• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Is it clocked properly?

TerryWogan

TerryWogan

TerryWogan

Associate
Joined
9 Jun 2004
Posts
1,813
Location
UK
Hello,

I picked up a bundle from OCUK the other day and I've finally got it installed and up and running.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-029-OE&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=

As you can see, it's a 2.4GHz processor clocked to 3.2GHz. However, according to my system settings and CPU-Z, it's only clocked at 2.6GHz. Is there any reason for this? Does it have speedstep enabled or something? i.e. it'll clock to 3.2 when I'm playing a game or whatever? How do I find out?

Thanks!
 
I fit goes from 3.2 playing a game then down to 2.4ghz thenm speedstep is enabled
so save power and what not.

you could turn off the speedstep settings in the bios then go back into windows and it should run at full speed all the time.
 
.:SAmSuNG:. said:
Its worth keeping it enabled.
Click to expand...

I disagree. The single biggest problem I find with clocking is when the CPU switches up and down voltages on Speedstep. Disabling speedstep is a great aid to stability. I can see the benefits if you don't actually use the overclock much as it will be costing something in electricity to keep the system ticking over at 3.2GHz.
 
WJA96 said:
I disagree. The single biggest problem I find with clocking is when the CPU switches up and down voltages on Speedstep. Disabling speedstep is a great aid to stability. I can see the benefits if you don't actually use the overclock much as it will be costing something in electricity to keep the system ticking over at 3.2GHz.
Click to expand...

he never said it was unstable? if its not causing any problems keep it on save somw pennies:p
 
BigBruiserAl said:
he never said it was unstable? if its not causing any problems keep it on save somw pennies:p
Click to expand...

He's only been running it today, so he doesn't really know if it's stable or not. Typically, to get a system stable with Speedtep enabled, I have to run at a higher load voltage than I would otherwise, to make sure I have enough voltage when it needs to come back from power saving mode. I can get a more stable overclock with lower volts permanently if I switch off Speedstep.
 
And to answer your original question - download CPUz from CPUID.com and it will show you the system speed and you can ramp the load up and down by opening 10 copies of Internet Explorer or something to see that it does indeed ramp up to 3.2GHz.
 
Off-Topic Waffle About EIST and NBCC

There is only two scenarios when I disable speedstep, the first is during the initial overclocking period where your working your clock out, the second is during benchmarking where the scores take a miniscule hit due to the processor MHz ramping.

Once the clock is worked out and once I'm done with Benchmarking the Speedstep gets switched back on.

If I was to guess what the problem was with people having failed overclocks while using speedstep I think it has to do with the Northbridge (NBCC) failing when the processor multiplier is dropped to x6. The higher the FSB used and the higher the processors natural mutlipler is the worse the problem will be!

As an example lets take an E8400 overclocked to 3.6GHz using a 400MHz-FSB (9x400), while at load (or EIST disabled) you can see the FSB remains at 400MHz . . .

(look at the SiSoft Sandra readout as well as the CPU-z readout)
9400.gif


but once the chip has its multiplier reduced this pushes the FSB up to 600MHz which some Northbridges can't handle . . .

6400.gif


If this did indeed cause a system to become unstable (even while idle) the cure would probably be boosting the Northbridge voltage (vNB).

Speedstep is a good technology and certainly has its benefits for most people, you just need to aware of its caveats. I would hope to see general consensus swing around soon and see people encouraged to use it! :cool:
 
only switch it off for stability testing and during the actual overclocking process once its stable its safe to turn it back on and you save a bit of bob on your electricity bills.

Why would anyone want it running at full speed on idle?
 
Yurihyuga said:
only switch it off for stability testing and during the actual overclocking process once its stable its safe to turn it back on and you save a bit of bob on your electricity bills.

Why would anyone want it running at full speed on idle?
Click to expand...

How do you know it's stable if you turn it off for stability testing. Sorry, but that doesn't make any sense.

Mine are never idle. That's how it should be.
 
WJA96 said:
How do you know it's stable if you turn it off for stability testing. Sorry, but that doesn't make any sense.

Mine are never idle. That's how it should be.
Click to expand...

very few people have issues with speed stepping on a stable overclock, this whole switch off speed stepping permanently cause it messes up overclock is a huge paranoia that has spread like the plague.

It will cause problems when running torture tests cause there is a small break in between tests so it will down step the clock and prime will keep cranking it right up which causes problems THATS what has caused people to think it causes stability problems. when not torture testing or benchmarking its fine to be on, unless your gonna do full load idle constantly non stop.
 
Yurihyuga said:
very few people have issues with speed stepping on a stable overclock, this whole switch off speed stepping permanently cause it messes up overclock is a huge paranoia that has spread like the plague.

It will cause problems when running torture tests cause there is a small break in between tests so it will down step the clock and prime will keep cranking it right up which causes problems THATS what has caused people to think it causes stability problems. when not torture testing or benchmarking its fine to be on, unless your gonna do full load idle constantly non stop.
Click to expand...

Well, if it can't stand stability testing, it doesn't sound stable to me, but your opinion of stability testing obviously varies from mine. I'm certainly not a stability Nazi, but it's either 100% stable or it's not.
 
everyone has there own opinions but like i said if your constantly gonna be loading it up and going idle seconds in between each other all day it will cause problems. So for people pretty much full loading all day its not going to be stable however the majority of people dont do that.

So the minority like yourself wouldn't approve of it, people hell bent on full 100% stability won't approve it but for mainstream users who just do gaming, why not keep it on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom