First post. Please, be gentle with me!

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Simmons
  • Start date Start date
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David Simmons

Hey all,

I had a new comp built for me by a local business and it's running fine, but
there's something nagging me. On both of the receipts I have the CPU is
listed as an AMD ATHOLN XP 2600 CPU which should be running at 2.13 Ghz.
However, when I check the Properties tab under My Computer, the CPU speed is
listed as 1.53 Ghz, even though the CPU is stated to be a 2600+. I posted
to another newsgroup and someone said that the 1800+ is the one that should
be running at 1.53 Ghz. They recommend I check to make sure he didn't sell
me an overclocked processor. I looked through all the documentation
provided me and nowhere could I find anything stating the actual model of
the processor and its speed. I then called a friend who suggested that the
CPU might be underclocked.

I'm running:

Windows XP Service Pack 1
Asus A7V8X-X motherboard

I would love to hear any suggestions about what detective work I can try to
solve this mystery!

David Simmons
(e-mail address removed)
 
David said:
Hey all,

I had a new comp built for me by a local business and it's running fine, but
there's something nagging me. On both of the receipts I have the CPU is
listed as an AMD ATHOLN XP 2600 CPU which should be running at 2.13 Ghz.
However, when I check the Properties tab under My Computer, the CPU speed is
listed as 1.53 Ghz, even though the CPU is stated to be a 2600+. I posted
to another newsgroup and someone said that the 1800+ is the one that should
be running at 1.53 Ghz. They recommend I check to make sure he didn't sell
me an overclocked processor. I looked through all the documentation
provided me and nowhere could I find anything stating the actual model of
the processor and its speed. I then called a friend who suggested that the
CPU might be underclocked.

I'm running:

Windows XP Service Pack 1
Asus A7V8X-X motherboard

I would love to hear any suggestions about what detective work I can try to
solve this mystery!

David Simmons
(e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...

You have probably been ripped off.

I would run a cpu id utility like WCPUID from
http://www.h-oda.com/. It will tell you what
cpu you have, as well as the actual clock speed,
multiplier, etc.

People trying to fob off slower processors can
try to fool you by overclocking - which apparently
your system builder didn't even try to do - but
AFAIK they can't fake out the name, family, stepping,
and model ID stored in the processor and accessed
by programs like WCPUID.

If you can confirm that your processor is not what
you paid for, I would take the computer back to
the vendor and insist on a full refund. Once someone
has tried to rip you off like that you can't trust
*anything* about your system, whoever made it,
or the vendor who sold it. Get your money back and
buy from someone else. If they won't refund your
money, there are many channels for reporting that kind
of fraud - which one is best will depend on your
country, province, state, etc.
 
Rob Stow said:
You have probably been ripped off.

I would run a cpu id utility like WCPUID from
http://www.h-oda.com/. It will tell you what
cpu you have, as well as the actual clock speed,
multiplier, etc.

People trying to fob off slower processors can
try to fool you by overclocking - which apparently
your system builder didn't even try to do - but
AFAIK they can't fake out the name, family, stepping,
and model ID stored in the processor and accessed
by programs like WCPUID.

If you can confirm that your processor is not what
you paid for, I would take the computer back to
the vendor and insist on a full refund. Once someone
has tried to rip you off like that you can't trust
*anything* about your system, whoever made it,
or the vendor who sold it. Get your money back and
buy from someone else. If they won't refund your
money, there are many channels for reporting that kind
of fraud - which one is best will depend on your
country, province, state, etc.
Click to expand...

Rob, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the only thing the
registers inside the chip will tell you, is it is a Barton
Model 10 or a Thoroughbred Model 8. All the other important
parameters multiplier, VID, mobile or desktop, 2 bit FSB
encoding, etc. are all set by bridges. If the bridges have
been skillfully modified and the label replaced on the top
of the processor, then except for the inability to run stably
at the new speed set by the bridge changes, there is no way
to be absolutely certain.

A utility like CPUID can only read back what the bridges
say. If you change the multiplier or the FSB, CPUID can
only read the new values, look in its lookup table of
CPU models, and tell you what that equates to.

Some Asus BIOS have a bad habit of defaulting to the
wrong FSB, for which the solution is to set the CPU
clock manually to the correct value.

http://www.qdi.nl/support/CPUQDISocketA.htm

2600+ in table:
Model 10 (Barton) 2600+/166 at 1917MHz
Model 8 (TBred) 2600+/166 at 2083MHz
Model 8 (TBred) 2600+/133 at 2133MHz

You can tell whether you've got a Model10 or Model8 with
CPUZ. But the rest of the info about the processor cannot
be trusted as absolutely identifying what the processor
was when it left the factory. At least based on what I've
read during the Mwave incident.

