What could cause the CPU frequency setting to change?

Nov 4, 2018
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I'm having an issue where the OS will freeze and on the subsequent startup (after a manual shutdown), AXTu will show the CPU frequency as 1MHz off at 201MHz. To fix this I have to go into UEFI and save and exit even though the settings are correct and haven't changed. When the CPU frequency is at 201MHz it seems to run poorly and freeze more often.

System Specs: Windows 7 64-bit, FX8120 @ 4.0, ASRock 970 Extreme 4, EVGA 1080 SSC.

The video card is about a month old. I have also recently removed and replaced the CPU heatsink because it was full of pet dander. I replaced the thermal paste using the pea method. Before this the system ran fairly well unchanged for several years. I plan on updating the system with a complete rebuild, but I would also like to try and understand what might be causing this issue.