I5 2450M stuck

[PistolPete]

Hey All,

Got a bit of a weird one I can't put my finger on.

Wife and I have HP Probook 6460b laptops with I5 2450M CPUs.
Only difference is that she has 2x4GB RAM and I have 2x8GB RAM.

I built the laptops with the same disk media and the same set of drivers and built the same way, yet a few months in my wife is complaining hers is slow.
After digging about and not finding anything obvious I run resource monitor and find the CPU maxing out. A little more digging and i find the CPU is running at either 775Mhz or 975Mhz (8x and 10x multipler respectively).

If I run CPU-z and run Prime 95 mine ramps up to full speed and occasionally turbo boosts. If I do the same on my wifes, 975Mhz is the most is sees.
I've checked the BIOS settings and as far as I can tell everything matches and I gone through the power options and they seem to match too.

I'm beginning to suspect and faulty CPU, but can anyone suggest anything before I start some hardcore testing.

 

[darket]

Give this a try, it gives you direct control over your cpu's turbo settings etc etc and help you diagnose if its a hardware or OS related issue

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html

 

[PistolPete]

This has muddied the water even more!

I have been able to put the multiplier right up and even get the chip to turbo boost speeds, yet only thottlestop is showing that CPU speed - CPU-z and other apps are still showing 775/975 speeds. I'm pretty sure they are incorrect as the fan slowly speeds up and I do feel a noticeable increase in heat from the exhaust when running Prime 95.

SO it looks like some kinda of software problem? I might swap the RAM and HDD over from mine to hers and see if I still see the problem.

 

[Ripshod]

Check in display settings which 'Power Plan' is in use. If 'Power Saver' has been selected it'll lock the core frequency right down.

Ooops, I just reread lol. I'll leave it tho because the core frequemcy can be locked down in any of the plans.

 

[PistolPete]

I reckon I'm either missing something obvious, or it's a faulty CPU.
Time will tell!

 

[Ripshod]

I honestly think the missus has enabled some power-saving feature as I suggested to make the battery last longer. When time tells you will let us know?