Why is my P4 640 Default multiplier 14x?

I ran CPU-Z today and saw that my 3.2Ghz was at 2.8Ghz; I browsed over to the Multiplier and saw that it was at 14. Should'nt the multiplier be at 16x?

Curious - what should I do?

That's speedstep, it kicks in at idle. Nothing to worry about. It drops the multiplier down to 14X at idle to reduce heat. Leave CPU-Z up and give the computer a load, like run Super Pi or something, you'll see it spool right back up to the 16X multiplier. Some motherboards have a setting in the BIOS to disable this feature.

batboy said:

That's speedstep, it kicks in at idle. Nothing to worry about. It drops the multiplier down to 14X at idle to reduce heat. Leave CPU-Z up and give the computer a load, like run Super Pi or something, you'll see it spool right back up to the 16X multiplier. Some motherboards have a setting in the BIOS to disable this feature.

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Yea, I turned it off in my CMOS settings, but when I run CPU Z it goes back to 14x. Oh well, I'm running Prime 95 right now and it is at 16x

M Powered said:

Yea, I turned it off in my CMOS settings, but when I run CPU Z it goes back to 14x. Oh well, I'm running Prime 95 right now and it is at 16x

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When "turned off", the multi will remain at 16 constantly!

The reason ur at 14X "under CPU-Z", & 16X "under Prime", is probably due to Prime loading ur sys causing the multi to go to 16.

Look in ur BIOS to disable "EIST" or "C1E". Otherwise look for something under the two above quoted terms, or "multiplier", and see if there's a a setting of "maximum".

HTH,

Strat