Increase CPU core speed

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weisiang96

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Feb 15, 2014
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I'm using Z510 with i5-4200M(2.5-3.1GHz),4GB RAM and GT740M. I have used high performance on power options. I used to get 3.4 GHz(checked through openhardware monitor) even though the max is 3.1Ghz. But lately, the max core speed I'm able to get is 2.7GHz. I can't even get a smooth gameplay and only get low fps ~30fps. Previously, I was able to get 50-60fps almost consistently. For power option, max and min processor state are set to 100%. Any idea to increase the core speed to 2.8 - 3.0 Ghz?

Here's image when gaming(high performance power option)

I6lvxLp.png

 
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CaedenV

CaedenV

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Jun 14, 2011
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Several things can affect turbo boost clock speeds, but most likely it is heat, or the type of load on the system.

Laptops tend to get bumped around a bit over time, and it is entirely possible that your thermal paste is simply not making quite as good of a connection as it use to, causing a few extra degrees of heat, and with it a lower maximum turbo.

The other major thing is the type of load on the system. On my rig I use an i7 2600 (non-K), so I use motherboard settings to inflate my turbo OC to 4.2GHz (using BLCK settings I have even pushed it up to 4.5GHz, but my GPU didn't like that very much). At any rate, while my CPU CAN go up to 4.2GHz, it is nither expected, or normal for it to do so. When playing games and there are brief loads on the CPU then it can hit 4.2GHz without issue, but when doing a sustained load, or heavy multi-tasking, then it typically sits at 3.8-4.0GHz. Many loads are also so small that they do not even trigger turbo boost, and so the system continues to idle at 1.6GHz, or bump up into the mid to high 2GHz spectrum not even hitting stock settings.

All that to say that turbo boosting is never guaranteed, and is a finicky beast on the best of days. Unless using a modded BIOS I highly dobut that your system ever hit above it's 3.1GHz limiter, because it is hard enough to turbo OC a desktop chip with a BIOS designed to change the turbo boost limits. In all likelihood your system is probably attempting to do something else in the background (dropbox is a common issue) which is adding just enough load to prevent the system from achieving a higher turbo. So just make sure that you have your background processes under control, clean up any malware, and be sure to close any programs that may take clock time away from your gaming. Outside of that there is not a lot you can do.
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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1) never overclock a laptop. they aren't built for it; they can't handle the heat, and you can run the very real risk of killing your laptop.

2) what is your laptop's resolution? Remember laptop gpus are VERY WEAK. The highest end 780m or 7970m will top out in performance somewhere around a desktop 7850-660-7870 depending on the laptop cpu at 1080p . So a weak discrete gpu like a 740 will likely struggle at anything over 1366x768 (it MIGHT manage 1600x900, though it will depend on the game)

3) have you tried with lower settings? the system you're describing isn't a high end gaming system. It uses a very low end dual core cpu (all intel mobile i5s are dual core, and tend to be very weak in comparison to their mobile i7s) You might have to play with lowered settings.
 
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weisiang96

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Feb 15, 2014
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it's 1366x768. I've set to lower setting. But cpu speed seems to be unstable too. Sometimes I get 2.4, sometimes, 2.6 and 2.7Ghz. Just wondering, how can this happen? I have never changed any settings on my laptop.
 
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13thmonkey

13thmonkey

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Jan 10, 2006
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it's based on load and temp. It's base clock is 2.5Ghz, if temps allow it and load demands it can reach 3.1Ghz, but you can't control this, you can only influence it by keeping it cool to have the thermal headroom to do this.
http://ark.intel.com/products/76348/Intel-Core-i5-4200M-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz

if you want stability turn boosting off and it'll sit at 2.5Ghz, if you want perf then leave it on and it will do what it can. There is nothing wrong with speeds jumping from 2.5 to 2.6 to 2.7.
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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what 13thmonkey said.

it's an adaptive turbo which responds to the thermal limits of the situation.

I sorta figured the resolution would be 1366x768 when i saw the HWMonitor screenie... it's your cpu which seemed to be bottlenecking you (according to that screenie). I don't know what to tell you, you're obviously playing games that are too much for that cpu. you'll need to shift the bottleneck off the cpu to the gpu by playing with the graphic settings. Generally games play smoother when the gpu is the part hitting 100% utilization then they do when the cpu is.
 
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weisiang96

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Feb 15, 2014
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Thanks for the reply. I remembered there's a time it hits 3.3 or 3.4 GHz. I don't even know why even the max provided is 3.1 GHz. During that time, I played at medium setting and get a consistently 60 FPS. The game I'm playing is Dota 2 and it's not a graphic-intense game. Yea, I did notice that the CPU is bottlenecking my system and it's dual core. I regretted for not buying the i7 model. I didn't use any notebook/laptop cooler, so the CPU temperature might increase to around 80 degree celcius and I don't even care about it. But the GPU increases up to 70 degree celcius.

The other question is, aren't notebook GT740M and desktop GT740(if available for now) perform almost the same? I used to have an GTX550 Ti(w/ i5 2500k) on my desktop, I can get almost 120 FPS most of the time on 1366x768 resolution too.
 
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Damn_Rookie

Damn_Rookie

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Feb 21, 2014
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You're meant to be getting 2.5 - 3.1 GHz from that CPU, but you're actually getting 2.15 - 2.666. Why? Bus speed. It's only 86 MHz.

86 x 25 = 2150 MHz and 86 x 31 = 2666 MHz

If your bus was ~100MHz, as it should be;

100 x 25 = 2500 MHz and 100 x 31 = 3100 MHz

So the question is; why has the Bus speed dropped? That I could only hazard a guess at, but hopefully one of the more knowledgeable people on here will be able to assist.

I mean, as far as I understand it, throttling (due to high temperature for example) only lowers the multiplier being run, not the actual Bus Speed itself. So I'm not sure 'normal' throttling is what's going on here.
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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nope. don't let the names confuse you. the desktop part will be a bit better. generally the gpu on a laptop will perform quite a bit poorer then its similarly named desktop brother.
 
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13thmonkey

13thmonkey

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Jan 10, 2006
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Heat is what limits your use of turbo mode. It's a laptop, you are thermally constrained. It will only reach higher clocks when using 1 core and when it is cool enough. When using 2 cores it will boost a bit lower (1 bin / multiplier lower) and so on. So 3.1 is only reachable on single core apps with lower other loads, and thermal headroom. 3.0 is the max for 2 cores with thermal headroom, 2.9 the max for 3 cores and 2.8 when all 4 cores are in play and you have thermal headroom.
As has been said before, all you can do is manage the thermal situation better, which is a laptop is more or less impossible.
 
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