Speeeeeeeeeeed!

[LonelyGhost]

okay, dumbest computer Q yet:

i am running an AMD 64 (at 32bit) and it is listed as a 3200+ ... when i go to 'control panel', 'system' and then 'performance' it is showing about 797 MHz ...

HOWEVER ... when i recently reformatted my hard-drive, before downloading the sp1 and sp2 for xp, the system performance showed the processor running at 1.99 GHz!!!

was that just a glitch or is something slowing things down here?

 

[Juggy]

Used to have a AMD 1800+. There was a setting in the bios which could be used to downgrade the speed of the cpu. The lower speed was the default. Check your bios for speed controls.

 

[Swguy]

The "3200" in the AMD chip name refers to its "comparative speed" or "effective clock speed". The archetecture of the AMD cpu is sufficiently different enough from that of Intel chips that they can (typically) run at a slower clock speed but have performance numbers equivallent to that of a higher speed cpu. So to give users/customers an idea of the performance in comparison to Intel chips, they started using numbers, indicating that their chips will have performance comparable to a "3200" mhz Intel chip.

I have an AMD Athlon XP 2800+ and it runs at 2.08 Ghz. Used to have a 2100+ and it ran at 1.78 Ghz.

Your motherboard's bios will (or should) have settings to change the bus speed and clock multiplier to get specific cpu speeds. This is typically how people "overclock" their cpu's - something that, in my eperience, is generally more widely done with AMD's. Most mobo's these days will automatically set themselves up for optimum performance (older mobo's required dip switches or jumpers to be set) but will also allow you to manually set those speeds. Just make sure you have a kick-ass cpu cooling system in place if you intend to do that.


SWG

 

[shak]

what Swguy said is correct.

I think for the next couple years, top clock speed no longer guarntees you top performace. You gotta look at the instruction set that a CPU is able to execute per clock cycle. Moreover, the trend has shifted to multi-core processor anywayz

 

[Savage]

You probably have the "powernow" on which is mainly used in laptops to save battery life. Used in desktops too, it throttles the performance of the cpu down when full speed is not needed. Thus your cpu runs cooler and uses less power.

 

[LonelyGhost]

You probably have the "powernow" on which is mainly used in laptops to save battery life. Used in desktops too, it throttles the performance of the cpu down when full speed is not needed. Thus your cpu runs cooler and uses less power.

that must be it ... i went to the bios and the chip is clocked at 2,000 MHz but in Windows XP it is only running at 797 MHz ...

and yes, it is in a laptop ...

considering that i never run on battery power is there a way to shut that off to get full speed?

 

[Savage]

I believe in most laptops there is an option in the bios to disable it. You might also be able to turn it off in the power options in the control panel.