CPU running anywhere near stated chip speed

[wrightik]

  First time on the site, what a great resource!

I have an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ CPU runing in a MSI KN72 Delta2 (MS-6570E v!.X) Platinum series motherboard which is supposedly 'designed for' these processors.

My BIOS splash screen identifies the chip as 3000+ but if I go into BIOS Setup it shows as running at 2140MHz.  I am running Windows XP Home Edition 2002 with SP2 and 1Gb of RAM and in System Properties it also reports the CPU running at 2.12GHz.

Is this correct?  I have tried fiddling with FSB speeds and this result is achieved with 202MHz FSB which is the maximum I can go to.  I have tried the so called safe 'Dynamic Overclocking' facility in Bios but the system becomes unstable.

The computer runs fine, but it is certainly no better than my other 2GHz Athlon running the same software with 512Gb of RAM.  My Laptop is a 2.6GHz and is reported as running at 2.5GHz in XP.

I cannot believe that this is right! Interestingly my CPU temperature is showing as around 60 degrees C, which seems rather cool from what I can gather from other posts on the site, so maybe it's not operating at full stretch?

Any advice, help or comments gratefully received.

[DeltaSlaya]

Well for me personally I'd be s**t scared if my CPU was operating at 60C, but I don't know what Athlons run at. AMDs XXXX+ number is NOT the clock speed and it is NOT what it will be reported as in Windows XP.

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

After 2000, Intel's competitor, AMD, started using model numbers instead of clock rates to market its CPUs because of the lower CPU clocks when compared to Intel. Continuing this trend it attempted to dispell the "Megahertz myth" which it claimed did not tell the whole story of the power of its CPUs. In 2004, Intel announced it would do the same, probably because of consumer confusion over its Pentium M mobile CPU, which reportedly ran at about half the clock rate of the roughly equivalent Pentium 4 CPU. As of 2007, performance improvements have continued to come through innovations in pipelining, instruction sets, and the development of multi-core processors, rather than clock speed increases (which have been constrained by CPU power dissipation issues). However, the transistor count has continued to increase as predicted by Moore's Law.

[patio]

Where are the temps being reported ? ?

[Jamesc359]

140F/60C isn't really that hot, according to this site that particular processor has a max safe operating temp of 185F/85C.

Also of note, the site says that 2.16GHz is the proper clock speed.

[soybean]

I cannot believe that this is right! Interestingly my CPU temperature is showing as around 60 degrees C, which seems rather cool from what I can gather from other posts on the site, so maybe it's not operating at full stretch?

Seems like you're using some odd logic here.  You seem to think the temp should be higher if it was "operating at full stretch".  That's just silly, and I would not call 60 degrees C "rather cool".  The highest temp I've ever seen with my AMD Athlon XP 2200+ is 47C.  Right now, it's at 43C and has been running for over 2 hours.

Now, of course, the CPU temp will vary depending on how you're tasking your computer.  You've said nothing about how you're using your computer when it's running at 60C. 

[wrightik]

  Thank you gentlemen, most enlightening.

For DeltaSlaya - Your quote was just what I have been looking for as I was very confused about the new processor ratings.  I am ashamed that I assumed the processor was a 3GHz but as the nerd in the shop told me that was it's speed, I believed him.  I shouldn't have as he (along with all other shop staff I have asked) could not explain to me the new ratings.  I shall be paying him a visit shortly and vent my displeasure.  My motherboard manual says a 3200+ is the fastest I can use so I shall be bargaining hard.  I must go and check what the 3200+'s actual speed is elsewhere in the site - thank you James359.

As for the temperauture guys, I have a little utility program that was reporting 60 degrees but after seeing your comments I did the equivalent of an engine 'plug chop' on my PC i.e revved it up during one of Doom 3's busy scenes (where things slow down because it has so much to deal with, I presume) and hit the reset button. Going straight into Setup on the re-boot the temperature was flicking steadily between 47 and 50, which seems to make sense from what you have said.

Regards wrightik

[patio]

Where are the temps being reported ? ?

This still hasn't been answered... "a program" can mean anything.

[soybean]

I presume) and hit the reset button. Going straight into Setup on the re-boot the temperature was flicking steadily between 47 and 50, which seems to make sense from what you have said.

So, you're getting inconsistent temp readings from different sources, right?  The utliity program you mentioned gives a different reading than the BIOS screen, right?

What is that utliity program?  You might download SpeedFan and try it.  I find that it gives me the same readings that I see in the BIOS, but this may vary, I suppose, depending on the make and model of your motherboard. 

[DeltaSlaya]

For DeltaSlaya - Your quote was just what I have been looking for as I was very confused about the new processor ratings.  I am ashamed that I assumed the processor was a 3GHz but as the nerd in the shop told me that was it's speed, I believed him.  I shouldn't have as he (along with all other shop staff I have asked) could not explain to me the new ratings.  I shall be paying him a visit shortly and vent my displeasure.  My motherboard manual says a 3200+ is the fastest I can use so I shall be bargaining hard.  I must go and check what the 3200+'s actual speed is elsewhere in the site - thank you James359.

Well the XXXX+ number is, in a way the 'clock speed' for AMD processors, but is not based on the same measurements that Intel uses. AMD processors commonly run at lower clock speeds but can achieve the same or higher general performance. Read the Wikipedia link I've posted.

As for your temperature checking method, that will not give you a reliable temperature, a CPUs temp can drop rapidly, it could have dropped 30C as soon as Doom stopped.