AMD A10-7850k showing only 1.67Ghz

[Rawrz0r]

I have this problem with my 7850k, which is my first build (WOOHOO!) and it all works (DOUBLE WOOHOO!!).

However, when I go into task manager and run the 3D Mark 11 demo from Steam, only really use it to see the usage from my CPU etc. the cpu clock speed stays around 1.67Ghz and utilisation stays just under 40%.

I am also using AMD system monitor to check the usage and its saying 100% usage of the CPU cores but no usage from the GPU cores.

I have overclocked my system not too sure on the precise timings or voltages but its roughly this:

APU: AMD A10-7850k @ 4.4Ghz
Mobo: MSI A88X G45 Gaming
RAM: 2 x Corsair Vengence Pro 8gb @ 2400Mhz
GPU: MSI Radeon R9 290 4gb
PSU: Corsair CX600M

That should be all the important details!
In the bios it is set to use both the GPU cores in the APU and the GPU itself.

Any help would be much appreciated!

P.S. I have already tried google searching for a couple of days and changing the bios settings to get anything to work and so far nothing has. Thanks Again

As an added not I have not overclocked before and therefore this is my first attempt at doing so.

EDIT: Currently everything is set to default!
CPU @ 3.7Ghz
RAM @ 1333Mhz

[herulach]

try something guaranteed to load the cpu heavily (it could well be that the graphics performance isn't siginficant enough to load the CPU fully).

Also check the windows power settings to see its on max performance not power saver or similar.

[Biscuit]

https://unigine.com/products/heaven/

This benchmark should push your system a little bit more

[Rawrz0r]

try something guaranteed to load the cpu heavily (it could well be that the graphics performance isn't siginficant enough to load the CPU fully).

Also check the windows power settings to see its on max performance not power saver or similar.

Changed the power setting to high performance. Was previously on a custom setting but believe that it was the same as high performance.

[Rawrz0r]

https://unigine.com/products/heaven/

This benchmark should push your system a little bit more

I shall try that now and let you know.

Would it be worth taking out the graphics card and returning the BIOS to default to see what happens?

EDIT:
Done the benchmark at my screens current resolution which is 1280 x 1024.
Windows task manager showed that the APU didn't utilise as much opf the APU as normal. Normally its about 37% and the utilisation fluctuated around 30% whilst running the benchmark.

The quality was set to Ultra and tessellation set to extreme.

[Rawrz0r]

Tried taking out the graphics cards and returning the bios to default values but the task manager and AMD system monitor are still singing the same tune :/

Is there anything I can change in the bios to help? Or have I made a stupid mistake when installing the components?

[Ulti]

If you only want to test the CPU and make sure it's running full speed at full load then get Prime95 and put it on smallFTTs and your CPU will be loaded 100%.

Sometimes it might show the wrong CPU frequency though but at least it'll be over your stock speed.

[Rawrz0r]

If you only want to test the CPU and make sure it's running full speed at full load then get Prime95 and put it on smallFTTs and your CPU will be loaded 100%.

Sometimes it might show the wrong CPU frequency though but at least it'll be over your stock speed.

Hey Ulti,

Will try this now. Downloaded msi live update and apparently some drivers were out of date. To be honest, I thought the MSI live update would have been bundled software with the mobo.

But thanks, ill try this and before and after these drivers

EDIT:

Good thing I already had Prime95. But the task manager is still saying 45% utilisation with a speed of 1.67Ghz.

[herulach]

Hey Ulti,

Will try this now. Downloaded msi live update and apparently some drivers were out of date. To be honest, I thought the MSI live update would have been bundled software with the mobo.

But thanks, ill try this and before and after these drivers

EDIT:

Good thing I already had Prime95. But the task manager is still saying 45% utilisation with a speed of 1.67Ghz.

Are you monitoring with cpuz or task
tmanager? Sounds like you haven't got your oc setup properly tbh.

[Rawrz0r]

Are you monitoring with cpuz or task
tmanager? Sounds like you haven't got your oc setup properly tbh.

I was using windows task manager as it gives the nice looking graph hahaha but I can run the test with CPUZ instead.

And currently the bios is set to default and I have tried previously changing near enough every value... taking of AMD Cool n Quiet, Putting turbo on enabled and disabled, still gives some results.

EDIT:

Havent used CPU-Z alot however, if I am meant to be looking at the core speed in the clocks section in the CPU tab then that is saying 1700 Mhz


OH! Side note: I have removed my graphics card.

[watercooled]

Are you on the latest BIOS version?

[Rawrz0r]

I believe so. That's when I used MSI Live Update. Current Versions is 1.40.

Any other theories? Also Ive put the Graphics Card back in.

EDIT: Just made sure my bios is 1.4 and it is v1.4..

[Rawrz0r]

Ok... So who wants a laugh?

On the motherboard there is a switch which enables "Slow Mode Booting".

This switch was enabled and therefore holding the cpu back to 1.67Ghz.
Why it was enabled I do not know hahaha.

However, thanks to everyone that helped and hopefully no-one else has this problem.

... Stupid motherboard XD

[watercooled]

Don't think I've heard of that! Perhaps it could be useful to quickly get back to a bootable system if you mess up an overclock though?

Glad you sorted it anyway.

[Rawrz0r]

Don't think I've heard of that! Perhaps it could be useful to quickly get back to a bootable system if you mess up an overclock though?

Glad you sorted it anyway.

Yeah me too.

In the manual it says:

The switch is used for LN2 cooling solution, that provides extreme overclocking conditions, to boot at a stable processor frequency and to prevent the system from crashing.

Couple of diagrams

Important:
Users will try extreme low temperature overclocking at their own risks. The overclocking results will vary according to the CPU version.

Another concern is that on the AMD system monitor when I ran the 3D Mark 11 benchmark it showed that the GPU cores weren't being used.... But thats a problem for a different day XD

[watercooled]

The 290 can't do hybrid crossfire with the APU graphics so that's to be expected really.