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Author Topic: Weird clock speeds coming from old Presario laptop?  (Read 2362 times)

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tgp1994

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Weird clock speeds coming from old Presario laptop?
« on: August 06, 2017, 01:50:44 AM »
I just did a fresh install of Windows XP Home (I know, it's for retro gaming) on a Compaq Presario 2236CL (2200 series) laptop. This is definitely an olide, with a Pentium M 350 on an 852GM/V chipset. Accoding to the laptop manual (and intel's specs on the 350 M), it should be running at a 400MHz FSB and the memory at 333 MHz (SDRAM). The installed memory is PC2700. Looking in HWiNFO 32, it says my FSB is actually running at 100MHz, and my memory at 133MHz! (Edit: DDR makes that 266MHz, but still, that's quite a lot lower than it should be?). The processor clock, 1.3GHz, actually seems normal.

Why is the FSB, and consequently, my memory clock so low? I know it's a laptop and things will typically be slower, but even the manual indicates that the clocks should be higher!

edit2: Hang on, HWiNFO seems to be reporting two memory clocks... One is for "Memory", which says 133MHz or 266MHZ DDR, then another section that says "Memory Modules", which has a clock of 167MHz or approximately 333MHz DDR. That's slightly confusing...
« Last Edit: August 06, 2017, 02:03:38 AM by tgp1994 »

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Re: Weird clock speeds coming from old Presario laptop?
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2017, 08:31:40 AM »
100 Mhz Bus Speed would be correct for a 400Mhz Front-Side Bus as the CPU Front Side Bus has been a multiplier of the system bus speed for some time (486 perhaps?). Pentium M chips use a multiplier of 4.

"Memory" would indicate what the memory is currently running at. "Memory Modules" indicates the capabilities of the individual memory modules.

It's likely the laptop is only capable of running the memory at 133Mhz, rather than 166Mhz. Possibly due to it being a lower-end SKU of the model.
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tgp1994

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Re: Weird clock speeds coming from old Presario laptop?
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2017, 01:41:02 PM »
100 Mhz Bus Speed would be correct for a 400Mhz Front-Side Bus as the CPU Front Side Bus has been a multiplier of the system bus speed for some time (486 perhaps?). Pentium M chips use a multiplier of 4.

"Memory" would indicate what the memory is currently running at. "Memory Modules" indicates the capabilities of the individual memory modules.

It's likely the laptop is only capable of running the memory at 133Mhz, rather than 166Mhz. Possibly due to it being a lower-end SKU of the model.

Ah, that makes sense. Thank you!