Really nooby question(s)

Yeah, it is a pretty nooby question.

Basically, I overclocked my Core 2 Duo E4500 to 2.5Ghz, and both my system information and the Xfire Gaming Rig upload thing seem to think only one core is runnning at 2.5Ghz, whilst the other is still at 2.2Ghz. Example. Is this a Vista thing which refuses to recognise an overclock or have I done summat wrong?

I just wanted to make sure, knowing me it's something i've done wrong.

Another thing, after the overclock my Vista score for my RAM speed has gone up by 0.2, even though its actually had to be underclocked slightly cos there are only 2-3 different FSB ratios for my ram, and i didnt want to exceed the maximum clock for my RAM. Whats this about?

Run cpu-z to check what your cpu is actually running at. It's probably 2.5 and vista is some how confused. As for the memory score you upped the fsb which will give the ram more bandwidth which is probably why the score went up. Run everest or sandra memory benchmark at stock fsb/mem settings and then run it with your oc settings. I bet the overclocked settings will give better bandwidth even though your mem is actually at a little lower speed.

The first number is just the stock speed that the CPU reports to the OS and the second is the actual speed mine shows similar information on that screen. Both cores are at 2.5GHz I am most certain, there's no way to set different core speeds with that CPU.

Thank you both

I have just ran CPU-Z, it reports a "Core Speed" of 1362Mhz, which i'm guessing means im either reading the wrong thing or CPU-Z is mistaken. (After watching this box for a while, it jumps to 2495Mhz for a split second and the multiplyer changes to 11, then goes back down to 1362Mhz with a multiplayer of 6)

Speedfan and everything else thinks 2495Mhz, so im guessing CPU-Z is being awkward.

Thanks for clearing that up.

the multiplier is dropping because of speedstep you could disable it in bios if you really wanted.

mistermojo said:

Thank you both

I have just ran CPU-Z, it reports a "Core Speed" of 1362Mhz, which i'm guessing means im either reading the wrong thing or CPU-Z is mistaken. (After watching this box for a while, it jumps to 2495Mhz for a split second and the multiplyer changes to 11, then goes back down to 1362Mhz with a multiplayer of 6)

Speedfan and everything else thinks 2495Mhz, so im guessing CPU-Z is being awkward.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Click to expand...

That's speedstep. You can disable in the bios if you want. cpu-z reads the speed the speed of the cpu and other components something like every 3-5 seconds. Speedfan and other stuff read it just once.

Yep, I can also confirm this. Windows just says the stock speeds, and then tells you your current speeds. Same happens with 3dmark06.

As others have already said, speedstep is lowering the multiplier to 6x while at idle. Personally I leave it on to save power... but your are welcome to turn it off if it makes you happy. I just didn't want you thinking you needed to turn it off, it's your choice.