CPU not running at advertised speeds

[HPCE_Larry]

I just finished building a new computer. I boot it up and go to the bios to make sure the memory timeings are right and such. In it, it claims that the cpu speed is 2.13ghz (266mhz x8). However, its a core 2 duo e6600 which should run @ 2.4ghz. Also, despite being epp memory, it doens't have the right timings. Its ddr2 800 corsair dominator ram that should be running 4-4-4-12. However, the bios claims its 5-5-5-18.

The motherboard is an EVGA 680i. Any idea whats going on?

EDIT: The strange thing is, memtest claims the cpu is running at 2.4ghz.
EDIT: The multiplier in the bios was wrong. Fixed it. Also got memory working.

 

[raybay]

So you got some things working. Does the problem remain?

 

[sc0rchedst0rm]

I've been experiencing a similar problem. I've got a E6300, which should run at 1.86GHz, but CPU-Z registers it as being at as being at 1596 MHz. I'm no expert, but I'm more than capable of a little arithmetic, and that seems like my multiplier should be 7x, as opposed to 6x like I'm getting.

But here's thing crux of the matter. In my BIOS, hardly anything can be changed. I asked on the Packard Bell forums and was told something about not being able to overclock PB computers. I don't think they understood that I'm only trying to get what I paid for! Please help!

EDIT: I just noticed that intermitently, my multipler jumps up to x7, and then goes down again. Any idea why? It seems to correlate to fluctuating voltage. Is my PSU just really bad? I'm upgrading anyway. Do you think this will fix it?

 

[raybay]

You probably will not have any luck with the Packard Bell. What you paid for too often is not what you got. They flip-flopped on motherboards and components a lot.
Is this the current European Packard Bell, the Asian Packard Bell, or the failed US Packard Bell?

 

[sc0rchedst0rm]

The European Packard Bell. Since I got this computer its been a voyage of discovery, I must say. Between my motherboard not supporting RAM in dual channels, and my graphics card being in somewhere between a ATi x1600 and ATi x1650, not to mention totally unmentioned on the ATi website, to this. Very annoying I must say, but it was unbelieveably cheap. If I could just get this damn CPU to run at its actual speed 100% of the time instead of 33% of the time, then I'd be happy!

Strangely, I think this problem developed over time, as opposed to starting out like this. Packard Bell support was useless though. Guess I should have done more research into the topic before hand. I guess I'm just a sucker for what looks like a good deal.

 

[raybay]

We don't have a lot of experience with the European Packard Bell, but we have seen the problems you describe on the two machines we have seen. Sorry we have no helpful suggestions. The Packard Bell is similar to the eMachine in the problems and the failures. You can likely count on it expiring early, based on what we have seen.

 

[kitty500cat]

It's possible that SpeedStep is kicking in. It is a technology that lowers the clock speed of your processor when it's idling or not running at its full capacity. That way it can save power (especially nice for notebooks running on batteries).

When you open a program that takes a moderate amount of CPU resources on a computer with a SpeedStep-enabled processor, the multiplier should go back to normal until the CPU usage goes down.

 

[Didou]

With SpeedStep, the E6600 should idle at 1.6GHz, not 2.13GHz. Btw HPCE_Larry, you should run CPU-Z & see what it says about your CPU.