why has my e6600 a multi of x6?

[tommason]

title says it all....

[staffsMike]

step speed..turn it off in the bios. It slows your cpu down to keep it cooler at idle

[Flewis]

Could be intel speedstep which lowers multi when cpu is not in great use to lower power consumption. Run some benchmarks, it will tell you if it really is at 6X, chances are you will get stock speed type scores.

[tommason]

superb - cheers!
...is it worth turning it off?, does it impede overall performance?

Bit of a noob to this - benchmarks - i understand the theory, but where/what/when? - do i download a program?
Already got orthos and tat etc as per clunks c2d overclocking post......

[staffsMike]

I turned it off on mine..Dunno of any particular draw backs there are to it. Didn't really want it on when I overclocked.

My e6300 at work has it on and I don't really notice it.

[Defenestration]

I imagine it's the SpeedStep kicking in and throttling the PC. It should automatically go back to full speed (and 9x multi) when some processing needs to be done. Try starting some CPU intensive task and keep an eye on CPU-Z (sometimes launching an app is enough to make it speed up).

You can disable SpeedStep in the BIOS to stop this throttling from happening, if you like.

EDIT: It would seem I was a little late replying

[aidanjt]

superb - cheers!
...is it worth turning it off?, does it impede overall performance?

Bit of a noob to this - benchmarks - i understand the theory, but where/what/when? - do i download a program?
Already got orthos and tat etc as per clunks c2d overclocking post......

It doesn't really hurt performance, it just takes a split second to spool up when you start pushing the CPU, but it does save on juice.

[tommason]

yep - does in deed jump up to x9 when opening something...cheers all!
oh and while I'm here.....I take it this means i have bios version 6?

[tommason]

i know it's obvious - i just need to check

[0iD]

I leave mine enabled, makes sod all difference tbh.
& if it saves juice then all well & good.

And no, the bois version is shown next to the mobo model.

[tommason]

ah ha - sweet! ....not so obvious, cheers.

[Nox]

on my E6600 - left mine enabled too, when speed step is off, its clocked up to 3.5999, when on its 2.39999, works great like that, but the only problem I have is when it tries to resume from hibernate (but switched that off now!!) think it was probably something to do with the voltage supplied (also drops) but tbh, i normally switch my pc off when not using it!

Nox