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RW
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Mar 24, 2003 18:21:03 GMT
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So, I just purchased a ze4240 notebook w/ mobile AMD 1800+ (~1.5GHz) CPU. I was running some benchmarking stuff (SiSoftware Sandra) on it to see what it was made of. The Sandra software was reporting a CPU speed of ~663 MHz, less than half of what the CPU is rated at. Is this right? Do mobile CPUs run slower, based on demand, to reduce heat?
i also noticed the CPU multiplier was 5x (5 times the bus speed of 133 MHz = 663 MHz) when it should be 11.5x to attain the rated 1.5 MHz for this CPU. although, there is nothing in the BIOS that allows you to change clock multiplier.
so, my question is, Is this right? do i have an underperforming CPU?? or is this how mobile processors work?
thx
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david malins
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Mar 24, 2003 19:13:01 GMT
8 pts
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relax there,
This is the Power Now! technology that amd add to their mobile chips, uses less power and yes, runs cooler. I just bought a one with the xp2200 chip in (1.83GHz) and that too runs most the time at 633MHz.
regards
David
PS not sure how many steps it goes through to reach the max clock speed though |
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John Yu
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Mar 24, 2003 20:32:53 GMT
8 pts
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On my ze4101, the mobile processor
benchmarks fine unless it's running
solely off the battery.
I think you can turn off the feature
via setup to verify your true CPU. |
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Brian Carmien
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Mar 25, 2003 18:39:34 GMT
7 pts
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From what I understand of mobile chips they decrease their speed when not needed, in order to save power. When more processing power is needed they increase the power to the chip. At least that is how I understand it. |
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Sachin
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Mar 25, 2003 18:43:33 GMT
7 pts
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Cause is PowerNow tech for AMD or SpeedStep Tech for Intel procs.
When you have AC adapter power, the processor will run on rated speed. However, when running on Battery, the processor will run at slower speeds to conserve power.
So,
The behavior is right, though you might check with AMD to see what the rated speed is on battery power.
PowerNow technology might show you what speed it will run on battery. |
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RW
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Mar 25, 2003 22:22:19 GMT
N/A: Question Author
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ok..thx for confirmation. only uncertainty now is that i have been using AC power and it benchmarks at ~663MHz. i'll have to fish for that option to disable this feature just to check things out. is that in BIOS i guess? |
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Steve Huffer
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Mar 25, 2003 23:22:09 GMT
8 pts
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The way to disable Power Now and run at full clock speed is to go to power options in control panel and set the power profile to "always on". |
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Brian Auyoung
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Mar 26, 2003 18:28:47 GMT
7 pts
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John Yu
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Apr 13, 2003 18:38:50 GMT
Unassigned
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I'm curious, when you say
it benchs at ~663, do you
mean in the Sandra summary
when idle or in the CPU
arithmetic benchmark?
If it's the former, I would
leave the window open and
refresh(f5) while doing something CPU intensive -
e.g. SETI screen saver or
firing up Outlook Express.
It should verify you're at
top speed when you need it. |
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Dan Ritchie
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Aug 3, 2003 07:49:19 GMT
Unassigned
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I have a ze 4400 and I've clocked it with Sandra. The processor is supposedly a 2400 but I consistantly get results about 10-15% slower than their reference Athlon 2400 and just slower than the 2200. Also, System in the conrol panel reports the mhz rating at 1.79 or rouphly the same as the 1.8 of the 2200. I have 'always on' turned on in the power management panel (which sounds like a misnomer)
It's been my experience in the past that Sandra is fairly accurate.
I think this machine is going back if I can't get the speed up. |
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Marc Van Nuys
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Aug 3, 2003 10:31:36 GMT
Unassigned
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AMD's PowerNow! technology dynamically throttles the processor's speed, whether it's on battery or AC power. AMD has a utility called "PowerNow Dashboard" that graphically illustrates this process. You can get more information and download it at: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/SellAMDProducts/0,,30_177_3472_1353^964^4396,00.html.
You can disable PowerNow by going to the Power options in Windows control panel and selecting "always on." Hope this helps. |
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Jan Borski
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Aug 3, 2003 11:46:18 GMT
Unassigned
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Is there an utility which allows to control the behavior of PowerNow feature under Windows 2000 and 98? At AMD site it's said that I need to enable it before I download PowerNow Dashboard utility, but I need some 'OEM software'. Do you have any clues where I can find this 'OEM software'?
I would like to enable it, because I don't need much computing power most the time, and I'd like to have cooler/quieter laptop instead. |
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Jan Borski
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Aug 3, 2003 13:40:17 GMT
Unassigned
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Ok, I've found it in drivers for pavilion n3310. Seems working. |
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Dan Ritchie
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Aug 3, 2003 19:13:35 GMT
Unassigned
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I was running sandra with 'always on' on and still got the slower speeds, so somethings not right. Is it possible to fully turn off power now so I can run at full speed. I had this problem on my older athlon laptop until I installed a program that came with the machine that inserted itself into the power management panel and gave me three options: High performace mode, Automatic mode, Battery saver mode. (Those actually make sense compared to the MS equivelent)
And I got almost exact results to the reference pcs in sandra.
I'm running XP on this box, so I can't install AMDs power management software. They claim XP already has power management build in. The problem is I can't seem to turn it off. Or do I really have a slower processor than what was claimed on the box? |
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ringmaste
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Aug 3, 2003 21:49:46 GMT
Unassigned
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many thanks folks my 2.2 athlon is now running ar 1.8 as oppossed to the 1.05 b 4
I switched to 2 "ALWAYS ON" si-soft sandra is reporting the correct speed as well. Thanks again folks |
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Steven Ghalandar
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Aug 3, 2003 22:10:37 GMT
Unassigned
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To have a little more of control over the speed of your CPU I suggest you use SpeedswitchXP (see http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/index.html ). This program will let you fully use your CPU when in AC mode and works fine with both AMD and Intel mobile CPUs. |
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Dan Ritchie
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Aug 4, 2003 00:54:59 GMT
Unassigned
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Darn. I like the application, but the this 2400+ is still running the speed of a 2200+ on AC power. |
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Tony
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Aug 4, 2003 19:51:30 GMT
Unassigned
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I get the exact speed I should be getting from my cpu. That speedwitch program is great and I highly recomend it. As for your cpu going at max speed as a 2200+ processor... there has to be a problem there. I suggest you return it and get a replacement. And also on my friends desktop pc, he had a 2400+ processor too, and at first it ran at only 1.5 ghz and when we looked at the specs in "My Computer" it showed up as an amd xp 1800+ processor. We fixed this by switching these little tiny blue switched that were located on the mother board, using those switches right we were able to make the processor show as 2400+, and we were also able to over clock tht baby up to 2.4 GHZ using those switches. I don't know if those switches are available on a laptop motherboard though.. |
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chris bufe
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Aug 6, 2003 18:47:11 GMT
Unassigned
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Dan Ritchie, the XP 2200+ and 2400+ are both rated at 1.8GHz. The difference between the two is that they're on different cores, and the 2600+ has increased L2 cache. |
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chris bufe
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Aug 6, 2003 18:52:26 GMT
Unassigned
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Oops, typo in my last post. What I meant is that the 2400+ and 2600+ both have increased L2 cache over the 2200+, however the 2200+ and 2400+ are both rated at 1.8GHz. |
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