Sorry if it has been discussed previously, but couldnt find it and im too pissed about this. Im newb to overclocking . Bought my system recently and got kinda annoyed to realize that my q9300 is clocked at 1999mhz with my asus p5e3 deluxe, 2x2gb corsair xms3 1333 ram. What the hell happened. Need i really mess with the BIOS to make it work as promised at stock speeds (2,5ghz)???


If so, what should i do? I altered the cpu multiplier from 6 to 7.5, put up the 1.225 voltage (indicated for 2,5ghz) bus at 333, why the heck it still doesnt run at 2,5ghz? CPUZ shows it at 1999 with 6.0 x 333 , then it quickly change to 7.5 x 333 which shows me 2,5ghz, and then it goes down again to 6x333 .... wth, obviously i didnt notice any speed gain, cuzz its either not stable or not set to 2,5ghz at all.

Any help is appreciated guys!
thanks

Its called Intel's Enhanced SpeedStep, which is designed to help you reduce power consumption.

If you don't like it, you can disable it in the BIOS.

SPEEDSTEP STRIKES AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heres the facts jack. All Intel Core 2 CPUs have a power svaing feature called Speedstep. What it does is when the CPU is idle, not doing anything or just a small process, it loweres the multi to 6. This is the same with all CPUs. 6 is the lowest.

When your CPU comes under at least 20% load (I have tested this with my Q6600 and 20% is where it normally jumps) it will raise the multiplier to the max rated, in your case 7.5, running the CPU at full speed.

As for your voltage, I would lower it. Lower it a lot really. I would say it should run stock at around 1.1v or less. Just put that on auto and if you want you can turn Speedstep off via the BIOS. It may be called EIST instead though.

But I suggest leaving it on. It will benefit you and it doesn't hurt performance as it will kick into full speed when its needed. With Speedstep on, it saves power and keeps your CPU cooler too.

Great!! Thanks for the inputs!! What about the other things i done at the BIOS? Everything correct except for the voltage? I mean, what CPUZ just showed me is that speedstep in action and working as intended??

Yes, CPU-Z is actually showing that your CPU and Mobo are live and well. You should revert everything back to Auto, and let the computer take care of that for you. If you're looking to overclock of course, then you can just adjust the values in the BIOS.

If you look at CPU-Z and open a bunch of programs or games you'll see the speed go up.

Thanks again for all the response guys, thats a nice feature, one that can trick the average noob like me, lol.

Let me guess...you didn't bother to check the STICKIES but went for the easy route and just asked anyway?

Motherboard manufacturers (and the CPU-Z devs) should put a notice in the BIOS/program the first time you run it that says "If your CPU appears to be running slower than it should be, forget about it." Then we wouldn't need the sticky

Yes we would, for the same reason this thread came up. People dont read.

The stick is here BTW, it goes into depth about it.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] multiplier

I would suggest if you didnt know about this (which you didnt) that you probably shouldnt be overclocking anything or adjusting anything just yet until some more reading is done. I would start with the sticky as its a good intro.

EDIT:Typo

Which makes the sticky pointless too.

Its great, my E8400 runs at 2GHz. at idle, and I have it cranked up so it hits 3.35GHz. under load.