CPU Frequency setting in BIOS questio

[Morachy]

Hello All,

I purchased a new mobo/cpu combo (GA-H55M-S2H with a i3 540 3.06 Ghz) yesterday and everything
installed as it should, but in windows, when I go into my system properties (right click my computer)
I noticed that the processor is listed as a 540 @ 3.07 Ghz 2.00 Ghz

Since it's dual core would assume it should list both cpu's, but both numbers seem a bit off. I haven't
looked into the 3.07 yet because that seems close enough.. but the 2 GHz is a bit low.

Anyways I looked at the BIOS this morning and noticed my CPU Frequency was set so that the it
was clocked at 2 Ghz. I adjusted it to 23 multiplier (i think it's 23) anyway, now it's 3.06 Ghz in
Bios and in windows.

My computer properties now says "540 @ 3.07 GHz 3.06Ghz"

My question is - is that ok? Did I over clock something or did my BIOS originally not set the CPU up
correctly and now it's where it should be?

Also, 3.07 is that ok?

Thanks, just worried - I would hate to burn out my cpu or mobo.

 

[jsc]

I purchased a new mobo/cpu combo (GA-H55M-S2H with a i3 540 3.06 Ghz) yesterday and everything
installed as it should, but in windows, when I go into my system properties (right click my computer)
I noticed that the processor is listed as a 540 @ 3.07 Ghz 2.00 Ghz

The 3.07 figure is well within roundoff errors of 3.07 GHz.

The 2.00 GHz figure may be SpeedStep kicking in, but if it were, the BIOS would still have indicated full speed for the CPU.

 

[Morachy]

so you don't think that setting that setting to what the cpu is rated at will do any harm?

 

[lothdk]

As jsc said, the 2 GHz you saw is most likely due to SpeedStep.

Try setting it back to the previous BIOS settings, then use CPU-Z to monitor the actual CPU speed, both idle and when using a program to stress the cores.

 

[ekoostik]

I tried to recreate what you saw (when it reported 2.0 GHz) with SpeedStep enabled on my i7 860 and couldn't do it. It always reported 860 @2.80 GHz 2.79 GHz. Based on that and your comments about changing settings in BIOS leads me to believe that when it reported 2.0 GHz you were locked at 2.0 GHz. Any chance you had turned on XMP in BIOS? What changes did you make in BIOS (not asking about what you changed to set it back to 3.07; asking what you had changed prior to it reporting 2.0 GHz)?

 

[warmon6]

I tried to recreate what you saw (when it reported 2.0 GHz) with SpeedStep enabled on my i7 860 and couldn't do it. It always reported 860 @2.80 GHz 2.79 GHz. Based on that and your comments about changing settings in BIOS leads me to believe that when it reported 2.0 GHz you were locked at 2.0 GHz. Any chance you had turned on XMP in BIOS? What changes did you make in BIOS (not asking about what you changed to set it back to 3.07; asking what you had changed prior to it reporting 2.0 GHz)?

Are you sure you have speed step enabled? if you did, then reopen system properties with your computer completely idle.

Although for the OP case, the CPU was underclocked as bios (from what im aware of) should only post the full speed of the cpu, not the lower speeds that speed step can make the cpu do.


as to why the OS was reporting 3.07GHz, 2.0Ghz, (like mine is showing 2.1ghz, 1.19ghz) well that is because there some sort of data data on the cpu (forgets what it is called) that the OS sees and report what the cpu is and what it should be running.

then there a second set of ghz that shows what the cpu actually running. (at the time system properties is open) The 2 sets of speeds doesn't mean a number of different core. if that was the case, system properties would be posting 4 sets of speeds on quad cpus.



Now for op question about the 3.07Ghz, As JSC said, that can be just rounding off error. nothing to worry much about.

 

[Morachy]

I tried to recreate what you saw (when it reported 2.0 GHz) with SpeedStep enabled on my i7 860 and couldn't do it. It always reported 860 @2.80 GHz 2.79 GHz. Based on that and your comments about changing settings in BIOS leads me to believe that when it reported 2.0 GHz you were locked at 2.0 GHz. Any chance you had turned on XMP in BIOS? What changes did you make in BIOS (not asking about what you changed to set it back to 3.07; asking what you had changed prior to it reporting 2.0 GHz)?

When I first noticed 2.0 GHz I didn't do anything, that was after my initial install and I didn't make any changes at that point.

 

[Morachy]

Hey All,

Using CPU-Z I verified that when my OS shows 2.0 GHz, neither core will go above 2.0 Ghz.


I modified the BIOS multiplier to bring it up to 3.06 GHz and CPU-Z verified that my core ran upto
3.06 GHz

Also the benchmark scores increased by about 15% with higher cpu speeds (obviously).



So I'm thinking that is a BIOS setting that allows you to manipulate the CPU speed and in the
initial installation the BIOS didn't set to the appropriate value. Which sucks because maybe
many other people are out there with under performing cpus because of a small setting?

 

[ekoostik]

Are you sure you have speed step enabled? if you did, then reopen system properties with your computer completely idle.

I tested again a dozen times on my i7 860 and a C2D T7700 laptop. Both have speed step enabled and I use CPU-Z to verify. But I can't get System Properties to show it running at a lower setting. I'll take your word for it though, must just be something I'm doing or not doing that causes it to not report the idle speed.

So I'm thinking that is a BIOS setting that allows you to manipulate the CPU speed and in the initial installation the BIOS didn't set to the appropriate value. Which sucks because maybe many other people are out there with under performing cpus because of a small setting?

If the Gigabyte BIOS for the H55 board is like their P55s, there's an option in BIOS called Load Optimized Defaults. If you use that, does it correctly set your CPU mutliplier?

It may be a bug in the version of BIOS that you have. What version are you running? I noticed the first release (likely shipping version for many boards) was F1 and they are already up to F4: http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=3322

As an early adopted you will want to keep an eye on BIOS updates. Early kinks will be worked out in these frequent releases - four BIOSes in 2 months is a lot.

If you have not upgraded the BIOS before, I would caution you not to use the @BIOS software that runs from within Windows. The QFlash utility available at startup or from within the BIOS is much safer. There's a good guide here: http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide-27576/ However the process is fairly straightforward. You don't need a bootable USB. Download the BIOS file, "run" it (it's a self-extracting zip file) and save the unpacked contents to your USB stick. Then reboot, enter BIOS, enter QFlash, and find the BIOS file on your USB stick as described in the guide.

Here's a forum thread you may want to bookmark: http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/gigabyte-latest-bios-28441/ This guy tracks many of the Gigabyte BIOS updates and provides more information then Gigabyte does whenever he can get his hands on it.

 

[Morachy]

Thanks ekoostik,

I tried the Optimized Defaults and that set the multiplier to 23 (3.06 GHz).. So now I feel safe in knowing that I can leave my BIOS set to 3.06 as logically I would think it should be set at.

I am running F4, not sure if this is a bug - but I would think mobo manufactures would want to auto-set the optimized setting.. o well.



Thank you all for looking into this for me, this site is a great resource because of people like you.

Thanks!