Q9550 Modifier Issue

I have a Q9550 that is supposed to be running a modifier of 8.5 (x 333mhz stock FSB which would be a 2.83ghz stock clock). Out of the box it was running at 2.66ghz, or a multiplier of 8. I'm using a GA-X48-DS4 motherboard as well.

So doing what I figured was right, I looked in the bios to see if there was a setting to fix it. I don't remember the exact wording, but there was something that said "clock ratio" being at 8 (it allowed for 6, 7, or 8). Then there was something like "Fine clock ratio" which was at 0.0, and allowed me to change it to 0.5.

I figured this was simple and I switched the fine clock ratio to 0.5 (which then stated my modifier was at 8.5 in the bios). Yay right? Once windows loaded, it dropped to a 6.0 modifier. I tried looking around on the net for a reasonable answer but I have no idea what happened there. I went into the bios again and checked to make sure I didn't enter it wrong, hit save again and now it booted at the 8.5 modifier.


So I have it working at the right modifier now... did I do it the correct way? It just seems a little odd to me that I would have to turn up two fields to get it at the advertised modifier. Any ideas/information would be greatly appreciated!

I'm not sure if your aware gigabyte have officially released their F5 bios which is designed to to correct cpu microcode etc. I have an GA-X48T-DQ6 board and when I originally had the F4 bios my multiplier was 8 by default when it should have been 9. There is an F6a release but I suggest you stick to official releases.

Also you have an ideal mainboard and cpu ready for overclocking, you may wish to set your multiplier to 9 and slightly overvolt the cpu to give you 3Ghz. I think your stock cooler will handle the slight overclock but check with prime and real temp to ensure it'll work at 100% for extended lengths of time.

Research Intel Speedstep.

Great help everyone. First off, it was throttling the cpu. For now I have uninstalled Gigabyte's Dynamic Energy Saver.

Also, I installed a CNSP9700LED so that I can overclock at some point. This is the main reason I wanted to get the multiplier running right before I did that.