CPU speed constantly changing

[nistua93]

I recently upgraded the hard drive in my laptop to the new western digital hybrid drive and also upgraded from windows 7 to 8.1. Everything is working fine except for when I play games every now and then it would seem to freeze then go straight back to normal. I thought this might be my graphics driver but it wasn't the case. After some inspecting I noticed my processors speed would go from it's max 3.3ghz to it's lowest 1.2ghz and there would be no in between, it's always either max or lowest. I know that my processor speed should change based on it's temperature to protect it but I don't think it should be doing it like this. It's base speed is also 2.3ghz and 3.3ghz is it's boost. Any advice on this would be great because I'm all out of ideas to fix this.

 

[digitaldoc]

You don't provide the actual processor model, but most modern chips are designed to adjust their speed based on the workload. This was introduced with SpeedStep for mobile, but many chips do this now.

You can demonstrate this by seeing the clockspeed in CPU-Z, and then starting SuperPi and you can see the clock speed increase, and then go back down as the task is completed.

The instability is unlikely due to varying CPU clockspeeds. I would look into making sure all the connections were tight, motherboard BIOS update, latest drivers, etc.

 

[IInuyasha74]

The CPU also changes depending on the usage. It runs at the lowest setting it can to save as much power as possible. Though if you are seeing literally freezes in games and major slow down then it is doing it too much.

There are a few things to try. First, you should check the temperature while gaming. Use MSI Afterburner, that can watch the temp of the CPU and the GPU and game for a while. Its important to start with this because if it is getting too hot the other possible solutions could be harmful. Although, it will drop down to 1.2ghz to protect it from heat as you said and even shut down if need be.

If the temps are fine, next you want to check the power settings. You know, where you change from "Power Saver", "Performance", "High Performance" etc. Make sure its in the performance or high performance mode. If that still doesn't fix it, go into change the plan settings. Then go to advanced and find the Processor States option. You can set a minimal CPU state, and you can set it to be the max so it won't idle at all. Obviously this is bad for draining power but shouldn't cause any harm if your temps are good.

If that still doesn't fix it, uninstalla nd reinstall the graphics driver.

If that also doesn't work, its possible your game has an issue or conflict with Windows 8.1, and you should try running it in compatibility mode with Windows 7. Though that still may not fix it and it may have no solution.

You can try these in any order, just make sure you check temperature before adjusting the CPU power state.

 

[nistua93]

You don't provide the actual processor model, but most modern chips are designed to adjust their speed based on the workload. This was introduced with SpeedStep for mobile, but many chips do this now.

You can demonstrate this by seeing the clockspeed in CPU-Z, and then starting SuperPi and you can see the clock speed increase, and then go back down as the task is completed.

The instability is unlikely due to varying CPU clockspeeds. I would look into making sure all the connections were tight, motherboard BIOS update, latest drivers, etc.

the processor is an i7-3610qm, and i've been watching CPU-Z to notice the speed even when doing nothing the multiplier will go from 12 to 31 and only them for no reason but will be at 31 for most of the time even when doing nothing at all i also have updated my bios and drivers since i'm on a clean start from windows 8.1, i've also installed all of the windows updates

 

[Alec Mowat]

You don't provide the actual processor model, but most modern chips are designed to adjust their speed based on the workload. This was introduced with SpeedStep for mobile, but many chips do this now.

You can demonstrate this by seeing the clockspeed in CPU-Z, and then starting SuperPi and you can see the clock speed increase, and then go back down as the task is completed.

The instability is unlikely due to varying CPU clockspeeds. I would look into making sure all the connections were tight, motherboard BIOS update, latest drivers, etc.

the processor is an i7-3610qm, and i've been watching CPU-Z to notice the speed even when doing nothing the multiplier will go from 12 to 31 and only them for no reason but will be at 31 for most of the time even when doing nothing at all i also have updated my bios and drivers since i'm on a clean start from windows 8.1, i've also installed all of the windows updates

Yes, that's a normal power saving behaviour.

