I5 3570k fluctuating its frequency?

[zac14001]

Sup fellas.. i recently overclocked my cpu to 4200 mhz so when i switched back to windows, it fluctuates from 2500 mhz to 3400 mhz flipping back and forth.. whats wrong?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Ok, I'll answer this here, instead of in the other thread.

The speed fluctuates because of SpeedStep and it's totally normal. It SHOULD go up to 4.2Ghz under load, though.

If you want to see the full speed of the OC, you can do one of two things.

One, running a stress testing program like Prime 95 will make it run at full speed, or two, you can just select the High Performance power profile in Windows (Control Panel -> Power Options) to make it run at max speed regardless of load.

Otherwise, it will always be fluctuating depending on load. That's perfectly safe and normal (and how I leave my OC running as well).

I just do option two from above if I ever need the full speed of the OC at any point. It's a waste to run the CPU at max speed ALL of the time when you don't need it, anyway because of the extra heat created, the extra energy used, and the needlessly added wear and tear on the CPU.

You already did the right thing by using the offset for voltage (if you had used a normal fixed voltage, the Vcore would stay the same, even at idle, again creating more heat, etc.).

 

[pacioli]

^+1

 

[LOBOBAST]

After doing a little reading, that's normal. You WANT your cpu speed to go down while in idle state. You only need the "juice" when gaming, bench marking, etc.

 

[LAOD159]

Ok, I'll answer this here, instead of in the other thread.

The speed fluctuates because of SpeedStep and it's totally normal. It SHOULD go up to 4.2Ghz under load, though.

If you want to see the full speed of the OC, you can do one of two things.

One, running a stress testing program like Prime 95 will make it run at full speed, or two, you can just select the High Performance power profile in Windows (Control Panel -> Power Options) to make it run at max speed regardless of load.

Otherwise, it will always be fluctuating depending on load. That's perfectly safe and normal (and how I leave my OC running as well).

I just do option two from above if I ever need the full speed of the OC at any point. It's a waste to run the CPU at max speed ALL of the time when you don't need it, anyway because of the extra heat created, the extra energy used, and the needlessly added wear and tear on the CPU.

You already did the right thing by using the offset for voltage (if you had used a normal fixed voltage, the Vcore would stay the same, even at idle, again creating more heat, etc.).

Thanks for the Option 2 (Power Options). I was wondering why it was fluctuating. (I felt like replying it even though it's been so long, because it helped me out).