CPU-Z Showing slow speeds on i7 3770k

[elijahsearle]

Hiya! Just completed my first build this morning and was checking CPU-Z to check if my i7 3770k was running at stock speeds and it was low.
Way low.
1.6ghz to be exact.

So my question is why?
Is this speedstep? If so how do I turn it off?

If not what could be the problem?

Here's my build...

Mobo: MSI Z77 Mpower
CPU: 3770k
SSD: Samsung 830 256gb
RAM: Samsung 16gb 30nm RAM
Optical: Asus 24x DVD-RW Burner
PSU: Seasonic 750X 80+ Gold
OS: Windows 7 64bit Home Premium
GPU: MSI GTX 680 Lightning (not installed yet)

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

You got it. SpeedStep and there's no reason at all to disable it.

 

[elijahsearle]

Why is that? And I checked, it indeed was speedstep.

I'll go look up speedstep but, from my understanding it keeps the clock speeds low unless it "needs" it right? Therefore giving you lower power consumption and cooler temperatures then if always running at stock?
Is there any negative to keeping speed step on?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

You have the general idea of it, yeah.

And no, there really isn't any disadvantage to leaving it enabled. None at all, that I can think of.

If you ever feel like you're being hamstrung by it (you shouldn't, really), you can just use the High Performance power plan in Windows to lock in max speed regardless of load and then set it back to Balanced, when you don't need the speed. That should really only be when gaming, though, and even then, you won't really see much of a difference (if any at all).

 

[elijahsearle]

All good and dandy then! Thank you for your help!

I do have one more question to ask however, after installing all the drivers and windows updates and getting my anti virus setup. Is there anything else I should do? Stress test? It's explicitly a gaming computer if that helps.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Is there anything else I should do? Stress test? It's explicitly a gaming computer if that helps.

Only when/if you OC, but other than that, you should be good to go.

And you're welcome.

 

[elijahsearle]

Will be overclocking my ram (just for tighter timings as 11-11-11-28 isn't great) and CPU. But I still have lots of reading to do before as I am always paranoid when it comes to computers. Once again, thanks!

 

[elijahsearle]

Best answer selected by elijahsearle.