Dell D830 with T7300 multiplier issue

Laptops been working great for years.

Finally put Windows 7 x64 on the other day and I didn't notice at first but after a few weeks I started realizing the thing just isn't as fast for normal tasks as it used to be.

I remember I used to run speedswitch for XP back in the day and it maxed my CPU clock all the time. It obviously doesn't work for 7x64. So I loaded up CPUZID to check things out.

Basically the key reading is:

Current MHZ: 1595.54 Current Multiplier: 8x
Original MHZ: 2000 Origina Multiplier: 10x

(I can post screenies if it'll help)

No matter what I did, the clock would go down but never past 199.44x8 and the multiplier never changes.

I searched google and found this forum where a guy had the same problem (diff os obviously) back in 2007. No resolution BUT found a link to a nifty CPU MAXer utility which maxes CPU usage to test this sort of thing. I download the thing and run it. My computer is so laggy I can't use it but the cpu clock / multiplier does not change.

So I got something stuck. Not sure what to do. My next step is to try win 7 32-bit... or xp (gack).

Any ideas, would appreciate it. Thanks.

PS... heat isn't an issue, fan runs low speed (and I know what high sounds like ) and had a Dell service guy clean the whole insides out a month ago.

 

Well as usual I fixed my own issue....

Was using my wife's 65W power adapter. Unplugged and on battery, multiplier goes right up to x10 full speed.

Will not budge on a 65W adapter >.< Gotta find my 90 lol.

 

The T7300 supports Intel Dynamic Acceleration (IDA) which lets the multiplier go up as high as 11 when running a single threaded task.

If you run a single threaded task like Super PI mod you should see the multiplier on the core running Super PI cycle back and forth between 10 and 11. The average is typically around 10.7. You'll need to have C3/C6 enabled in the bios for this dynamic acceleration feature to work.

Use a program like i7 Turbo or ThrottleStop so you can see exactly what your multiplier is really up to. During IDA the multiplier can be changing hundreds of times a second depending on load so most software isn't very accurate at reporting this.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/Turbo.zip

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/ThrottleStop.zip

 

You do realize that at 1.5GHz these computers are still plenty fast, right? The only thing you are accomplishing by forcing the processor to the maximum clock speed is to increase the amount of heat the laptop outputs and decreases the battery life.

What you really need to do is allow Intel's speedstep to do its job. It will dynamically adjust the processor speed up or down as needed, assuming you set up your power profiles right.