There are several possibilities:

1) Wrong processor in socket. Like a real 1800+. Check the
part number on the label. Run the part number through
Google or your favorite web search engine.
2) Right processor in socket, CPU FSB clock incorrectly
set. Get the real clock rate numbers from CPUZ and
check to see whether the CPU has the correct
default multiplier for that model of processor.
I would trust CPUZ over anything Windows tells you.
3) Processor fraud. Bridges have been modified and label
on processor swapped. This will require visual examination
of the top of the processor, and remarkers are pretty skilled
at doing the necessary mods. Typically, a user finds the
processor won't run stable at the "stock" frequency. If the
board is an older one, with a newer "unqualified" processor
(not meant for the board) stuffed in the socket, then this
can be user error, and perhaps the motherboard would never
work with that model. So, not all failures to run stable are
fraud. If the processor is unstable at stock settings, that
is a reason to visually examine the product for attempts to
modify it - if nothing is visually wrong, the paranoia stops
there :-)

So, David, post back what CPUZ tells you. The info you gave so
far doesn't make theory #2 above very likely, but maybe we can
make sense of it with CPUZ.

HTH,
Paul
 
David said:
Hey all,

I had a new comp built for me by a local business and it's running
fine, but there's something nagging me. On both of the receipts I
have the CPU is listed as an AMD ATHOLN XP 2600 CPU which should be
running at 2.13 Ghz. However, when I check the Properties tab under
My Computer, the CPU speed is listed as 1.53 Ghz, even though the CPU
is stated to be a 2600+. I posted to another newsgroup and someone
said that the 1800+ is the one that should be running at 1.53 Ghz.
They recommend I check to make sure he didn't sell me an overclocked
processor. I looked through all the documentation provided me and
nowhere could I find anything stating the actual model of the
processor and its speed. I then called a friend who suggested that
the CPU might be underclocked.

I'm running:

Windows XP Service Pack 1
Asus A7V8X-X motherboard

I would love to hear any suggestions about what detective work I can
try to solve this mystery!

David Simmons
(e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...

you need to set your FSB to 166mhz, it's currently at 133mhz
 
I think CPU-ID tells you what the default speed is - but if it doesn't, then
Crystal CPU (and I think, CPU Brain) does.
 
Geoff said:
you need to set your FSB to 166mhz, it's currently at 133mhz
Click to expand...
What?!? You mean there's no conspiracy theory to back up your crazy story of
the improperly set FSB! Say it isn't so. I think aliens came in at night
and fiddled with the settings! They must be stopped! Protect yourself.
 
Geoff said:
you need to set your FSB to 166mhz, it's currently at 133mhz
Click to expand...

That's what I think too. It's a Barton 2600 that would normally run at
1917Mhz, 11.5 x 166Mhz FSB. If it's on a 133Mhz FSB then it would be running
at 1530Mhz. Change the FSB from 133 to 166 in the BIOS and Bob's yer uncle.
 
Rob said:
You have probably been ripped off.

I would run a cpu id utility like WCPUID from
http://www.h-oda.com/. It will tell you what
cpu you have, as well as the actual clock speed,
multiplier, etc.

People trying to fob off slower processors can
try to fool you by overclocking - which apparently
your system builder didn't even try to do - but
AFAIK they can't fake out the name, family, stepping,
and model ID stored in the processor and accessed
by programs like WCPUID.
Click to expand...

The only thing "programmed into" a CPU is the CPUID model number, such as
680 for a TBred A, 6A0 for a Barton, etc, the L1 cache size, and the various
features (like 3DNow, SSE, etc). The startup multiplier is read off the
L3/L1 bridge system, and the L2 cache size is read off the L2/L9 bridge
system (or their internal equavalents in a locked chip). The startup vid,
and maximum fid & vid through PowerNow is read off the bridges, and can be
read by software if you have a mobile CPU (you cannot read these on desktop
CPUs). All other information, like the name string, is determined from the
above information.

For example, there is no detectable-by-software difference between a 3200
and a 2500.

In any case, the mistake here appears to be that the FSB is set too low, so
builder ignorance not fraud is the problem :)

[...]
 
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