On the Asus P6T Deluxe QPI/DRAM is the same thing as QPI/VTT. ASUS just made it confusing by putting the DRAM part.
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Question, is a higher Multiplier generally a better way of getting a stable OC, vs using a lower one with a very high BLCK...?
yes
Got my new chip today, straight from the beast's mouth :p:
Currently running 64-bit Prime stable (small, large, and blends tests) with 4-cores/8-threads at 21x200MHz (no turbo, straight 21x200MHz on the Core i7 940) with DRAM at 1603MHz with 7-8-7-20-1T timings at 1.40800V CPU/1.65681V DRAM and 1.35000V QPI/DRAM (VTT) :D
It's an "A" chip btw and I forgot to mention that this is all on pure air. No WC, no fancy cooling at all...
Nice "silent" system too, fans on low.
Whats the thing with the A/B chips ?
My i920 is an "A", does that mean anything ?
Full stepping is: 3837A766
As I thought, it looks like that extra multiplier does the trick at the same voltages.
dejanh... your Corsair RAM looks like it may perform better than mine, as mine will only do 1600MHz @ 8,8,8,24,1T and not 7,8,7,20,1T. I also have exactly the same mobo as you.
Also bearing in mind your observations... why are you not running 22x190 instead of 21x200??
Getting my i7 940 tomorrow.
Those Corsair are a real letdown I must say.
My OCZ can go upto 1650Mhz @ 7-7-7-18 1T.
And so far I only managed to go up to 1850Mhz @ 8-8-8-18 1T, 1.64v and it seems like I stopped because of my uncore.
Not bad for 1333Mhz Ram ;)
Yea, I've always had OCZ RAM, however the Corsair was all I could lay my hands on here in the UK when I built my rig about a month ago.
What's the part # for the OCZ you are using Fox?
**EDIT** Forgot to say... gotta be real carefull with memory timings & i7, because I have corrupted Windows on my RAID0 array (2x WD Velociraptors) twice now. Good thing I have a backup!
^ must not be the ram then?
I'll get you the screenshot but it will have to be later as I have to go to work now :) But I'll try to get it to you tonight. If it is tool of my choice, I will use Arena chess test. I like that the best and it seems to simulate real-life workload the best, plus it loads all 8 threads at 99.9% constant. For now, I can say the temps get to about mid-80C (depending on how hot the ambient is, and I usually keep mine pretty warm for my tropical plants, about 23C).
I'm running 21x200MHz because I cannot run the memory at 1600MHz with 190MHz BCLK. It is either below or above. Running 1900MHz on the DRAM is not possible unless I really loosen the timings to like 9-9-9-24-2T and up the volts somewhat.
Also, I am not sure which observations you are refering to, but if I remember correctly rge and myself found that running a higher BCLK with a lower multiplier requires less volts than other way around...am I going back on myself here? :confused:
I was doing 1800MHz with the Dominators at 8-8-8-24-2T stable before (never tried to tighten the timings) so I'd say they are okay.
Yeah exactly, with limited memory multipliers once you have your desired cpu clock you're basically limited to 2 specific bclks to achieve it, one higher with your memory closer to spec or one lower with vastly under / over clocked memory which isn't usually possible or desirable. Identicle bandwidth can be achieved however through timings and using the spare headroom to push up uclk, so the underclock is a possibility, but it's basically more hassle to end up with the same results so not much point/
They need unlocked memory multi.
Bah, I know that. They are all C0. I just said C0/C1 because I know that there are people that will come here and say "Mine says C1! Does that mean I have a different stepping?".
Agree completly. I am just a keaner and I want my memory to run at its specs, for the sake of round numbers lol :p:
I just purchased an i7 920 and its still in the box, I dont have mobo or RAM yet.
Im planning on getting the gigabyte EX58-UD3R for it. I will be using stock cooler to start for a while. I plan on buying 1333MHZ RAM some inexpensive 3x1GB modules for it.
