My Intel Core i7 960 isn't running at the right core speed

[Darknuke]

Hey,

So I just bought a new, customized, computer and I noticed when I did a benchmark test for my graphics cards that I scored WAY low for what my computer should be capable of (I have 3 way sli of GTX 280's). I thought it was the graphics cards, but after looking around, I noticed that my core speed is running at 2.25 GHZ when it should be at 3.2 GHZ (I verified with CPU-Z to make sure I wasn't going crazy). My question is why would my computer be running SLOWER than it should and how do I fix it? I know very little about BIOS editting, so if that's the solution, please be detailed.

Thanks.

 

[obsidian86]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpeedStep

 

[fpsdominator]

in the bios, disable Speedstep, EIST and, C1E

 

[Darknuke]

Thanks for the response. I know what speedstep is now and that may be what the issue was, but what is EIST and C1E?

 

[cjl]

They're all power savings modes. I wouldn't disable them unless you have some need to - the processor should automatically throttle up to full speed when needed.

 

[Darknuke]

Yeah, I think i'll leave them be. That just means there's another reason why my computer is running slower than it should be. My comp scored a 15k in 3dmark 6 when this website said a 2 way SLI version of my graphics card scored 24-25k... BAH. Back to square 1 lol...

 

[cjl]

That's the CPU. You won't score 24-25k unless your CPU is at ~4GHz or so. 3dmark06 is highly CPU limited with modern graphics.

Note that games are not typically as CPU limited as 3dmark, so you should be fine in games. You just won't score as high as you might like in 3dmark.