Hi,
I assume you are running Windows XP, though you didn't actually say this in your message.
Assuming that, then the answer to your question lies in the fact that Win XP has control for the Intel Speedstep technology built into it, and that this seems to keep the Processor on the lowest speed most of the time, and only ups the processor speed to the maximum as and when there is some sort of processor intensive activity running. The Intel Speedstep Testing Utility doesn't actually stress the processor, it only measures the frequency of the processor, so if you run this with nothing else running it will always report the lower speed of the processor.
Where as the Intel Speedstep software for previous versions of Windows (2K, ME, etc.) gave you control of what level of performance you wanted related to whether you were running on AC Power or on Battery, in Win XP there is no direct control, so far as I know, so the OS controls the Speedstep technology by keeping it at it's lowest, most economical, performance level most of the time, and, as I said above, just puts it in the maximum performance level when an application actually needs the full processing power. In my humble opinion one big advantage of this is that the processor will run quite a lot cooler most of the time as it's not being fully stressed most of the time.
HTH,
Jonthan.
Rtn. Jonathan R. Portwood.
________________________________________
Inspiron 8100
PIII-M @ 933Mhz
256Mb RAM
20Gb Ultra-ATA 100 HDD
Toshiba SDR2102 DVD/CDRW Combo Optical Drive (8*8*24)
nVidia GeForce2Go with 32Mb DDR RAM
15" SXGA+ Display (1400*1050)
Win 2K Pro SP2
________________________________________
I agree on all that Jonathan has just said.
WinXP controls processor speed setting it to the optimal (lowest) rate independently from the BIOS settings.
There are two avialable utilities to test current speed:
1)
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/FrequencyID/FreqID.htm 2)
http://www.slacker.org/software/wclk130.exe First one is from Intel. It shows actual current CPU speed, but the implementation of the utility is pretty inconvenient. You can't refresh a measurement unless you completely restart the utility. Every time you start it - it asks to accept something (instead of asking this question at the time when I'm installing the package. It's annoing here and nobody actually read this stuff ;-) and then it displays CPU speed and System Bus Frequency.
Second utility is more agile and is configurable, but shows a bit different results comparing to the Intel's utility... But if you want to see dynamics - here it is...
Just to restore your feelings about the power (potential power!) of your baby - try to run these utilities while you load CPU. E.g. make a global search of a file (doesn't matter which one, even one that doesn't exist) in C: drive or make something else similar. I hope you'll feel better ;-)
I can see we have some people who don't read the forums.
Go into your properties (right click the desktop) and then screen saver.
At the bottom of the XP screen you'll see a POWER button. Press it.
Now pick the type of operation you want your power to run on.
If you pick ALWAYS ON you'll see your processor running full power ALL THE TIME. Do you need that? You decide because your notebook will heat up in accordance with your power settings.
ALWAYS ON = Probably highest heat production.
Lee
=====================================
• Inspiron I8100 - P3 1 Gig - WIN XP Home (Clean Install)
• BIOS A07 (floppy method)
• 384MB RAM - 14" Display
• 32MB GeForce2 Go Mobile Drivers 1640 (DELL)
• ESS Maestro Driver Ver 5.1.2535.0 MS Cert
• Hitachi 20 Gig HD
• Samsung CD-ROM SN-124 (Firmware Updated)
• Modular Toshiba DVD SD-C2502
• Modular Floppy (Standard)
• Modular HD Carrier x-DL-4169D (Empty)
• Air/Land Pack - 2 Batteries
• Actiontec 56k,10/100 NIC (Default Drivers)
Power DVD v 4.0 LinkSys 4 port Gateway/Router FANGUI 1.53
This is what I did to see max processor speed on battery., It seems like it depends alot on the software being run. I downloaded sisofts benchmarking software and ran a cpu benchmark. The first time I ran the benchmark the processor speed was not at its maximum. The second time I ran the cpu benchmark, the processor kicked up to max. I checked my speed with wcpiud.
check it out..........it does work.;..at least for me
Thanks jonrosie and i81usr. Thought I was going crazy here because my laptop processor speed kept changing from 597 Mhz to 1.3 Ghz. Now I know it is not a problem.