The processor is a newer "A" chip. Its not a "B" =(
I have a 500watt PC P&C PSU and will be putting this with a HD4850 512MB
What OC's can I expect out of this machine? somewhere in the 3.5ghz area? hopefully?
I am new to the i7 architecture and I know there are tons of things to tweak. I have been doing this on AMD's for a while, so I understand the concepts of all the individual clocks. But with the i7 Im kinda starting from scratch so I can play with something new. So, after doing fine tweaking (I hope that UD3R board is capable of) I aim to hit some higher clocks on upgraded cooler down the line. I would be happy with a flat 4ghz later on. For now what can I expect on stock cooler?
With stock cooler you're always temperature-bound, i believe you will be able to go between 1.3 and 1.35v which should guarantee you 3.5ghz, unless you have the worst chip ever seen :)
Thought I would post this as it is one of the finer OC's I have hit. I stopped testing for a couple weeks - was starting to go batty. Maybe my chip needed a little rest?
[IMG]http://www2.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php...c891208a6g.jpg[/IMG]
Here you go, as promised :) It kept on going, 2h+ and then I finally stopped it. Temps were unchanged. Oh and, the load, it is 99.9% on all cores, but since priority was set to normal when I loaded CPUZ and went to take the screenshot it dropped off for a split second to 99.4% or whatever you see in the screenshot.
With good cooling this chip could do 4.4GHz or even 4.6GHz with HT on. On air 4.3GHz (another 100MHz) would be the absolute max I think with HT on. Still, considering that my room temp is 23C and that the temp around the computer is probably closer to 28C-29C this is very good. Finally an i7 940 worthy of its designation :p:
My previous chip needed 1.46V to do 4GHz and temps were in mid to high 80s. Better cooling would allow me to drop the volts further as well for the same overclock. If I open the balcony door when Priming to drop the ambient to about 17C-18C I can drop the voltages for 4.2GHz to 1.38V.
What does everyone think about cooling this thing with the CoolIt Freezone Elite cooler? I do not want to go water because it is too much hassle for me, but I am thinking about FZE. Any opinions on it? What kind of temps can I expect?
Man o man o man... tried reading through all this, but after a dozen or two pages I had to skip to the end. Still don't know the answer to my main question though.. even though I'm sure it's in there somewhere...
I'm thinking if I'm going to make the change and go i7 I should go with the 965. It's double the price of the 940 but doesn't it open up a few more opportunities???
:shrug:
ok guys, need quick answer if possible =)
I have right now a 3839A i7 920 in my hand purchased last night.
I called back frys electronics and where I live they have one B left, its 3838B processor.
Should I return this one (unopened) for that A?
Well the B processor was actually 3836B so I got it! woot =) now waiting for mobo and RAM....
With a Corsair 1866 Kit will i need 1.55 QPi voltage or will i be able to stay within Intel safety guidelines?
Isn't there always the option of underclocking the RAM if you must?
I used a regular Freezone on my old Opty 165 rig and it worked great. The Elite is supposedly capable of 250W of heat dissipation but given the minuscule amount of coolant and possible overloading of the TEC's, I would be hesitant to use one until further reviews become available.
Tbh, my Exos-2 LX was easy as hell to set up and keeps my 920 at ~70C full load with HT enabled at 4.0Ghz. These chips run hot, as you well know, and I'm not complaining with those results. Admittedly, the Exos-2 LX is a bit more expensive because you have to mate it with a nice water block (in my case a Swiftech Apogee GTZ), but it does work admirably.
I was a bit hesitant to go H20 because of my noobishness in that regard but it's paid off in spades so far. I've gotten the impression that an extra $100 or so won't bother you so I would suggest a H20 configuration.
dejanh, I have always been told that an overclock can't really be considered stable unless you can run prime (small FFTs) for 12 hours+ Can you??
Also, just out of interest what speed are you running your RAM @ now for that 4.2GHz clock?
