Core Duo Processor Speed on 6400/E1505

I've got the T2300 1.66 GHz Duo Core processor and thought I would see what CPU-Z had to say about it and it says the cores are running around 998 MHz; I thought it would be running nearer the advertised 1.66 GHz.

In comparison I recently upgraded our old home desktop and installed an AMD Athlon 1200 processor, which was the most the mobo could accept, and CPU-Z shows the core running around 1207 MHz.

I assumed my six year newer advertised as 1.66 GHz Intel Duo Core processor would run quicker than the old 1.2 GHz AMD Athlon or am I misinterpreting it?

 

Were you on battery? Go to Power Settings under Control Panel and change it to Home, then re-check. The default battery setting underclocks the procssor to save power.

 

I never knew that, so I'll have a look. Thanks.

 

Yep..i'm in the same boat here... CPU-Z states that my core 1 runs at 997mhz and same with core 2. What is going on here???

I'm on AC power and have tried different power settings..ie; home/presentation etc..still doesnt do anything. Even disabled speedstepping in BIOS..no change here.. please advice.

 

try downloading notebook hardware control, it allows you to customize when you want it to underclock, maybe when on battery power to extend battery life, or max performance for gaming or other applications. they also have a feature that allow you processor to stay underclocked until you perform an operation that requires it to increase the power. hope this works for you good luck

 

As mentioned earlier it is most likely power save settings that are turned on. When you use power save settings it underclocks the CPU. And mjpartyboy - you can not compare an old 1.2ghz AMD system with a new core duo system. The ghz can not be compared. For example a 1.66 core duo runs at about the same speed as an Intel Pentium 4 3.6. It gets a similar score in super pi as the 3.6ghz P4. But you really can't compare a non dual core with a dual core. They are totally different.

 

Also, there are programs to take up 100% of processor...theoretically you should be able to run that and CPU-Z and you will see what the max speed is.

 

Also, if you use a program like RivaTuner, it will graph your CPU clock speed in real time, you can watch it fluctuate between 1-1.6GHz every split second based on what you're doing. My Computer tells me mine is ~900MHz as well, but it's really not.

 

Thanks for the info

 

No prob!

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I guessed as much regarding Duo verses non-Duo. Thanks for clearing it up.

Even running off the PSU CPU-Z clocks the cores at around 998 MHz, but as 05Edge suggested, as soon as I set the power options to home we've got full Duo Core power.

What is it in Home/Office compared to Portable/Laptop that affects the processor's performance?

Is it possible to set the laptop so that when it detects the PSU it defaults to Home/Office and then changes to Portable/Laptop when you disconnect it?

 

Quickset will let you do that... it came installed on the Dell, when I plug in the A/C it changes the cpu clock speed, as well as the screen brightness.

As for what it is that makes the processor's performance differ, it's just the software settings are set up that way. It's designed to make the system run cooler, and longer on battery life.

 

Last I checked, the new Intel Duos have built in slowdowns when the speed is not needed. However, should your PC need it, it will kick into what is like "gears" I know I had ALOT of programs installing last night, games patching, installing stracraft, steam downloading CS 1.6 etc.

My CPU useage without doing anything was ONLY 20-40% and everything was running full speed.. no slowdowns in the program.. so yea.. this sucker multitasks nice.. Trick is.. when your so used to running one major task at a time vs getting slowdowns.. you arent used to that the duo core can HANDLE more then one task at it. Your PC buddy tells you "Comon fool! Gimme more to break a sweat on vs the easy fry one tasks" lol.

 

I have a core Duo T2500 in a Dell M65 and after reading your post I tried CPU-Z which I had not heard of and saw the same things you were seeing. I know my battery settings are maxed out so that was not what was up with mine.

I ran super-pi while CPU-Z was on and my core speed jumped from 997.5ish to 1994-1995ish
(1m) 30s
(2m )1m 13s

I am going to assume this is normal???? Any thoughts???

I did notice that CPU-Z had the option to look at core #1 or Core #2...

Anyway thanks for the info on CPU-Z that is a neat little program.

 

I would just like to thank CPU-Z and the people in this thread for answering my questions, otherwise I never would have known my 6400 was 'underperforming' or that the Power Options affected the core speed.

I've got QuickSet and when I plug the PSU in the screen goes brighter, but the core speed stays at it's minimum until I change the Power Options to one of the ones that make it run full speed, like Home/Office.