I got the same problem , My laptop is plugged into the wall all the time. And I use 100% cpu power for rendering. But then I still have 1.2Ghz ( instead of 2.4Ghz ) . The problem is that from some strange reason System does not recognize that I got battery inside my laptop. Is tehre any way to fix that ?
jonrosie
26 Posts
0
March 27th, 2002 15:00
I assume you are running Windows XP, though you didn't actually say this in your message.
Assuming that, then the answer to your question lies in the fact that Win XP has control for the Intel Speedstep technology built into it, and that this seems to keep the Processor on the lowest speed most of the time, and only ups the processor speed to the maximum as and when there is some sort of processor intensive activity running. The Intel Speedstep Testing Utility doesn't actually stress the processor, it only measures the frequency of the processor, so if you run this with nothing else running it will always report the lower speed of the processor.
Where as the Intel Speedstep software for previous versions of Windows (2K, ME, etc.) gave you control of what level of performance you wanted related to whether you were running on AC Power or on Battery, in Win XP there is no direct control, so far as I know, so the OS controls the Speedstep technology by keeping it at it's lowest, most economical, performance level most of the time, and, as I said above, just puts it in the maximum performance level when an application actually needs the full processing power. In my humble opinion one big advantage of this is that the processor will run quite a lot cooler most of the time as it's not being fully stressed most of the time.
HTH,
Jonthan.
Rtn. Jonathan R. Portwood.
________________________________________
Inspiron 8100
PIII-M @ 933Mhz
256Mb RAM
20Gb Ultra-ATA 100 HDD
Toshiba SDR2102 DVD/CDRW Combo Optical Drive (8*8*24)
nVidia GeForce2Go with 32Mb DDR RAM
15" SXGA+ Display (1400*1050)
Win 2K Pro SP2
________________________________________
i81usr
22 Posts
0
March 27th, 2002 20:00
WinXP controls processor speed setting it to the optimal (lowest) rate independently from the BIOS settings.
There are two avialable utilities to test current speed:
1) http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/FrequencyID/FreqID.htm
2) http://www.slacker.org/software/wclk130.exe
First one is from Intel. It shows actual current CPU speed, but the implementation of the utility is pretty inconvenient. You can't refresh a measurement unless you completely restart the utility. Every time you start it - it asks to accept something (instead of asking this question at the time when I'm installing the package. It's annoing here and nobody actually read this stuff ;-) and then it displays CPU speed and System Bus Frequency.
Second utility is more agile and is configurable, but shows a bit different results comparing to the Intel's utility... But if you want to see dynamics - here it is...
Just to restore your feelings about the power (potential power!) of your baby - try to run these utilities while you load CPU. E.g. make a global search of a file (doesn't matter which one, even one that doesn't exist) in C: drive or make something else similar. I hope you'll feel better ;-)
I8100/1GHz/256MB/30GB/DVDCDRW/GF2G16MB/UXGA/BIOS-A10/WXP
chasse
19 Posts
0
March 27th, 2002 20:00
Go into your properties (right click the desktop) and then screen saver.
At the bottom of the XP screen you'll see a POWER button. Press it.
Now pick the type of operation you want your power to run on.
If you pick ALWAYS ON you'll see your processor running full power ALL THE TIME. Do you need that? You decide because your notebook will heat up in accordance with your power settings.
ALWAYS ON = Probably highest heat production.