Just sitting here waiting for the courier to turn up with i7 940 before I can see if 4.2GHz HT enabled if possible.
With regards to temps... don't be too sure about getting 4.3-4.6GHz with better cooling... I have a quad rad & GTZ block on a dedicated loop. My temps never exceeded 72c on my i7 920, however, I could not get past 4.0GHz prime (small FFTs) stable. 4.0GHz or below with HT & Turbo enabled is solid as a rock for me. But I want more!
That is subjective. If you are only on the Computer 2-3 hours at a time and you can run prime for 4 hours with no errors, wouldn't that be considered stable for your needs?
Sure, there are people that fold, etc and need that 24/7 stability, but like I said, it is subjective. I don't waste my time running prime for more than 4 hours. This is after I run Intel Burn Test first.
I disagree...partially. The 965 is essential if you are going extreme cooling. Above 220 bclk it's a crap shoot with every 920 out there no matter how good it is and how skilled the clocker is. The unlocked multi is key to getting 5ghz+ for serious benching.
that doesn't take away from the fact that on air or water, the 920, 940 and 965 are pretty much equals.
Will 1333 DDR3 work to take the 920 in the 4ghz range? or do I have to have 1600 capable RAM to take it that high? I read somewhere that in order for bclk to go above 160ish it has to have 1600 RAM. Is this true or can I still take the bclk above 160 and just drop the multiplier on the RAM down to stay within 1333 range?
Well, I've been overclocking for 12 years now and I can only speak from my experience but Prime (in any form) is not always an indicator of stability. On my old AMD system with a 5000+ BE I could Prime all day long at 3.2GHz, but I know for a fact that it was not 100% stable, for example. That's why I am not longer a big speaker for Prime (or for that matter any one stress tool). You will also notice huge differences when running Prime 32-bit and Prime 64-bit, so what then? Do you say that unless you are full-day stable in both Primes under all three options for running it you are not absolutely stable? Or better yet, blend tests say they test RAM, but I am certain that they do not test 6GB of ram, so what then?
Anyway, I think you get my point. I ran Prime for about 2 hours, temps were stable, everything was stable. For me that is good enough. Indeed, in most cases I will not run Prime for more than 30 minutes before I declare an OC stable. This has never failed me in the past and I doubt it will be any different now. I will also almost bet you that if you leave Prime running just long enough with a hefty OC, your system will crash. How long that "just long enough" may be is subjective and dependent on your OC. It may be hours, may be days, maybe a week.
Now, I am running my ram at 1603MHz, 7-8-7-20-1T timings, 1.35000V QPI/DRAM, 1.65681V DRAM.
I have so far gone through tree different i7 940s. The first clocked better at lower volts than the second but it was a hot chip, so it maxed out at 4GHz. Second was just bad as it was never fully stable at 4GHz even if you up the voltages to 1.46V (as high as I would go on air). Finally, this third chip now is a bit hotter than #2, but better than #1 and #2 in both volts and clocks.
Well prime 64bit will only allocate like 1.6gb per session from what I can tell. To get around that I just start multiple prime sessions with 2 threads each and run custom on the last one to use up whatever ram is left as well as turn pagefile off, seems to do decent at allocating most the memory to prime.
For me personally, if it doesn't go at least prime for more than 24hrs I don't even bother with other testing till I get a minimum of 24hrs prime stable but I agree prime does not mean 100% under every load, a great starting point though.
I'm still priming my i7, not the killer clock of others but good enough for 24/7:
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/7...blndpe9.th.jpg
It is doable on Water, on air it is very hard and you need a CPU which works at a very low voltage and even then, you will most likely to work at very high temps (80+) which are not healthy.
I am pretty sure of it and I don't think there is a need to run 12Hr Prime, 30 minute run with Linpack is enough, it the ultimate turtore test :yepp:
Anyone running a vapochill ls on their i7 have any temps to share? Im thinking about picking one up and curious at its 24/7 performance..
thanks.
