CPU running at low speed

[PowerDemon]

I have an HP DX2200 microtower pc that has a P4 651 CPU which is supposed to be 3.4ghz but according to CPUZ its only running and 2.4ghz.
There are no options in the bios of this motherboard which is a MSI MS7254 1.10 to change any settings for CPU or memory so im wondering why the cpu is running under its proper speed and how i can change it, anyone got any ideas?

 

[JonJ678]

Presumably the first speedstep question of the day. Run prime 95 and it'll most likely go back up to 3.4ghz. It's a power saving feature.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Presumably the first speedstep question of the day.

Ha, yea - it amazes me that we haven't got a sticky for this yet.


To the OP- the maximum multiplier of that CPU is 17 - it is currently at 12. Which, as Jon says, is speedstep (a power saving feature) which reduces the multiplier and CPU voltage dynamically when under little load. It is perfectly normal and shouldn't be worried about

If you run a stress testing program like Prime 95 or OCCT you should see the multiplier increase and the CPU clockspeed shoot up to 3.4GHz.

 

[SlugForAButt]

Like you said, maybe it needs to be stickied.
IN BIG CAPITALS!

 

[RJC]

Did this a while back:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17972811

 

[PowerDemon]

Ah thanks for the info

 

[FoxEye]

2.4 ghz seems pretty overkill for idle mode

Would have thought you could probably get away with something much less, like 800 - 1000 mhz.