CPU clock stuck at 1.4GHZ.. I've tried everything!

Frostyness · Aug 27, 2016

Wow, this has been driving me crazy for some time now, and I'm almost convinced it's the motherboard if I'm not just overlooking something small.. my problem you may ask? My CPU is stuck at x7 multiplier, no matter if it's at an idle or under loads. I'll list my system specs, then I will let you know what I have tried thus far.

CPU: AMD FX8350 Unlocked Black Edition
GPU: Gigabyte R9 390X
PSU: EVGA Supernova 850 G2
Mobo: MSI 970 Gaming
RAM: 16GB
Windows 7 Ultimate
Also tried with fresh install of Windows 10

Now, I've tried just about everything, and I've scoured the interwebs in search of answers and nothing has worked.. this is what I have done thus far
-Reinstalled windows.. 3 times
-Made sure everything is up to date, including BIOs
-Reseated my CPU, and making sure no pins were damaged
-Tried the CPU on my buddy's mobo, worked fine
-Tried my buddy's PSU on my rig, didn't fix nuffin
-Replaced RAM*
-Rest CMOS*
-Read somewheres about a little "slow mode" switch on my mobo would cause this, I got an erection from excitement thinking I finally found the solution.. didn't fix nuffin.

Crazy thing I noticed today, when I am in the BIOs it is showing 4.0ghz, then when I check with CPUz, Open Hardware, AMD, or any other program it says 1.4ghz (or 1400mhz) and it never changes no matter what load it's under.. when I am in Arma 3 I noticed the speed change every few seconds, but it's stuck between 1.4 and 1.5ghz.. I am baffled, MSI technical support is a joke, and they told me the mobo was fine.. any help is appreciated guys!

CTurbo · Aug 27, 2016

1.4ghz is the FX8350's lowest power state. You are experiencing throttling from somewhere usually from the motherboard. Your motherboard model is pretty good generally so if you're sure the heatsink/cooler is installed and working correctly, your motherboard could be faulty.

Have you tried downclocking the 8350 and even undervolting it to see if that helps?

Themastererr · Aug 27, 2016

Would help to know what kind of cooling your using.

Your VRM's are throttling your system. Heat sinks on them are not screwed down, or you're using liquid cooling and stripped the airflow from them.

Frostyness · Aug 27, 2016

Themastererr :

Deepcool captain 240

Themastererr · Aug 27, 2016

Frostyness :

Yuppp.

Take a small CPUl fan or be creative and figure out a way to cool the VRM's. Check to see if your problem persists.

Frostyness · Aug 27, 2016

CTurbo :

lowering clock and voltage is something I have not tried.. I will try that now and let you know if anything changes

Frostyness · Aug 27, 2016

Themastererr :

ok, i have a couple stock amd fans I'll give that a whirl, not too convinced that's the issue but I will try anything, thanks for the idea, I'll report back in a few

CTurbo · Aug 27, 2016

Yes the stock cooler performs better than tower coolers like the 212 EVO because it blows air directly across the VRMs. Your motherboard typically doesn't have this issue though which leads me to wonder if there is not a hardware issue somewhere.

Frostyness · Aug 27, 2016

CTurbo :

This didn't help, I've got the deepcool captain off, gonna throw the stock cooler on it and see what happens.. not too optimistic about this though, I have pretty good airflow through this case.. fingers crossed! will report back in a few

Frostyness · Aug 27, 2016

CTurbo :

Stock cooler installed, got 2* fans blowing air directly at the vrms and another 2* sucking the air across them and same issue(s). you mentioned hardware issue, before we condemn the motherboard do you have any other ideas?

Themastererr · Aug 28, 2016

Frostyness :

What if you disable every CPU core feature in this BIOS to prevent it from entering low power states? Worth a shot. Keep HPC enabled though it prevents multipliers from dropping.

Sorry the VRM thing didn't work out.

Frostyness · Aug 28, 2016

Themastererr :

That was oneof the first things I tried, I've disabled everything short of the cores themselves. And hey man, the VRM thing was worth a try, I really appreciate all ideas cause I've been banging my head on the wall. MSI is telling me they won't RMA the mobo cause my psu connector tore the serial number off, and they claim it was never registered. MSI customer support is a joke. So before I go buyanother motherboard I just want to be sure I've tried everything. I really appreciate your help man

Themastererr · Aug 28, 2016

Frostyness :

Themastererr :

That was oneof the first things I tried, I've disabled everything short of the cores themselves. And hey man, the VRM thing was worth a try, I really appreciate all ideas cause I've been banging my head on the wall. MSI is telling me they won't RMA the mobo cause my psu connector tore the serial number off, and they claim it was never registered. MSI customer support is a joke. So before I go buyanother motherboard I just want to be sure I've tried everything. I really appreciate your help man

Yeah that is a joke. I'm wondering if a piece of software could get the serial number? I'm not sure if it's encoded into the hardware.

I'm not sure if you're down to buy used stuff, but I buy my FX boards locally for cheap There's a lot of good deals out there now because people are upgrading. Always an option if you don't want to go out all out with a new build.

Frostyness · Aug 28, 2016

Money is no issue, it's principle at this point, a 5 month old motherboard that I have receipts for they're refusing to even lift a finger in attempts to help, so I promise I'll never buy an MSI product ever again thats for sure. Do you have any more ideas other than what we've tried?

Themastererr · Aug 28, 2016

Frostyness :

I'm sure you've tried it, but what if you just manually set the multiplier at 21x as opposed to leaving it out auto.

Frostyness · Aug 29, 2016

Themastererr :

Sorry for the delayed response, but yes.. I've tried that along with over and underclocking everything

Themastererr · Aug 29, 2016

Frostyness :

I looked everywhere and the only thing I could find was the power states and that "Slow mode" switch interfering...I'm at a loss with this problem.

You would think in your situation if it was hardware even the BIOS would show you as 1.4Ghz...why the F is it only Windows.

Frostyness · Aug 29, 2016

Themastererr :

I know, I'm as confused about why a slow mode switch exists to begin with.. but yeah, I see what you're saying, in the BIOs screen and on the system info screen it shows 4.0 (or whatever I set it to) but for some reason.. I'm stuck in idle. Frustrating, and all the forums I've read with this same problem don't really show an answer to what solved it, besides that one guy who discovered the slow mode switch being on.

nerro120 · Aug 29, 2016

Have you ttied messing with the control panel settings, sounds like your stuck on power saving mode. That or your slider is adjusted to the minimum position instead of maximum

Frostyness · Aug 29, 2016

nerro120 :

Tried that too

nerro120 · Aug 29, 2016

Could be the board is bad or the slow mode switch isn't engaging properly so it's stuck in slow mode. If you tried it on your friends board and it worked fine then it's something internal to the board itself

Frostyness · Aug 29, 2016

Interesting, I found this https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/970-GAMING.html#down-bios stating that M.4 is the latest BIOs update, but I currently have M.3 installed, because MSI Live says it's the latest version.. I'm gonna flash this over and see what happens, worth a shot I guess

madmatt30 · Aug 29, 2016

Slow mode switch underneath the 24 pin motherboard power header - it'll be on by default - switch the pc off, switch the slow mode switch to off.

Reboot

Job done.

Frostyness · Aug 29, 2016

madmatt30 :

If you read this post, starting with my opening statement, you'd see I've tried this.

madmatt30 · Aug 29, 2016

Then I would argue the board is faulty mate - I've seen this before when the board is stuck in slow mode no matter the switch orientation .

A replacement board worked fine, there are a couple of threads on these forums from ages back with exactly the same problem.

CPU clock stuck at 1.4GHZ.. I've tried everything!

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