i7 960 Bloomfield question

[Steve M]

I've just got a new i7 960 system.

Looking at CPU-Z is it normal for the core speed and multiplier to drop when the cpu is idle?

Also in the bios i upped the multiplier to 27 to give me a 4ghz core speed but in CPU-z it shows still at 24 (3.6ghz)?

 

[ishoeyi]

i think its speedstep

it underclocks itself when its idle to save engery

as soon as you put load on it, it will bump up

 

[Steve M]

Ok cheers, was a bit worried as the core speed was showing as 1.8ghz after booting to the desktop but yeah, as soon as i put load on it then it fires up to 3.6ghz.

 

[RJC]

Ignore.

 

[ishoeyi]

i think you can turn speedstep off in bios as well.

if you really want to.

 

[Steve M]

@ RJC: 133 mhz.

If i enable 'turbo mode' in the bios then it seems to stay at 3.4ghz. Am i best to use the turbo mode or not?