[SOLVED] Why is my CPU so slow?

[pdqCS]

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/50087562

It's a pre-built and has always had this issue, it can barely run 3d games, thermal temps seem okay. RAM is in slots 2 and 4 and it says is using Dual channels in Speccy. In task manager when idle or when playing games the speed is almost always below 1 GHz.

Base clock 3.6 GHz, turbo 0.8 GHz (avg) <- 0.8 GHz for turbo average? Seems abnormal.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

[USAFRet]

"32GB DIMM DDR4 clocked @ 2133 MHz "

Fix that.
XMP, and get it to its rated 3600.

 

[pdqCS]

Can do, but why would that cause my CPU to have such a low clock speed/frequency? I don't see a correlation.

 

[USAFRet]

Can do, but why would that cause my CPU to have such a low clock speed/frequency? I don't see a correlation.

CPU and RAM work together.

Fix the RAM first.
See what happens.

 

[Phaaze88]

Uhh...
"Base clock 3.6 GHz, turbo 0.8 GHz (avg)"

Cpu must be thermal throttling, and the gpu might be too.

 

[bignastyid]

Uhh...
"Base clock 3.6 GHz, turbo 0.8 GHz (avg)"

Cpu must be thermal throttling, and the gpu might be too.

Could be power throttling, the VRM setup on that board is rather poor.

 

[DSzymborski]

If this was a problem since you got it, why didn't you deal with it from the start? You could have had a hardware issue from day one and it's likely you're out of warranty now.

Frankly, if this is a prebuilt, the first thing I do is completely wipe the OS drive and do a fresh Windows install. God knows what's going on with the usual prebuilt junk thrown on and drivers installed by what is usually poorly paid workers of varying competence, building PCs assembly line style.

 

[pdqCS]

This is not my Computer I'm helping a friend who is not technically savvy, is not under warranty. He has upgraded RAM, wiped the drive recently a few times and has done fresh install, he also replaced the SSD with another one and the issue persisted though all of that. Hardly any programs are installed on it currently. I have checked the thermal temp readings during some benchmarking and while he was playing games and the temps were not abnormal. BIOS settings are the one area we haven't done much investigation on, yet.


Windows Power settings have been changed from balanced to high performance, did not seem to help.

CPU cooler is a fan box type and the fans are working on it, on the case and GPU fans also working.

 

[Phaaze88]

Could be power throttling, the VRM setup on that board is rather poor.

Aye, OP did say reply that temperatures seem to be ok.

 

[Karadjgne]

Turbo 0.8GHz is Not thermal throttle. To attain that kind of speed drop would require such excessive heat the cpu would have shut down long prior to reaching that kind of low.

It's not ram either, it's Intel and basically the cpu is unaffected by ram speeds as far as cpu speeds are concerned.

I'd be more inclined to believe the EPS is unplugged.

 

[pdqCS]

I've asked my friend to take a bunch of pictures of inside his case, of the motherboard and all the connections and wires visible as well as taking picture of his power supply and sticker for more information. I will post/link these tomorrow when I get them. If have any other suggestions of things I could test or info that would help I appreciate it all, thanks for help.

 

[MeanMachine41]

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/50087562

It's a pre-built and has always had this issue, it can barely run 3d games, thermal temps seem okay. RAM is in slots 2 and 4 and it says is using Dual channels in Speccy. In task manager when idle or when playing games the speed is almost always below 1 GHz.

Base clock 3.6 GHz, turbo 0.8 GHz (avg) <- 0.8 GHz for turbo? Seems abnormal.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Definitely abnormal. The Intel i7-9700K Processor is capable of 5GHz with the correct cooler and well capable of handling AAA gaming and other heavy tasks, and your MB is capable of handling decent Overclocks.

So what's going on here? Please answer the following.

Have you modified your Bios in any way using a Windows app or within Bios?
Is your Bios and chipset up to date? If not then do so.
Once updated your Bios should be at default.

