Question CPU clocks oscillate between few MHz

Durixx

Reputable
Jul 28, 2016
22
0
4,510
Hello!

I've got my i5 8600k clocked @ 4,5GHz, 1.2v; never had any issues.

However, as I've recently noticed, my CPU clocks tends to oscillate between 4.498MHz and 4.502MHz, rather than staying fixed at 4.5GHz. Is that normal, or is it something that I should look into?

EDIT: SpeedStep is disabled for the moment.

View: https://imgur.com/a/vRgGbvw


Specs:

MB: MSI Z370-A PRO
CPU: i5 8600k @ 4.5GHz
Cooler: SilentiumPC Fera 3
GPU: Gigabyte 1070 Ti
RAM: Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz CL16
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB
PSU: Corsair RM750x
 
That's normal, even if all the "spread-spectrum" clocking settings are disabled in the BIOS. With those settings enabled, the spread is even higher at 0.25%, which in your case would be around 10MHz.

Spread-spectrum is often required to pass FCC certification testing, to reduce the measured EMI emissions to within acceptable legal limits