Switching Core Speeds

NinjaMaestro

NinjaMaestro

NinjaMaestro

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When I pull up CPU-Z it keeps jumping my core speeds between 2107 with a multiplier of 6 and 3158 with a multiplier of 9.

I want it to stay with the 9 multiplier as that is what I have set in BIOS.

I have a q6600 and an ASUS P5Q Turbo. I uninstalled the EPU and it still reduces my core speed unless I'm using Prime95 or something. I also saw a spot in my motherboard manual where it says something about an option in bios called Intel Speedstep. But when I check my actual BIOS the option isn't even visible. I figured that might be what's happening. I assume it's a default program designed to save power when not under load, but it's quite discerning when you're trying to perform your first overclock and you run into some bull crap like this. Any one know what I need to do?
 
I couldn't find any power save settings in the bios. I saw in the manual where it showed the bios showing SpeedStep Enable/Disable, but when I go to my bios, it's not there for me to Enable or Disable. What Now? :confused:
 
I had this issue, on my abit it was called EPP so it wasn't immediately clear what they were.

Besides are you sure you want to disable speedstep? I have mine enabled on the same cpu as you (clocked to 3.2GHz), saves a lot of electricity apparently. The cpu only goes up to full speed when its being worked, when its idle it drops the voltage and multiplier so your cpu uses less power and stays cooler.
 
Is this adviseable? Would most people tell me to not change it. I mean I want to reach a good and stable 3.6. Last night I brought it down to 3.15. When it's not doing anything I don't think it's even running at the stock 2.4
 
Everyone has their own opinion on overclocking and having speedstep enabled, so when I asked this question I had a lot of people with conflicting advice. The majority of people seem to say speedstep should NOT be enabled when overclocking...

So I did what I thought was correct and experimented. Now at idle my Q6600 runs at 2.0Ghz(x6) and at load runs at 3.0GHz (x9) (Im not sure you will get anywhere near 3.6GHz without having to up your voltage)

Some tips I picked up on the way to have a stable overclock WITH speedstep is NOT to change your voltage (VID/VCORE or whatever you want to call it). I found that if i fiddled with the voltage my pc could no longer go into hibernate/standby mode (something I use fairly often), to me this is a sign of system instability (despite prime95 and intel burn test telling me otherwise)

So my advice is to overclock at stock (with speedstep disabled), throughly test the overclock to ensure stability, then enable speedstep when you have a stable overclock.

It all depends on what you want. If your not bothered about your bill, and just want a 3.6GHz cpu then disable speedstep. If like me, you want to keep your bill as low as possible but still have a speedy overclock then speedstep does help, though you will have to compromise on the speed.
 
There is a way to use speed step, and have it turned off at the same time, by that i mean some motherboreds only alow the top multi on some cpus to be used with speedstep (mine is one of them).

If you have either Windows vista or Windows 7 try this

bifday2k said:
There is a much easier way to use speedstep, i found this out as my mobo won't let me use my 12.5 multi without speedstep being turned on

Ok as follows,

Go to control panel, system and maintence, then power options

next, choose high performance, this should turn off speed step from inside windows..

if not click on change plan settings, and then change change advanced power options, a box will appear.

Scroll down till u see processor power management, click on the + next to it, you should now see min processor state and max, hit the + next to the min pro state.

If speed step is active, this will read 5%, click on it and change it to 100, this will basicly turn off speed step from inside windows, i use speed step myself, as i rarely need my comp running at full speed, but when i want to do say a lot of benching i turn speed step off that way..

its easy to do especially if u want to do screenies of overclocks without having to reboot to turn speed step off in bios, and u can eaisly revert it back by following the above but putting it to 5% u don't need to reboot just click ok and its done.
Click to expand...

I thought id post that, incase u can't find how to turn speedstep off via the bios, im not sure if its possible in XP, but in vista and win7 it is.

My computer runs more or less @ 1.8ghz and slightly over 1v on the core for most of the time, only when i game or do benchmarking does it wake up and run at its full 3.75ghz
 
NinjaMaestro said:
Is this adviseable? Would most people tell me to not change it
Click to expand...

icedbullet said:
The majority of people seem to say speedstep should NOT be enabled when overclocking...
Click to expand...
Hey guys,

my advice is not to let other people do your thinking for you, it's always good to hear others opinions but don't be quoting it to other people until you have tested and confirmed yourself!

The reason I am saying this is because there is tons and tons and tons of bad/outdated information floating round the various forums, people are passing information around parrot fashion and it all turns into a chinese whispers epic! :p

Please just take the time to test and confirm things yourself rather than saying "I heard some bloke say" or "I was told" etc

EIST (Enhanced Intel SpeedStep®) is a great feature that will save some energy and help your PC relax, by all means switch it off while you are doing your basic overclocking tests (and benching!) but once you are finished testing feel free to then switch it back on! :)
 
I'd leave it on. It might not be ideal when doing synthetic benchmark stuff, but for day to day use it'll save you some £'s if the CPU can idle when it doesn't need to go full pelt.

It's not worth paying good money for a bunch of very fast NOPs!
 
I am running Vista 64 Ultimate so I will definately try the afformentioned method of turning off speedstep. What I gather from the description of how to turn it off via windows is that you're not actually turning it off. To me it sounds as if you're just setting the parameters and guidelines for the underclock side of the speed step: that way whenever your computer is not in a stressed load state it'll still revert to the speedstep except that the speed step is set to 100% instead of 5%. Is this correct or am I thinking about it way too hard?

I want it off. I may consider turning it on some of the time, though. It's just that I want everything on my cpu processed at an oc'd speed, not just some of the stuff. And if I can set it to 65% or something like that and use speed step at least I won't be losing so much clock speed when it does step down.
 
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NinjaMaestro said:
I want it off. I may consider turning it on some of the time, though. It's just that I want everything on my cpu processed at an oc'd speed, not just some of the stuff
Click to expand...
NinjaMaestro are you confused? :confused:

EIST will ramp the processor MHz to the max when the system needs it and clock it back when it doesn't

why does anyone need an idle computer running at full speed?
 
poweroptions.jpg


This is a screenshot of my power option on my comp, with speedstep turned on in the bios.

As you can see the minimum processor state reads 5%, if you where to turn speed step off in the bios this would read 100%.

Say for example you wanted to run say 3 or 4 benchmarks one after the other, and take screenshots at the same time, i put the minimum state to 100%, effectivly turning speedstep off, so the likes of cpuz reads the true clocks.

Then after i put the min state back to 5%, its a far easier way to use speedstep in my opinon.

You don't need it running 100% all the time trust me, my comp rarely goes over 50% cpu usage, unless im benching or heat testing.

As im typing this out my 3.75ghz cpu is running at 1.8ghz due to speedstep, and by no means slowing my typing or internet usage, or video watching, trust me when your comp needs it, it boosts it up, for example when i virus scan, my speed ranges from 1.8 upto max, but dos'nt stay at full power unless its needed.
 
Ninja-

You will have to update your motherboard to newest firmware to find speed step to turn it on and off,

as far as having a oc full time, isn't that the point of ocing? So mundane tasks are faster even? Surely being in the states an OC is not going to mess with your electric bill that much. I know of people who use speed step but rarely does it max your cpu enough to raise it which is like not even having an OC if you ask me. If you can't afford the electricity from your OC then you have a problem that playing on a computer is not going to help you with.
 
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