Why is the CPU speed lower than it should be

bioscpucpu-speedmotherboard

I have an Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 that should run at 2.13 GHz but when I boot my computer, the BIOS shows a CPU speed of just 1.6 GHz (I removed the BIOS/motherboard logo screen so I can see the hardware details). CPU-Z also shows a speed of ~1.6GHz.

Since I bought my computer five years ago I have reinstalled Windows several times and can remember that BIOS showed a CPU speed of 2.13 GHz. The Windows Vista hardware rating tool gave a CPU speed score of 5.1. Last time I have installed Vista it rated the CPU at just 4.7. I then refreshed/updated my score and Vista finally rated the CPU at 5.0 (now it gives 5.0 every time I rate my computer).

Another problem that I think is connected to CPU voltage settings – sometimes my computer won't wake up from sleeping. When I press any key/click the mouse, the graphics card fan start to buzz (like when there are no drivers installed) and nothing happens. I then had to use force to restart my computer. Sometimes after that it fails to boot Windows with BIOS overclocking/voltage faild error (Only thing that helps then is to manually replug my graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT). This problem occurs every 30 days for no reason.

I didn't have this problem for about three months but I just noticed that my CPU speed is lower then it was so I can't be sure that those things are connected.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (2.13 Ghz), Geforce 8600 GT, Motherboard asus P5LD2 SE

Here is a screenshot of my CPU-Z states:

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Best Answer

Your CPU speed is showing correctly in the Specification row of CPU-Z. But your number of multiplier seem to be very low, it was suppose to be more than 12 but in your case it is only 6. First check whether your power plan is configured correctly to High-performance mode. Go to Control Panel and search for Power options, select Change plan settings, find Processor Power management then select Maximum processor state to 100%. Restart your PC and check whether it fixes your problem.

If the problem still persist then I will recommend you to use this application through which you can manually configure your processor different configuration (Multiplier, Clock Modulation, etc). If you use it remember to read the help file before and of course as the application developer says: "Use it at your own risk" :)

Direct download link of ThrottleStop 2.99.9

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