I have a question. I have an "A" chip. I can buy a "B" guaranteed for like 280 or so. Should I do it? My chip requires insane qpi/vtt for more than 200 bclk.
right now I am running 200 x 21 turbo off with 1.376 in CPU-Z. I got my chip with the 25% Live discount so by selling it at 250 or even 225 I wont be really losing out on anything.. what do you guys think? i wanted to try to run 210 or 215 bclk so as to OC my memory a bit.
Thanks in advance.
Are the B chips suppose to be better?
That is not a very high voltage. "B" will not guarantee you lower voltages. Indeed, one of the lowest voltage chips that was posted here was an "A" chip...
I would not be too quick to change it like that. I have done things like that in the past and have definitely gotten screwed more than once.
I must respectfully disagree; I really appreciate the work you've put into this thread and it's enlightened me quite a bit, but I beg to differ on this one. I think it's important on boards like this to have a certain set of standards regarding when an overclock is considered relatively stable for the purposes of spreading correct information regarding expectations. While I completely agree with your assessment that 24/7 for a month doesn't necessarily equate to stability, I also believe it's important to use the most scientific means at our disposal to render judgment on what may or may not be considered stable. I also agree that having alot of experience overclocking can lead to having a good "gut feel" of stability, but one must remember that alot of folks in this forum (albeit not as much as other forums) are newer and looking for advice. Developing that "gut feel" takes years of practice.
That being said, I would like to recommend to anyone seeking advice that anything in the area of 12 hrs of prime or 6 hrs of LinX goes a long way to "prove" stability.
Comments welcome, but I don't want to hijack this thread; so try not to pay too much attention to me. :D
On that note, I just got my P6T deluxe/920/6GB OCZ 1600 Plat. Seems to be a great chip, I could hit 3.6Ghz on water at just above stock volts. I'm still learning this platform and will post results when I get anything substantial.
Thanks!
Finally got my water block (re: GTZ), I had a Vendetta 2 HS with idle temps that seem to match the GTZ.
I am running at 3.8G with 1.29375V cpu, 1.66 VDIMM, 1.375 QPI on a Asus P6T. My temps at idle is 38C and on load (folding with 90% cpu usuage) 60C. Do those temps sound proper. I have a open case for now. Cannot understand it matchs my temps I had with the OCZ Heatsink Vendetta 2. Also, tried to see what my idle temps at stock settings, it still is around 30C which seems high since my ambient in my basement is about 24C.
I have always been a D-tek WB person, but could not what for the backplate. I have been running with the same loop & case except for the WB which I was using the D-Tek Fusion, my idle temps of my QX6850 at 3.8G with about 1.47V was at 26C.
Tried switching/re-installing the WB a few times, redone my fluid, I have tried all sorts but still have those temps. I hope it is not due to the GTZ WB.
Any help is appreciated.
P.S> It is a cpu only loop with a thermo PA120.3 rad with 6 push/pull 120CFM fans.
Same load temps as your Vendetta 2? What were you using to hold your Vendetta 2 in place?
I fixed up the Thermalright LGA1366 BOLT-THRU Kit to hold my Vendetta.
Interesting. We'll talk about this in PM's. Don't want to derail the thread.
Idle temps are mostly the same between a high performance cooler and a good watercooling setup, though there should be some difference in load here.. and thermochill rads are designed for high performance with low rpm fans, think they hardly benefit from 120CFM fans
I have the Swiftech Ultima kit here for a review will hook it up on friday... tubing and pump can mean a big difference here... and folding even at 100% has usually lower load temps then small FFT prime... try a prime test and see how the temps evolve then... I will check this all out in the review compared with a TRUE, bigger rad, 1/2 tubing etc..
i got an error after 8 1/2 hours in prime @4.2ghz but it just needs to much voltage over 1.5v :shakes: with turbo on and ht on
so im just on 4.1ghz 24/7, for now over 19 hours prime stable small ftt and blend, but ive gotten errors in prime even after 19 hours too :eek:
I'm having a lot of fun overclocking this 920 on a UD5 on the table here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=1273
Sorry I don't have any screenshots yet, only been working on the chip for a short time.
