CPU Speed Reported by XP

[James Adams]

I am running Windows XP Professional on a recently
purchased Compaq Presario 2175 laptop with a mobile AMD
Athlon 4 2400+ processor. The speed of this processor is
supposed to be 1.8 GHz. When I click "My Computer ->
Properties" the processor speed usually shows as 1.79 GHz
but sometimes shows as 1.05 GHz or as 1.32 GHz.

Someone has mentioned to me that there is perhaps a
problem with the BIOS in that it is not set up correctly
to always use the top speed of this processor.

Can anyone comment on this ? Do I have a problem or is
this to be expected ? Perhaps this is just an XP
reporting glitch.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.


-James

 

[The Unknown P]

This is normal. You should be aware that there is a
difference between real time CPU speed and clock speed.
Athlon like most manufacturers mass produces chips and all
it takes is a laser cut to modify a chip from 1.2GHz to
1.8GHz. You can of course modify and overclock the chip
with a simple pencil stroke. AMD has one of the most user
friendly sites for info on how to do that. You should also
be aware that once you get to these sorts of speeds it
becomes a hot topic of debate as to whether your system
can actually use those speed. You see it is limited by a
thing called circuits. These use various metals for
conductivity and information can only travel just so fast
through metal. There are systems being made that will use
internal lasers and maybe fibre optics but they aren't
available to the ordinary joe. Keep Smiling.

 

[baker]

Goto download.com and download SiSoftSandra (FREE) and it will tell you
many many things about your computer such as CPU speed, temperature etc.
It does hundreds of things and it much more accurate then XP.

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Goto download.com and download SiSoftSandra (FREE) and it will tell you
many many things about your computer such as CPU speed, temperature etc.
It does hundreds of things and it much more accurate then XP.

and www.aida32.hu is even better (Sandra has gotten things wrong for me
a few times, and some of the neater facilities are disabled in the free
version). Actually both are useful things to have around.

 

[G r A f i X s K u L L]

and www.aida32.hu is even better (Sandra has gotten things wrong for me
a few times, and some of the neater facilities are disabled in the free
version). Actually both are useful things to have around.

mind if I ask what is this s/w at www.aida32.hu perform?

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[Alex Nichol]

I am running Windows XP Professional on a recently
purchased Compaq Presario 2175 laptop with a mobile AMD
Athlon 4 2400+ processor. The speed of this processor is
supposed to be 1.8 GHz. When I click "My Computer ->
Properties" the processor speed usually shows as 1.79 GHz
but sometimes shows as 1.05 GHz or as 1.32 GHz.

Someone has mentioned to me that there is perhaps a
problem with the BIOS in that it is not set up correctly
to always use the top speed of this processor.

Laptops often have inbuilt slow downs provided to conserve battery
power. Mine runs slower on battery than it does on AC - more recent
ones like yours have more sophisticated control. Check in its manual

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

mind if I ask what is this s/w at www.aida32.hu perform?

Well, you'd get a faster answer going there and looking, but basically
it is an upmarket MSINFO32, with lots more features, and the ability to
poke and list and diagnose the machine hardware. It also reads all the
product keys it can find (WinXP, Office, and numerous other things), can
look at SMART diagnostic data on hard drives, and sundry other things.
Sort of 'swiss army knife' for system debuggers.