Bizzare CPU Speed question

[Higach]

Hey all. I currently have this laptop:

HP Pavilion dv6406nr Notebook PC -  Product Specifications 

The processor is a 1.7Ghz AMD Dual core, and in BIOS it says that. It also says 1.7Ghz when I go into my computer properties.

Anyway, I've been OCing my PC a lot recently so I just kind of got curious and put CPU-z on my laptop.. and am confused at what I see.

CPU-z says it is running 200x4fsb 800Mhz. Has anyone seen anything like this? Why would CPU-z show a different CPU speed than my BIOS/computer properties?

I barely use my laptop.. but was just curious at this strange inconsistency.

Any thoughts?

 

[Nitestick]

it is entirely normal, it is called throttling. the cpu lowers it's clock frequency to conserve power and reduce heat output, both of which are very important in laptops.

 

[Higach]

well thats the thing. I originally figured it was the same as the default thing on my desktop where it lowers the multiplier while not using the CPU to save power. I ran prime95 on it though just to get the cores up at 100% and it was still saying 800Mhz. Just weird is all

 

[Nitestick]

i can probably explain that too. it's an AMD cpu, i have noticed that they do not seem to throttle upwards for processes that are running at "idle". prime95 by default only uses idle cycles if i remember correctly. if you can find something else that is a reasonably demanding it will probably throttle upward. alternatively try testing it by pressing ctrl+alt+del, going to the processes tab, right clicking on the prime95 process and setting it's priority to normal (or higher).

 

[Peter.Cort]

if you run a game or start up a couple apps at the same time then it will raise it up.

 

[mikeyharm]

The 800MHz you see has nothing to do with your processor clock speed.

Notice that it said "200x4 fsb"? Your Front-Side-Bus speed is 800MHz (the highest in mainstream laptops right now). The clock speed of your laptop's motherboard, no matter how hard you clock it, will always be 800. Your processor, on the other hand, will fluctuate clock speed of both its cores based on how much voltage you supply it via the utility you spoke of.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Peter.Cort]

The 800MHz you see has nothing to do with your processor clock speed.

Notice that it said "200x4 fsb"? Your Front-Side-Bus speed is 800MHz (the highest in mainstream laptops right now). The clock speed of your laptop's motherboard, no matter how hard you clock it, will always be 800. Your processor, on the other hand, will fluctuate clock speed of both its cores based on how much voltage you supply it via the utility you spoke of.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

the 200x4 is the clock speed. so when its 200x4 its running at 800mhz, when the laptop needs more processing power it bumps up the multiplier to lets say 200x8 which gives it 1.6ghz in processing power.