Lee
=====================================
• Inspiron I8100 - P3 1 Gig - WIN XP Home (Clean Install)
• BIOS A07 (floppy method)
• 384MB RAM - 14" Display
• 32MB GeForce2 Go Mobile Drivers 1640 (DELL)
• ESS Maestro Driver Ver 5.1.2535.0 MS Cert
• Hitachi 20 Gig HD
• Samsung CD-ROM SN-124 (Firmware Updated)
• Modular Toshiba DVD SD-C2502
• Modular Floppy (Standard)
• Modular HD Carrier x-DL-4169D (Empty)
• Air/Land Pack - 2 Batteries
• Actiontec 56k,10/100 NIC (Default Drivers)
Power DVD v 4.0
LinkSys 4 port Gateway/Router
FANGUI 1.53
"Dude - I've GOT a Dell"
=====================================
Helpful Links
A. Logon/Boot Screens for XP
http://www.themexp.org"display=target" (Free For Now)
B. Speed Test Your Cable Modem
http://www.testmyspeed.com"display=target" and then pick your area (East Coast favorite is inch.com site
C. FANGUI Utility
http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html"display=target"
D. Nvidia Detonator Drivers Site
http://www.guru3d.com"display=target"
E. XP Service Settings Great site with printable Service Settings ( URL is Page 9 for printable version link)
http://www.3dspotlight.com/tweaks/winxp_services/services-9.shtml"display=target"
F: Seacoast Spartan Squirt Website
• My Son is #25 Defense (Age 11)
• NH State Champions 2002
• New England Regional Champions 2002
• http://www.scspartans.addr.com"display=target"
DELL Mobile Support 1-800-247-9252
===================================
Cruis
31 Posts
0
December 10th, 2002 00:00
actually, To: the last poster, you are wrong
I clicked on all the power management modes and did all sorts of things...the CPU speed never went past 1.2 ghz when operating on battery.............
as i have come to realise it seems to be a problem with only the I8200............sigh.
rfc0015
1 Message
0
December 10th, 2002 02:00
This is what I did to see max processor speed on battery., It seems like it depends alot on the software being run. I downloaded sisofts benchmarking software and ran a cpu benchmark. The first time I ran the benchmark the processor speed was not at its maximum. The second time I ran the cpu benchmark, the processor kicked up to max. I checked my speed with wcpiud.
check it out..........it does work.;..at least for me
http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/
blarryt
2 Posts
0
September 26th, 2003 03:00
pawelk22
9 Posts
0
June 29th, 2004 17:00
I got the same problem , My laptop is plugged into the wall all the time. And I use 100% cpu power for rendering. But then I still have 1.2Ghz ( instead of 2.4Ghz ) . The problem is that from some strange reason System does not recognize that I got battery inside my laptop. Is tehre any way to fix that ?
pawelk22
9 Posts
0
June 29th, 2004 22:00
Just to update my problem - i did a test using that Intel's Proc Frequency ID utility and
When i dont use cpu power - normal windows
Intel(R) Processor Frequency ID Utility
Version: 7.0.20040526
Time Stamp: 2004/06/29 23:40:30
Number of processors in system: 1
Current processor: #1
Processor Name: Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 - M CPU 2.40GHz
Type: 0
Family: F
Model: 2
Stepping: 7
Revision: 26
L1 Trace Cache: 12 Kµops
L1 Data Cache: 8 KB
L2 Cache: 512 KB
Packaging: µFCPGA
MMX(TM): Yes
SIMD: Yes
SIMD2: Yes
SIMD3: No
NetBurst(TM) Microarchitecture: Yes
Expected Processor Frequency: 2.40 GHz
Reported Processor Frequency: 1.19 GHz
Expected System Bus Frequency: 400 MHz
Reported System Bus Frequency: 398 MHz
*************************************************************
and after using 100% of processing power for a 5 mins - after 2 mins I checked again
and the results are
Expected Processor Frequency: 2.40 GHz
Reported Processor Frequency: 1.19 GHz
Expected System Bus Frequency: 400 MHz
Reported System Bus Frequency: 398 MHz
Help me - my laptop is working like a slugggggg.
Thanks in advance.