Dell e6400 CPU only 0.85 GHz

Hello, I bought a new Dell E6400 laptop with Intel P8400 CPU. I tried installed Windows Vista, but the CPU experience index was only 3.0. I tried RMClock utility and it shows only 0.85 Ghz. I think I installed all needed drivers (Chipset driver, System Software etc.) and I set High Performance mode. But still 0.85 GHz. Any ideas how to force it to 2.26Ghz? thank you

 

It could be some BIOS issue. Try to check, if everything is correctly set there. I had that with a Pentium Dual Core desktop a while ago.

 

i checked and there is only one related option - Intel speed step, which is checked...

 

plug, but only with lower wattage of adapter (60W) so maybe this is that problem...

 

It is idling at a lower clock frequency. When you are running a CPU intensive task, it will go to the higher speeds.

Try running a stress test, like Orthos, and you should see the CPU stay at the top frequency.

 

Yes, that's a vital clue.

The BIOS used to throttle the CPU when used with a 65W PSU, but that was fixed (for the E6400 with the Intel graphics) with BIOS A11 or newer.

The other work-around is to enable throttling in RMclock and select only 100%. This over-rides the BIOS.

John

 

I'm pretty sure that Intel SpeedStep should be disable it lowers CPU clocks to save power. My friend's E8200 had speedstep on his desktop which made his CPU go down to 2.0GHZ from 2.66GHz. Please try this then run CPU-Z and see the clock speeds.

 

I think, i found it out, when I uplugged it, it is OK and it shows 2.26 -> it is because of 65W adapter

 

OK. So RMClock with 100% throttling is the only fix if you have nVidia GPU, or just update the BIOS if you have the Intel GPU.

John

 

If you disable SpeedStep, then it will just stay at the lowest multiplier, not the highest.

The best way to lock the processor to full performance would be to use RMClock to disable every multiplier except for the highest one.