Task Manager reporting wrong CPU frequency

By neo1911
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Grand Master

neo1911

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Don't know if this is a bug or a feature but the Windows 8 Task Manager always shows frequency higher than CPU-Z.

When I do CPU intensive task, it shows 5.10 Ghz frequency which is obviously wrong as my i5-3550 has maximum frequency limit of 4.10 Ghz.

fmrpM.jpg

Anyone noticed this? Clean re-install nor updating BIOS helped.

Grand Master

Astra.Xtreme

Posted
Posted

Well your CPU will automatically underclock itself when it's not being used, so that part is probably correct.

But when it displays 5.1GHz, I have no idea what's going on there. Does CPU-Z show the same thing?

Grand Master

xendrome

Posted
Posted

This is normal if speedstep is on and you are using Balanced as your power plan AFAIK.

The CPU will clock down, then clock up to it's standard operating speed. That CPU operates at 3.30Ghz, and Turbos up to 3.7Ghz. Run prime95 on it and you should see it go up to 3.7Ghz.

I don't see where it says 5.1ghz but I don't know why it's showing 4.1Ghz unless you overclocked it

Grand Master

Astra.Xtreme

Posted
Posted
  On 09/10/2012 at 14:15, sanke1 said:

CPU-Z shows 4.1 Ghz. Windows task manager shows 4.8 Ghz or 5.1 Ghz depending on it's mood.

I would definitely say it's a Windows problem then. But you shouldn't be surprised. :rolleyes:

Grand Master

firey

Posted
Posted
  On 09/10/2012 at 14:10, sanke1 said:

Don't know if this is a bug or a feature but the Windows 8 Task Manager always shows frequency higher than CPU-Z.

When I do CPU intensive task, it shows 5.10 Ghz frequency which is obviously wrong as my i5-3550 has maximum frequency limit of 4.10 Ghz.

Anyone noticed this? Clean re-install nor updating BIOS helped.

the newer intel cores have "Turbo Boost". Which will underclock your CPU automagically during low loads. During more CPU intensive tasks it will bring it up to speed. It's possible that when CPUz is launched it doesn't have much load and as such you see a lower speed, whereas I am assuming Windows 8 can take that into account and show the maximum, as well as the current.

Grand Master

neo1911

Posted
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  On 09/10/2012 at 14:58, Deranged said:

If you've got the system overclocked then yes, it's probably just showing the max speed under TurboBoost. When only one or two cores are active it'll boost the speeds. http://en.wikipedia....tel_Turbo_Boost

i5-3550 is Non-K edition. It cannot be overclocked.

  • 2 months later...
Grand Master

Mr. Gibs

Posted
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  Quote
i5-3550 is Non-K edition. It cannot be overclocked.

That has absolutely nothing to do with it. Turbo Boost doesn't require a K series processor and is enabled on most of the I-series processors. Basically if it detects that a running program isn't multi-core optimized it shuts off some (1, 2, or even 3) of the cores and overclocks the remaining cores.

For example, my processor is 1.73 but with turbo boost enabled (on 1 core for this example) it rises to 2.93.

What's weird though is Intel says your CPU has a max turbo frequency of 3.7, but Windows is reporting 4.1/5.1 :/ Maybe your motherboard/BIOS is reporting the wrong CPU?

Grand Master

neo1911

Posted
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^^ Motherboard and Bios are reporting the exact CPU which I purchased. It's just that Windows Task Manager reports incorrect frequency compared to CPUz or any other CPU freq monitoring program.

This issue has nothing to do with overclocking. The new Task Manager in Windows 8 is incapable of reading correct CPU speeds in some cases. I call this Windows bug.

Grand Master

farmeunit

Posted
Posted

People replying about Speedstep, try reading again. Looking at the pictures will help explain, also. That's what they're there for.

That being said, I've not seen that, but I generally use slightly older processors. Maybe it's the way the newer ones are seen by the OS?

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