Weird CPU behaviour

-1

Occasional low performance & considering the frequency, I'd say it's more of an occasional high performance.

The maximum CPU speed is 2.20 GHz.

Most of the time, my computer becomes very slow and the CPU frequency goes up to no greater than 0.6~0.8 GHz. At other times, the frequency is 2.7~2.8 GHz (weird but makes me happy).

What could be the cause?

Thank you.

EDIT: I meant two things:

  1. The speed goes over the limit.
  2. It gets stuck in low frequency even when I require it to give more (by using several CPU extensive applications)

EDIT 2: It's a laptop with Intel Core i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz

EDIT 3: Thanks to David Schwartz, I know that:

  1. The CPU will go over the maximum labeled speed under some conditions

  2. Overheating might cause the CPU to NOT reach the needed speed

Although in my opinion it didn't get too hot. I'll observe the CPU's behavior for a while.

Wajih Aziza

Posted 2013-10-19T20:00:36.080

Reputation: 47

It's a function of your CPU. It adjusts its speeds as needed. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2013-10-19T20:04:07.017

http://superuser.com/questions/255327/how-to-disable-speedstep-for-an-intel-core-i7-processor – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2013-10-19T20:07:40.617

How can a CPU run over the capacity without overclock? Or am I misunderstanding something? – Wajih Aziza – 2013-10-19T20:43:51.753

1

You forgot to supply the CPU's make and model. Regardless, echoing @techie007's linked post, it's a feature. If it's an Intel, it's called SpeedStep; if it's an AMD, it's called Cool'n'Quiet.

– happy_soil – 2013-10-19T22:04:09.990

http://superuser.com/questions/612057/intel-turbo-boost-in-reality – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2013-10-19T22:05:48.593

Is this a laptop or a desktop? Is this a new machine or a new problem with an old machine? – David Schwartz – 2013-10-19T22:12:09.943

So in conclusion, it's normal to go OVER the max speed?? Also, it doesn't always scale well, as I said it sometimes gets stuck and doesn't go over a certain speed. – Wajih Aziza – 2013-10-19T22:49:03.403

1

@WajihAziza Yes. This CPU will go up to 3.1GHz under some conditions (temperature is low and load is on only some cores).

– David Schwartz – 2013-10-20T02:28:35.827

@DavidSchwartz Thank you, now I know it's normal to go over the maximum frequency (although the computer isn't doing anything). I still don't understand why won't it go up most of the time, some applications become laggy. – Wajih Aziza – 2013-10-20T04:15:57.067

1It should go up to its normal speed, 2.1GHz, whenever there is load, unless it's overheating. – David Schwartz – 2013-10-20T04:45:13.053

@DavidSchwartz Thank you, it doesn't get too hot, but considering the quality of my computer, it might be overheating. So, I guess I'll have to "keep it cool" as much as I can for the time being and see what happens. – Wajih Aziza – 2013-10-20T13:41:00.720

Answers

1

That is a feature of the CPU. It regulates the speed. If it needs more power, it uses more power. But if you for example just read a Word document, you don't need this speed and the CPU will use less.

Christian

Posted 2013-10-19T20:00:36.080

Reputation: 6 571

My apologies, my question lacked the proper explanation. – Wajih Aziza – 2013-10-19T20:42:09.323

Asked: 2013-10-19T20:00:36.080

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Active: 2013-10-20T13:48:13.610