I'll have another look through QuickSet's settings to see if I can customise it to give me full core power when running on the PSU and not when it's unplugged and running on the battery.

 

Wow... so your saying running on AC, the core is still capped to a slower speed? That we need to change it to run on full?

I thought it scaled down useage when it wasnt needed? I mean are you basically forcing it to run full speed always now or what am I missing here?

 

My understanding is that when the laptop power option is selected the processor is always underclocked and never goes to 1 GB or above to save on battery power, as it assumes that is its power source, but when you select the home option it runs at normal speed because it assumes you're running on the AC and doesn't need to conserve power.

When people run theirs on the AC they were saying the clock speed defaults to normal (full) speed. Mine does not do this when the AC is plugged in and stays underclocked until a power option that changes it is selected.

 

Ah ha!

• Open Control Panel
• Open Power Options
• Select Home/Office Desk power scheme
• Open CPU-Z and minimise, so you can see the core speed in the Task Bar
• Now check core speed on battery power
• Now plug in AC and keep an eye on the core speed.

 

how do you chack wht speed your processor is running at?

 

Whoa....

I changed it from Laptop power mode to Home/Office and CPU-Z reports that it went from "rounded up" 1 GHZ to the whopping 1.87 GHZ!

Thats QUITE a jump in processing power.. wouldnt you say?!

So REALLY, Why would ANYONE wanna use this on the "Laptop" power option?! Can someone answer that? Also let me confirm writting it this way..
My MAX Core is 1.87 (Thats what I ordered, just fyi)

Laptop/Portable Option - AC - Core 997 MHZ, Multiplier x 6.0
Laptop/Portable Option - DC - Core 997 MHZ, Multiplier x 6.0

Home/Office Option - AC - Core 1828.7 MHZ, Multiplier x 11.0
Home/Office Option - DC - Core 997 MHZ, Multiplier x 6.0

Difference? QUITE a bit I would say! It looks like the Home/Office option is working as it SHOULD! More speed and power on the AC, while cutting it down on DC.. Which MEANS all this time, we have been underperforming in tasks since the core was being capped? Did I see this right?

What else does this mean? Does this mean we are FORCING it to stay in high gear always now. Thus running hotter? Or will it still scale down its useage as intel says it would when its not needed?

If on the "laptop" option, with AC, will it upscale the core speed when the demand is there? Just wondering now.. really...

That or its a bug in the system again for MS to work on.. Thoughts and comments? Once solved.. maybe we should make another sticky to announce that this setting may need to be changed.

 

With this great little free app: CPU-Z.

So far I've only been using my laptop for basic things and here's what I've noticed:

Home/Office

• AC registers at full speed all the time no matter what I have or haven't got open and am doing
• Battery registers just below 1 GB all the time no matter what I have or haven't got open and am doing.

Laptop/Portable

• AC registers just below 1 GB no matter what I have or haven't got open and am doing
• Battery registers just below 1 GB no matter what I have or haven't got open and am doing.

Note: Some of the other schemes achieve the same results as above.

When under clocked I've never seen the core speed increase with more tasks being open/done and on the reverse of this; when running at full speed I've never seen the core speed decrease with less tasks. So much for it adjusting its power depending on demand.

I can't see how the processors running at full speed could do them any harm because in comparison to processors I've used in the home PC they have never had the ability to adjust their speed depending on load, so always run at full speed, and have never had any problems or got any where near their maximum temperature (they both ran/run around the middle of their min/max temp). Surely these Duo Cores are designed to run at full speed without problems like any other processor, of course this would make them run hotter than when under clocked though and use more battery power.

Is the Duo Core core speed what the SpeedStep feature is supposed to control?

SpeedStep can be enabled/disabled in the BIOS menu.

I can't find anything on Intel's site regarding SpeedStep and Duo Cores, there are things on there about SpeedStep and Pentiums though:
http://mysearch.intel.com/corporate/default.aspx?culture=en-US&q=speedstep

Is this what our Dells' have got: Enhanced Intel SpeedStep?

 

thanx alot

 

Ok so that speedstep.. should we use the OTHER profiles then?? The ones that say speedstep etc..

I mean really getting confusing now.. since Dell sends us where the default setting is UNDERPERFORMING with it never going up in speed.. most users would never have even known! People who are LUCKY to come here and read find something out..

So real question is.. what profile should we stay on??

I wanna say "Home/Office" since it SHOWS AC will perform at max speed.. while DC will cap it to run at less. Which is good.

