AMD Athlon II X3 435 only at 781 MHz

[OldAMD]

I have an AMD Athlon II X3 435 2.9 GHz and 2 GB of Ram at 1333 MHz. According to my systems property via Control panel, it says my processor is only running at 781 MHz. I upgraded my motherboard to an ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX which can handle an AMD processor up to 140 watts and DDR3 Ram up to 1600 Mhz.. Please forgive me for I am still at newbie on computers.

 

[moody89]

It could be AMD's Cool n' Quiet technology, definition from Wikipedia:

Cool'n'Quiet is a CPU speed throttling and power saving technology introduced by AMD with their Athlon 64 processor line. It works by reducing the processor's clock rate and voltage when the processor is idle. The aim of this technology is to reduce overall power consumption and lower heat generation, allowing for slower (thus quieter) cooling fan operation. The objectives of cooler and quieter result in the name Cool'n'Quiet. The technology is similar to Intel's SpeedStep and AMD's own PowerNow!, which were developed with the aim of increasing laptop battery life by reducing power consumption.


You can disable this feature by going into the BIOS. I would disable it and see if the control panel reports the full, correct frequency. If it does then you have nothing to worry about and can re-enable CnQ in the BIOS. If not, post back here and we'll go from there.

 

[OldAMD]

Thank you very much, I turned it off and it was indeed the Cool n' Quiet Technology.

 

[OldAMD]

Best answer selected by OldAMD.