To get the best out of your system and obtain information for analysis, you should conduct a stress test using AIDA64. Here is a vid on how to use it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25HUMKSHO6s


I also use HWinfo64 in unison with AIDA64.
Run the test for 10 mins initially and take screen shots at the 10min mark.
We need to determine your thermal properties and rail voltages under load so upload the images of relevance to IMGUR and to obtain the bburl as a link to here.

Once we have this info then the best most stable settings for performance can be achieved.

 

[mdd1963]

if chipset drivers are botched, default clock speed is often 800 MHz...

Assuming using WIndows 10....

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z370-A-PRO/support#down-driver&Win10 64

set/reset your BIOS to defaults....(then select correct XMP profile for your actual RAM speed)

download all from MSI that apply to your mainboard,

Apply all WIndows updates...


Then check CPU speed behavior within task manager just doing things on your desktop, opening websites, etc...

 

[Mr.Spock]

the other obvious answer is that the 9700K is unlocked - so you're comparing your friend stock benchmark to a range of builds many OC'ed up to 5GHz - your friends PC would start at the low side of 50% as expected.

one or more of the power management settings may be screwed up accounting for the 0.8GHz

 

[Nighthawk117]

Can do, but why would that cause my CPU to have such a low clock speed/frequency? I don't see a correlation.

No it wouldn't, and while you ideally you want faster memory, 2133Mhz will make nowhere near the performance deficit you are seeing.

Check your temps with HWMonitor, just in case it's a poorly installed cooler and thermal throttling. Otherwise sounds like something software is screwed up.

 

[Vic 40]

Motherboard bios is an old one, it might just help to update that to at least latest non beta,

BIOS Date

20180803

 

[uWebb429]

@pdqCS
Try running ThrottleStop.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

Click on the Limits button to open up the Limit Reasons window. It is likely going to show BD PROCHOT glowing red which is the most common reason for Intel CPUs getting stuck at 800 MHz. No other monitoring software can detect this common problem let alone fix it.

Try clearing the BD PROCHOT box on the main screen of ThrottleStop.

Does the MHz instantly go up? It usually does. Run another Userbenchmark test and see what it reports for average MHz.

Post some screenshots of ThrottleStop if you are still having problems.

Edit - Just checked the motherboard manufacturer. This problem is extremely common on MSI motherboards. A small switch on the motherboard gets dirty over time, shorts out, and tells the CPU to constantly throttle. Disabling BD PROCHOT blocks these false throttling signals from getting to the CPU. The CPU will still be able to thermal throttle and slow down if it ever gets too hot. Disabling BD PROCHOT only blocks external throttling signals to the CPU.

 

[pdqCS]

@pdqCS
Try running ThrottleStop.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

Click on the Limits button to open up the Limit Reasons window. It is likely going to show BD PROCHOT glowing red which is the most common reason for Intel CPUs getting stuck at 800 MHz. No other monitoring software can detect this common problem let alone fix it.

Try clearing the BD PROCHOT box on the main screen of ThrottleStop.

Does the MHz instantly go up? It usually does. Run another Userbenchmark test and see what it reports for average MHz.

Post some screenshots of ThrottleStop if you are still having problems.

Edit - Just checked the motherboard manufacturer. This problem is extremely common on MSI motherboards. A small switch on the motherboard gets dirty over time, shorts out, and tells the CPU to constantly throttle. Disabling BD PROCHOT blocks these false throttling signals from getting to the CPU. The CPU will still be able to thermal throttle and slow down if it ever gets too hot. Disabling BD PROCHOT only blocks external throttling signals to the CPU.

Thanks this has solved the issue, I was reading about this issue with the MSI motherboards as well while creating this thread, this great post has solved my friends problem, he's also now running the 3600MHz XMP profile. After sometime enjoying his newly working PC we will be updating the BIOS and doing chipset and other driver updates at that time.

Benchmarks look wonderful now.

Thanks for all the great replies and help, this forum rocks!