Laptop mode, Anyone think its a waste??

So lets see.. what should we gather about this? What should we use and why, and are we "Turning Off" speedstep when we set it to home/office?

I mean orig thought the goal was that it would speed up when the demand was there etc.. On Games etc, MAX speed is better then capped.. Normal apps and so doesnt matter too much..

Besides.. has anyone seen a STRONG difference when setting it ftom laptop to home/office? I mean your talking closer to 1 GHZ more of speed depending on your core.. thats nothing to scoff at.. So lets try to evaluate this some more.

 

Here is something I posted to the CPU-Z forum....similar results with my D820.....aggravating.

I recently purchased a DELL D820, unfortunately, my battery life hasn't been what others have been getting. I started to investigate. I found that in "my computer" the processor was showing as a dual core T2400, but ALWAYS running at 1.83 even when off AC power (it should show 987 or something like that). So, I checked the BIOS....it will tell you there what the current clock speed is...so I saw 1.0ghz when on batt, 1.83 when on AC (even though It wasn't updated realtime....I had to go back into the BIOS to check). So, I called DELL cust support....totally clueless.

So, I wanted a 3rd party tool to check to see what the CPU was running at. I used CPU-Z.


Here are the results.....

On battery and off battery they were the same results. It looks like it isn't actually stepping down. The weird thing is that "my computer" says its running at 987 when using the 65 watt adapter. CPU-Z shows the same numbers for the 65watt adapter, the 90 watt adapter, and "on battery" I don't know that much about this.....can anyone offer any suggestion??

- T2400 @ 1.83
Core Speed
CPU1 - 997.5
CPU2 - 987.5

Multiplier
CPU1 - 6
CPU2 - 6

FSB
CPU1 - 166.3
CPU2 - 166.3

BUS Speed
CPU1 - 665
CPU2 - 665

 

Here is another thread I started on another board which may be worth looking at.

http://forum.x86-secret.com/showthread.php?p=90520&posted=1#post90520

 

redneck, sounds like the same info here. Where it depends on the profile you select.. seems Laptop mode will cap it PERIOD.. while Home/office will uncap it and then ONLY on battery would the speed drop.

The confusing questions are which one should we really use and so..

 

To further stir the pot.....

Here is the thing. I processed some RAW photoshop files. While the files were being processed, the processor would jump up to the full speed (obviously speedstep was kicking in). I am pretty sure it did it in all modes.....

 

redneck, I came on to post, played with the SECOND laptop I ordered. Same E1505.. only diff it was the 1.68 GHZ core.

On Laptop Setting.. I noticed that when the demand came from running more then one app etc, it would on AC power, kick into FULL speed in "short bursts" to catch up. So speedstepping people does seem to work on laptop mode where on AC power it WILL kick in if the demand is there.

Now that leaves the theory..
That the cores will run under 1 GHZ if they see the apps running in question are running 100% of their speed and ability. If that starts to get where something has to wait in line.. it will speed up.

So that leaves me the question to ask here.. Anyone have a benchmark performance tester to see what happens if we let the speedstepper choose the core speed vs leaving it to its max speed setting always?

Cause now I am wondering if I should let it auto manage itself.. and not worry about speed on Laptop mode. Or if I should keep it at the Home/Office setting to ALWAYS let it be max speed..

Comments?

 

Just leave it on laptop mode. it will kick in when it needs to be. i wouldnt worry about it.

 

Still makes me wonder tho if we get better performance when its always in high gear or not tho.

 

I just found some information regarding XP controlling the processor's frequency instead of Intel's SpeedStep, which probably explains why there are no SpeedStep options in Power Management, but it doesn't explain why there is a SpeedStep option in the BIOS menu:

http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/index.html

 

Just went back to the laptop mode. I didnt notice a real need to keep it on max CPU speed... didnt seem to do anything extra, and it does step up when it needs it.

 

Ditto.

I noticed that when I did an Ad-Aware scan in Portable/Laptop scheme when running on AC, it stepped up to full speed until the scan was complete.

 

Since installing I8kfanGUI I've noticed it clocks the CPU speed fluctuating around full speed, whether on AC or battery, whereas CPU-Z registers it around 1 GHz. I've got an Intel Duo Core T2300 1.66 GHz and I use the Portable/Laptop power scheme, which incorporates the SpeedStep function.

Does anybody know why there's this discrepancy?