CPU-Z reporting error in laptop?

[Stoik]

Just got a Acer Laptop with the Celeron M 520 from CompUSA and have been tinkering and toying with it.

I'm confused because this processor is supposed to run at 1.6GHz w/ 533 MHz FSB (133 x 12 multiplier), but CPU-z is reporting much slower than that. Its showing 1.1 GHz core speed, and a 370MHz FSB (92 x 12). At first I thought this might be some sort of power saver throttling and so I made sure the computer was plugged in and then put some stress on the CPU (played a movie while scanning the HD for viruses). I was getting near 100% load on the processor, battery charge at 100% (plugged in) and still 1.1GHz core speed reported in CPU-z.

Afterwards, I checked the system window in control panel and then the info page in the BIOS and both of them reported that the CPU was running at 1.6Ghz like it should. This leads me to believe that perhaps CPU-z is reporting my frequencies inaccurately. The system chipset is the Intel 943GML Express. Maybe CPU-z isn't compatible with this board?

The full model of the laptop is Acer Aspire 3690-2970 Notebook.

Anyway, any comments would be very appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Arkaign]

Download SiSoft Sandra and report back with results

 

[JustaGeek]

In the laptops, the processor is supposed to be clocked down to save energy/battery.

Under load, it will go back to the maximum clock.

All is fine.

 

[Aluvus]

AFAIK, no Celeron M has any form of SpeedStep.

CPU-Z may just not like your motherboard. As mentioned above, I would try checking with another program.

 

[Stoik]

Got SiSoft Sandra (pretty awesome btw, thnx) and it is agreeing with the BIOS and Specs (1.6Ghz, 533MHz FSB). So I guess I can trust that and discount the CPU-z report.

Another interesting point, Sisoft reports a different CPU temp then SpeedFan, which I was using earlier. SF said 33C (which I was pretty pumped about) while Sisoft says around 50C (which is probably more realistic).

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: Aluvus
AFAIK, no Celeron M has any form of SpeedStep.

CPU-Z may just not like your motherboard. As mentioned above, I would try checking with another program.

My Sempron does that, it has a special driver.

I would assume Intel would do that too for their Mobile CPU's.

 

[Stoik]

I'm fairly certain that my Celeron M doesn't any speedstep, and my makeshift test seems to have confirmed that (see OP).

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: Stoik

I'm fairly certain that my Celeron M doesn't any speedstep, and my makeshift test seems to have confirmed that (see OP).

Leave the CPU-Z running.

Load the processor, e.g. run the Anti Virus or other heavy application.

Check the CPU frequency then.

If the frequency doesn't change - call ACER.

And download this:

http://perso.accelance.net/~pesoft/trm/us_trm.html

 

[Stoik]

Thanks for the advice Justa, I really don't think that there is any problem with my CPU though, it looks like a glitch in CPU-z.
I check out that Ap that you linked to, it was pretty cool. When I turned on the CPU SPEED field it had a value that was jumping around between like 50MHz and 1600 MHz, which seemed to reflect some kind of throttling that was linked to CPU load. None of the other fields worked though, I kept getting errors like "cpu value out of range". anyway, thanks for the help!

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek

Originally posted by: Aluvus
AFAIK, no Celeron M has any form of SpeedStep.

CPU-Z may just not like your motherboard. As mentioned above, I would try checking with another program.

My Sempron does that, it has a special driver.

I would assume Intel would do that too for their Mobile CPU's.

They do, for non-Celerons. Welcome to the wonderful world of marketing.