E8400 only reaching 2.8GHZ possible speedstep issue?

I have an E8400 Core 2 duo. It is suppost to reach 3GHZ. At idle it runs at 2GHZ because of speedstep. I have a program that forces CPU usage up. If i put cpu usage to 96% in both cores, the multiplier goes up to X8.5 and 2.8GHZ.

It is suppost to reach X9.0(right?) and 3GHZ. Why isn't it?

I'm just wondering, the CPU speed has been fine for games and ect.

This is it's stock speeds(i changed nothing.)
Core speed:2833MHZ(should be 3000MHZ!!!!!!)
Multiplier:X8.5(suppost to be X9???)
Bus:333.3MHZ
FSB:1333.2MHZ
Core voltage: 1.088


IT IS Suppost to be 3GHZ when not idling ... So why is it running at 2.8????FFS

are you sure you didn't get an E8300?

have you tried setting the multi to 9x in the BIOS?

Keep pressing "delete" upon power on if your PC is self-built, otherwise, look at the bottom of the screen upon power on to check the "key" for accessing the BIOS setup if your PC is a branded one.

Then, look for the "bus/core ratio <-- Multiplier" option and set it to "9" by straightly typing the "9". If it still doesn't work, look for the "AI overclock or auto overclock or something similar" and set it to be "MANUAL" and then manually set the speed/frequency to 333MHz.

Still not working? ....Make sure that your CPU is "E8400" in the CPU information in the BIOS first, and then RMA it if it's not.

p.s. A brief instruction on how to modify option at the bottom of the BIOS is there for you to check if you are not sure what to do.

Good Luck!

Yeah, it could be due to outdated BIOS version as well.

Update to the latest BIOS first prior to going through the process suggested by me!