Intel CPU: Rated Speed vs. Actual Speed

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by gman863, Jan 27, 2010.

  1. gman863

    gman863 MajorGeek

    I'm building some new PCs at work and have run into a strange issue: The processor speed displayed in both the BIOS and in Windows 7 System Info is much lower than the CPU's rating.

    The Intel E5300 is rated at 2.6GHz, 800FSB stock. The BIOS; however, states it is running at 1.7GHz.

    This reading in confirmed in Control Panel > System. The processor shows up as an Intel 5300 2.6GHz but a grayed out "1.7GHz" appears next to this.

    Here are the system specs:

    Gigabyte GA G41M-ES2H board
    Stock BIOS (no updates available)
    4GB DDR2 6400 (2x2GB Dual Channel)
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit OEM
    Norton Antivirus 2010
    Power option set to "balanced" mode
    No driver issues noted in Device Manager

    What could be causing this and how can I fix it?
     
  2. hrlow2

    hrlow2 MajorGeek

    Does the motherboard support 800 FSB?
     
  3. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi

    That mobo supports FSB upto 1333 MHz.

    Try this on one PC and with it off. pop out the mobo battery for 10mins and then pop back and check BIOS settings again, at times I've found anomalies with new boards until you reset CMOS.

    While you are in the BIOS whats the CPU multiplier set to?
    If you see a setting for Optimal Settings emable that and save exit bios.

    Also as modern CPUs do when idle and not doing task intensive jobs do scale the CPU speed down to keep cool (called Enhanced Intel Speedstep), but your mention of not showing full speed in System may not be this as iirc it shows as full speed.


    Post a screenshot of the CPU tab page of CPU-Z


    EDIT: ment to ask did you install chipset drivers yet? what in Device Manager has yellow ! mark?
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2010
  4. gman863

    gman863 MajorGeek

    There are no yellow or red icons showing in device manager. When I did the Win7 OEM install it appeared it installed all the drivers correctly.

    I'll run the Gigabyte chipset driver from the mobo CD and see what happens. I'll keep you posted. Thanks.
     

MajorGeeks.Com Menu

Downloads All In One Tweaks \ Android \ Anti-Malware \ Anti-Virus \ Appearance \ Backup \ Browsers \ CD\DVD\Blu-Ray \ Covert Ops \ Drive Utilities \ Drivers \ Graphics \ Internet Tools \ Multimedia \ Networking \ Office Tools \ PC Games \ System Tools \ Mac/Apple/Ipad Downloads

Other News: Top Downloads \ News (Tech) \ Off Base (Other Websites News) \ Way Off Base (Offbeat Stories and Pics)

Social: Facebook \ YouTube \ Twitter \ Tumblr \ Pintrest \ RSS Feeds