Task Manager reporting wrong CPU frequency


Recommended Posts

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.

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?

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

  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:

  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.

  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...
  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?

^^ 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.

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?

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • Maybe you don't realize this...but everything you said agreed with me. Yes, many tech outlets reported on Ryzen 9000 issues prior to 24H2, which I already addressed, and as I already said, that issue only existed for a few short months. Ryzen 9000 was released the same quarter of 2024 as 24H2. So again...months, not years. I also already said 24H2 showed some minor improvements on older Ryzen CPU. The article you posted agrees with me, and even says the improvements were only 3-5%, which is even more harsh a statement than what I said. If you want to fuss on the 3-5% numbers, then yes, I will grant you that was an issue for an extended amount of time. In my opinion, that is such a small amount it isn't worth fussing over, but you are welcome to a different option. However, if that was your point, then you didn't make that point in good faith, because you highlighted Ryzen 9000 so much, which had a FAR bigger and FAR shorter issue, it's really a very different conversation.
    • The vast majority of users do not care which iOS version they're using. They don't even know or bother updating to the latest version, unless they see the prompt. The version numbers is more for the power users and I don't think Apple renamed their OS for them.
    • No operating system works well with programs that modify its interface. There will always be bugs, whether it's MacOS or Linux. Windows too, you'll only suffer from bugs using this crap software.
    • KDE brings UI improvements, bug fixes and more to Plasma 6.4 as stable release draws near by David Uzondu With less than a month to the release of Plasma 6.4, the KDE dev team has shared what it has been working on in the latest issue of its weekly roundup. The update shows a heavy focus on user interface polish and a whole slew of bug fixes as the June 17 release date gets closer. The team has pushed a number of UI refinements for the upcoming version. On the System Settings page for Wi-Fi, the network list can now be fully navigated with a keyboard. KDE also disabled the ability to drag and drop displays on top of one another in the monitor settings. This was done because it could create unsupported arrangements that triggered a cascade of strange bugs throughout the system. Waking up a sleeping computer by pressing the power button no longer causes the bizarre logout screen to appear after you unlock it, which is a relief. Alignment issues in the settings page for the Digital Clock widget were also resolved. The list of bug fixes for 6.4 is extensive. The development team has fixed the most common crash affecting the System Monitor and squashed another one related to a divide-by-zero error. For users with multiple monitors, a long-awaited fix has landed that prevents windows from disappearing when the screen they are on gets disconnected. Even the humble Sticky Notes widget received attention; it will no longer freeze the Plasma shell if you place it on a very thick panel. Discover, the software center, also had a bug patched that caused it to crash if closed too quickly after launch. Here's the full list of improvements: Putting a Sticky Note widget on a very thick panel can no longer cause Plasma to freeze; now, you can use a thick panel with a sticky note on it as a notes sidebar. Fixed the most common System Monitor crash. Fixed another crash in System Monitor, this time a divide-by-zero. Fixed a case where xdg-desktop-portal-kde could crash after you choose a video source to start streaming. Fixed a bug that caused Discover to crash if you close it immediately after it launched. Fixed multiple subtle bugs with the screen chooser widget and OSD that caused it to do the wrong thing on rotated screens or when mirroring screens. Fixed a bug that caused the System Settings’ search field not to be focused properly when pressing Ctrl+F while any UI elements in a settings page already had focus. Fixed the root cause of multiple issues involving windows disappearing when you disconnect the screen they’re on. Clicking a button on a desktop widget that opens a menu no longer inappropriately makes the widget enter Widget Edit Mode. Files with a # or ? character in their name or full path are no longer unexpectedly missing from the history lists in Kicker/Kickoff/etc launchers. Fixed a bug that caused the screen chooser window to sometimes not appear as expected when OBS was launched. Fixed a bug that caused tiled windows on a multi-screen setup to lose their tiling settings when the system went to sleep and woke up again. The "Move window to [activity]" feature now works properly when invoked from the Task Manager widget. Fixed a bug in the Kicker Application Menu that caused keyboard navigation not to work if the popup opened with an item under the pointer. In the Overview effect’s grid view, dragging windows tiled on one virtual desktop over to a different virtual desktop now keeps them tiled as expected. The focus may be on the imminent 6.4 release, but work on what comes next never really stops. Looking ahead, development on Plasma 6.5 is already well underway. Just last week, the KDE team brought several performance improvements to Plasma 6.5.0. This week, the team fixed a nagging bug that sometimes caused the Networks widget to think a hotspot was still enabled after disconnecting from Wi-Fi. On the features side, the System Settings' Fonts page now prevents you from breaking your system entirely by setting fonts below 4pt. In addition to that, switching time spans in the Info Center’s energy page now features smooth graph animations. Performance-wise, kwriteconfig should also be faster, allowing changes you made to the keyboard layout using the tool to reflect immediately.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      abortretryfail earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • First Post
      Mr bot earned a badge
      First Post
    • First Post
      Bkl211 earned a badge
      First Post
    • One Year In
      Mido gaber earned a badge
      One Year In
    • One Year In
      Vladimir Migunov earned a badge
      One Year In
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      495
    2. 2
      +FloatingFatMan
      252
    3. 3
      snowy owl
      252
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      228
    5. 5
      +Edouard
      191
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!