e8400 running at 2Ghz sted of 3 Ghz on GA-X48-DS4

[demonqueller]

Hello, everyone,

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out why my computer isn't running as fast as it's supposed to.

Here are the parts:
System: Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition with SP1
Gigabyte mobo: GA-X48-DS4 with F1 BIOS
CPU: Intel e8400 3.0 Ghz
Heat sink and fan: Noctua NH-U12 P 120mm
RAM: Mushkin 2x2Gb DDR2-1066 (PC2-8500) at 5-5-5-15
PSU: PC Power and Cooling 750W Quad Silencer SLI certified
Graphics: MSI GT8800 GTS 512MB
Drives: WD 640Gb x2 in RAID 0, stripe 128 Kb

In the BIOS, the CPU is showing a multiplier of 9 and a FSB of 333 Mhz for the correct speed of 3.0GHz, but in Windows CPUID (CPU-z) gives me these results:

For the RAM, I'm all confused. In the BIOS, it shows at 1066. CPUz reads the modules as follows.

The 533 Mhz frequency would be consistent with the 1066 overall speed (1066/2), but then the page below rates the modules at 400 MHz. I'll admit I'm not sure what the JEDEC #1, JEDEC #2 and EPP #1 table means.

Is CPU-z insane or am I? Is there some power-saving setting somewhere that is throttling my system? I did uninstall Gigabyte's GEIST utility. In Windows' Power Options control panel, I set the minimum and maximum processor state at 100 percent.

Any suggestion would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[BigBurn]

It's Intel Speed Step that lower your CPU multiplier when he doesn't need his full speed. Try doing CPU intensive work and you should see the multiplier jump to 9x.

You should be able to disable it in the BIOS.

For the RAM, I am not sure, I think it's because they are natively pc2-6400 chips but are sold overclocked. Thats why cpu-z tells you they are 400mhz chips.

 

[blader15sk8]

For the Memory, those are just 3 different "standards" that have been set for the memory.

Your memory is running on the "enhanced performance profile" (EPP) since as you stated before, the memory was running at 533Mhz.

And yes, like the poster above me said, the speedstep technology in the core 2's drop the multiplier and voltage dynamically depending on the load of the processor. If you were to open a few programs you would see it jump up.

 

[demonqueller]

Blader and BigBurn, thanks for such quick responses. I forgot about Intel Speed Step. ... I feel so sheepish ... I'll tweak some more and see what happens.

Thanks again.

 

[ausch30]

Your memory is running at 1066 but I'm sure it's running at DDR2's default 1.8v. You will need to increase the voltage and manually set the timings to 5-5-5-15.

 

[V3NOM]

yeah pretty simple to resolve.... notice in the first screenshot cpuz says the multiplier is 6.0!! instead of the 9 you suggest... not too sure why it says that.... yeah its probly just intel speedstep....dont quote me on that tho im not any expert by any stretch of the imagination...those RAM tables show the timings you should apply with those given speeds and "standards" as explained above.