varying processor speed

[Old Lars]

My 6-week-old HP Pavilion (the new 64-bit model...I forget the model
number and I'm not at it right now) is doing something that I think is
odd. Its processor speed, nominally 2GHz, sometimes shows in System
Properties as 1.79GHz, sometimes as 797MHz, sometimes as 1.99GHz. HP
Help Line was mystified. They suggested that I "keep an eye on it" to
see if the system clock gets out of synch, suggesting that the CMOS
battery was weak. But the clock is still accurate, and they had no
ideas beyond that. What could be causing this?

[Stefaan A Eeckels]

On 24 Sep 2004 09:18:59 -0700
lsulky@home.com (Old Lars) wrote:
My 6-week-old HP Pavilion (the new 64-bit model...I forget the model number and I'm not at it right now) is doing something that I think is odd. Its processor speed, nominally 2GHz, sometimes shows in System Properties as 1.79GHz, sometimes as 797MHz, sometimes as 1.99GHz. HP Help Line was mystified. They suggested that I "keep an eye on it" to see if the system clock gets out of synch, suggesting that the CMOS battery was weak. But the clock is still accurate, and they had no ideas beyond that. What could be causing this?

The AMD64 will automatically adjust the processor speed to save
energy (the CPU fan will spin down when the CPU is cool enough,
the case fans go more slowly, etc.). When required, the CPU will
go at full throttle.
It's a very nice feature. I am mystified the HP Help Line was
mystified ;-)

--
Stefaan
--
"What is stated clearly conceives easily." -- Inspired sales droid

[Old Lars]

Thank you, Stefaan. Maybe I should call up the help line again and
pass along the explanation!

[David Efflandt]

On Fri, 24 Sep 2004, Stefaan A Eeckels <tengo@DELETEMEecc.lu> wrote: On 24 Sep 2004 09:18:59 -0700 lsulky@home.com (Old Lars) wrote: My 6-week-old HP Pavilion (the new 64-bit model...I forget the model number and I'm not at it right now) is doing something that I think is odd. Its processor speed, nominally 2GHz, sometimes shows in System Properties as 1.79GHz, sometimes as 797MHz, sometimes as 1.99GHz. HP Help Line was mystified. They suggested that I "keep an eye on it" to see if the system clock gets out of synch, suggesting that the CMOS battery was weak. But the clock is still accurate, and they had no ideas beyond that. What could be causing this? The AMD64 will automatically adjust the processor speed to save energy (the CPU fan will spin down when the CPU is cool enough, the case fans go more slowly, etc.). When required, the CPU will go at full throttle. It's a very nice feature. I am mystified the HP Help Line was mystified ;-)

I don't know if the HP systems have Cool'N Quiet to adjust fan speed, but
even though I have never seen anything in Windows indicate that speed was
reduced on my HP a530n, some Linux versions can control and show that, and
I know it is working in Windows because power consumption at the wall
outlet is a third less when idle (most of the time) than when at 100% cpu
speed. Or in other words it uses 50% more power when busy (based on
"Kill A Watt" meter).

AMD's says it can "automatically adjust CPU speed, voltage and power to
match instantanious user performance need".

However, the 64-bit XP Pro beta I have did not seem to have support for
that yet, since it uses full power all the time.

--
David Efflandt - All spam ignored http://www.de-srv.com/
http://www.autox.chicago.il.us/ http://www.berniesfloral.net/