[SOLVED] Intel Xeon X5470 Low Clock Speed

Operating System: Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit
Motherboard: Asrock G31M-S
Processor: Intel Xeon X5470
Graphics: R9 Fury 4G
Memory: Samsung DDR2 PC2-5300 8GB
Storage: Kingston A400 120 GB SSD (OS)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 500 GB (Games)
Power: Rosewill Glacier 700W 80+ Bronze


So basically, at all times, with the multiplier locked to 10, and the bus locked to 353, my core speed should be set to 3539.10 MHz. (BIOS Settings)

However, it often just hangs around 3.33 GHz in task manager. So I tested with Real Temp and CPU-Z and they both report the higher speed. But, all is not well, when I benchmark it, it reports the lower speeds, meaning realtemp and CPU-Z are reporting what it's supposed to be, while task manager and the benchmarks are showing the real speed.

I have tried:
  • Reinstalling Windows
  • Park Control
  • Real Temp (disabling C1E)
  • Power management (Have tried all profiles)
  • reseating the CPU and checking for pin damage
  • Modified the BIOS to force support by the motherboard for the processor
  • Reset the CMOS
  • Removed the multiplier and tried reapplying and different settings. (The real speed is always lower than the bus speed.)
Any suggestions?
 
Solution
Since you are using an unsupported CPU, "odd" results are not totally unexpected. The BIOS doesn't really understand the CPU you have installed.
I updated the microcode. It should understand just fine.

Otherwise, I have noticed that the bus speed fluctuates between 333 MHz and 227 MHz, which causes the processor to run at around 3.05 GHz. It's weird, as the base speed is always "higher" than the processor is actually running at, and I've seen this before in other systems as well, which didn't get any modifications.

There are times when the processor runs at 3.45 GHz consistently with the 359 MHz overclock, but then other times it drops down to around 3.33 GHz, which causes slight variations and anomalies in performance.

The only 'issue' I can find, is on some old threads from 2005 people have said Intel Virtualization decreased their performance, but my motherboard doesn't allow me to change this feature. Spread Spectrum is turned off, as people have said in these old threads that this can hurt overclocking. I've noticed no differences in performance with it off or on.