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    What's my CPU speed?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by academica, Oct 16, 2010.

  1. academica

    academica Newbie

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    Hello!

    I have a 5-year old Packard Bell EasyNote E4710 (shown here: http://www.packardbellweb.co.uk/). The CPU is Intel Pentium M 710 1.40GHz (Centrino), 1 core.
    According to CPU-Z the core speed is 595.5 MHz, the Multiplier is x 6.0, bus speed 99.2 MHz and the Rated FSB is 397.0 MHz.

    What is the rate of my CPU? Why is it called a 1.4GHz CPU?

    Sorry for the stupid question.
     
    academica, Oct 16, 2010
    #1
  2. ronnieb

    ronnieb Representing the Canucks

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    The CPU probably lowered its frequency to reduce the drain on battery life.
     
    ronnieb, Oct 16, 2010
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  3. Judicator

    Judicator Judged and found wanting.

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    The clock speed of your CPU at the time was 595.5 MHz, which you get from the x6 multiplier times the bus speed of 99.2 MHz. Your FSB is rated at 397 MHz because your CPU quad-pumps the FSB, which means it transfers 4 bits of data for every tick of the clock, which means your effective (or rated) FSB is 4 times the 99.2 MHz, or 397 MHz. The Pentium M 710 is capable of a maximum of a 14x multiplier when going full blast, which, multiplied with the 99.2 MHz bus, will give you the listed clock rate of 1.4 GHz.
     
    Judicator, Oct 16, 2010
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  4. Tsar Aleksandr III

    Tsar Aleksandr III Notebook Guru NBR Reviewer

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    Tsar Aleksandr III, Oct 17, 2010
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  5. TehSuigi

    TehSuigi Notebook Virtuoso

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    Intel CPUs have a function called SpeedStep, where the CPU slows itself down when it's not needed as much. This allows it to use less power and emit less heat; when the CPU is needed at a higher speed, it'll ramp up again to its maximum almost in an instant.

    Thus, your CPU is still a 1.4 GHz model, but when you were using CPU-Z, it was barely being used - hence a 600 MHz speed. If you were to do something CPU-intensive like watch Flash video, encode a video, etc., then you'd see 1.4 GHz.
     
    TehSuigi, Oct 18, 2010
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  6. kobe_24

    kobe_24 Notebook Deity

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    If you want max performance all the time, then go into power options and select "max power/high performance", your CPU reading should be 1.4Ghz after the change.
     
    kobe_24, Oct 18, 2010
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