How To Detect If Your Elitebook 8540w Is Overclocked?

Hello, after having installed HWINFO64 in order to fix my overheating issue, I noticed that every time my laptop reaches the 80/82 °C Firefox hang; so the only way to avoid that is to set the fan speed manually.

I happened to run the intel processor identification utility and it displayed a CPU frequency a little higher than the expected one: see the attached image.

I wonder: is that due to an overclocking? Mine is a second hand laptop.
If yes how to restore the original frequency?

A brief note in the Intel application window explains that:
"Power management modes can result in a marginally higher or lower reported frequency than the expected frequency. If the reported frequency differs from what was expected, reset the system power management modes, plug in the system power cord, and reboot the system before retesting."

How to verify if the differences in the frequencies are due to anoverclocking or not?

Thank you.

 

That is normal. The i7-720QM has something Intel built in called Turbo Boost, which often the CPU would self-overclock on its own when higher loads are going to tax the CPU. The 720QM has a turbo of 1.73 GHz or a Turbo rate of +1 Quad Multiplier when in needs more juice to render 4 physical threads.

This is perfectly normal and a feature from Intel themselves. Therefore in conclusion, 1.6 GHz is the stock clock for a i7-720QM but it often runs at 1.73 GHz because of the Turbo Boost.

There are two ways to disable Turbo Boost if you need to reduce the temperatures:

1. Clean out the fans and do a CPU Thermal Re-Paste. That often solves the overheating problems.
2. Use a free program called ThrottleStop and you can disable the Turbo with that program running.

However the max temperature threshold of the i7-720QM is above 100C, so if your processor is starting to show problems at 80C (which is on the high side, but not a severe temperature worth a huge concern though), then it looks like the 720QM is starting to crap out, but not due to the Turbo Boost though...

Also, you can't overclock CPU's on the HP BIOS unless the previous owner hacked it or something or did a physical motherboard pin mod (highly doubt he did).

 

Or you can do what CrazyCraisin suggests here.

However, the 82C is not a good sign during normal operation. I'd definitely look into repasting and cleaning the vents, fan and radiators from dust ASAP.

 

Thank you for your replies; after some tests I noticed it is an issue related to Firefox 5; the odd is that it seems to affect even the black screens of my new installed NVIDIA driver: 280.19!

 

Firefox or not that temp is still too high. You either have a problem with the cooling system, dust accumulation or fan thresholds. I'd open it and have a good look inside.