy.jpg

Look at the speed reported in CpuZ... Definately below 3.06Ghz. Any thoughts? However, the load is reported at 100%, probably a result of disabling Hyperthreading.
 
I have the same issue with my AMD 64 proc laptop. I shoot up football on battery power and it slows up and speeds up. Drives me crazy.

I have tried several programs, some mentioned earlier, with the same issue.

And on one program I set it to always run at the 2.0 ghz speed, and it made my machine blue screen.

Not happy either..
 
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