 

[IInuyasha74]

You don't provide the actual processor model, but most modern chips are designed to adjust their speed based on the workload. This was introduced with SpeedStep for mobile, but many chips do this now.

You can demonstrate this by seeing the clockspeed in CPU-Z, and then starting SuperPi and you can see the clock speed increase, and then go back down as the task is completed.

The instability is unlikely due to varying CPU clockspeeds. I would look into making sure all the connections were tight, motherboard BIOS update, latest drivers, etc.

the processor is an i7-3610qm, and i've been watching CPU-Z to notice the speed even when doing nothing the multiplier will go from 12 to 31 and only them for no reason but will be at 31 for most of the time even when doing nothing at all i also have updated my bios and drivers since i'm on a clean start from windows 8.1, i've also installed all of the windows updates

Yes, that's a normal power saving behaviour.

You are missing the problem. His problem isn't so much the CPU is jumping up and down for different usages. Its causing games while he plays them to freeze either from the CPU idling or other issues.

 

[nistua93]

You don't provide the actual processor model, but most modern chips are designed to adjust their speed based on the workload. This was introduced with SpeedStep for mobile, but many chips do this now.

You can demonstrate this by seeing the clockspeed in CPU-Z, and then starting SuperPi and you can see the clock speed increase, and then go back down as the task is completed.

The instability is unlikely due to varying CPU clockspeeds. I would look into making sure all the connections were tight, motherboard BIOS update, latest drivers, etc.

the processor is an i7-3610qm, and i've been watching CPU-Z to notice the speed even when doing nothing the multiplier will go from 12 to 31 and only them for no reason but will be at 31 for most of the time even when doing nothing at all i also have updated my bios and drivers since i'm on a clean start from windows 8.1, i've also installed all of the windows updates

Yes, that's a normal power saving behaviour.

You are missing the problem. His problem isn't so much the CPU is jumping up and down for different usages. Its causing games while he plays them to freeze either from the CPU idling or other issues.

i went into my power options and saw that the minimun power for the processor when plugged in was 100 so i changed it down to 5 however that didn't seem to change it when idling it would sometimes go to stock at a multiplier of 22 but once i loaded up a game it went back to switching between 33 and 12 with no in between

 

[IInuyasha74]

That is weird. 5% is normally the default, and setting it to 100% should make it never go below a multiplier of 22. Did you check the temps?

 

[nistua93]

That is weird. 5% is normally the default, and setting it to 100% should make it never go below a multiplier of 22. Did you check the temps?

yeah the temps when idle are fine but when i'm running a game they are getting to a max of 85 when before on windows 7 is was normally kept at about 70.

the changes now though while just having this website open and CPU-Z is hitting nearly evertyhing between 12 and 33 but is still mostly staying at 31

 

[IInuyasha74]

That sounds like the problem right there. Its the in games you are hitting 85C so its slowing the CPU down to cool off. That is too high in any situation.

Honestly, if I were you I never would of upgraded to Windows 8.1, its a very problematic operating system which seems to cause problems in several places that were never an issue on Windows 7. The jumping around outside of games is actually pretty normal. However the quirk with it going up higher could be caused by a few possible things including higher background resource use of the OS. If that is the case, you can try closing as much before going into the game to help, but chances are you won't be able to fix it on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1

 

[nistua93]

That sounds like the problem right there. Its the in games you are hitting 85C so its slowing the CPU down to cool off. That is too high in any situation.

Honestly, if I were you I never would of upgraded to Windows 8.1, its a very problematic operating system which seems to cause problems in several places that were never an issue on Windows 7. The jumping around outside of games is actually pretty normal. However the quirk with it going up higher could be caused by a few possible things including higher background resource use of the OS. If that is the case, you can try closing as much before going into the game to help, but chances are you won't be able to fix it on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1

so it's probably just a compatibility issue with windows rather than me just missing some setting or driver issue