I for one am pretty sick of this Prime95 holy grail .. OK so I cannot get more than a couple of hours @ 4Ghz of Prime to save my life with reasonable voltage ..
So what ???
I have my 'game stable' setup which involves the following:
- At least 5 mins of OCCT
- At least 5 mins of Arena
- At least 5 loops of Cinebench
- At least 5 loops of wPrime
- At least 5 mins of Everest Stability
- At least 5 loops of SuperPI
- At least 2 hours of Crysis/Assassins/Far Cry 2/POP etc ...
This may sound pretty lame for an OC test .. but I have pretty much proven if it passes these tests.. it will play games for hours .. and encode DVD's etc. . and thats the main reason I bought the machine ..
Besides I've also heard enough stories of machines that are prime stable for 15 hours then fall over idling or playing simple games ..
I know which machine I'd rather have .. game stable not prime stable :)
Who in the world uses termochill with 6 120cfm fans ?!?!
That is what HW Labs GTX rads are for.
The high fin count benefit from high CFM which means 120mm fans @ more than 1500rpm.
Anyway, using a small fin count rad like the termochill along with 6 fans of very high CFM is a complete waste of CFM.
Regardless of this, you are probably deaf by now :eek:
P.S.
Did you mount the block at the correct orientation as described by the manual ?
It needs to be installed in an exact orientation as the block is bowed.
Moreover, make sure you put a medium size drop of thermal grease, put the block on and give it a little twist, to the left and to the right.
Finally, make sure to use the highest pressure possible (due to the bow in the block), meaning you should close the screws all the way down.
The GTZ block is a very well one, I am getting about 70c top at 4.2Ghz with HT on and Vcore @ 1.5v with the case close.
My cooling loop is in my sig.
Your temps are high considering the huge amount of air going through your rad.
What I'm really looking for is to go past 200 Bclk without having to use an insane amount of qpi/vtt
For 210 bclk, I need to run 1.79 qpi/vtt which is really high.
Most everyone else is running 210 -211 bclk with under 1.4 qpi/vtt.
I guess I figure worst case, if the chip isn't any better can I always resell it at a little bit of a loss.
1.79 qpi/vtt
way too high it must be something else
I don't think so. I've lowered CPU/Uncore/Memory multipliers and just raised Bclk.
I did 200 x 19 ok, then in order to boot into windows and not lock up during Prime small fft at 205 I had to raise qpi/vtt to over 1.65., then 1.79 for 210.
I guess I can try it again, but I would get it either not posting at all, or hanging at the windows splash screen.
---
Tried it again and it just keeps restarting. When I fed it a lot more Qpi/vtt then it would boot up. Oh well. I mean, I can do 4.2 with HT on so it's not a totally bad chip.
That doesn't sound lame at all. I've always, going back 10 years of ocing, have been a firm believer and advocate of real world stability. Running prime for 12 - 24 hours is just shaving off the top end of your systems lifespan all for the sake of proving something that you shouldn't have to. I've found, especially here, that some dudes get seriously bent out of shape when people refuse to meet their stability standards, but I say eff them. I resell my stuff to people who trust me, and they should get components that aren't abused. It keeps me in the upgrade game, so I don't :banana::banana::banana::banana: where I eat ;)
I don't think you are disagreeing with me, and I did not say that we should not have a certain set of standards that determine a stable OC, especially for those that are new to the game. You have to start somewhere and with something. However, over time you evolve an inherent knowledge of "what works and what does not", and I will take that any day over any Prime/Linpack test. The best test for stability is one where you take real world applications and you task them to do the work on the CPU and see if is stable. For example, if you use your machine to fold for 2/3 of the day or more, then use F@H to test your stability, not Prime.
If you look carefully in this thread, there are people that get all bent out of shape here that after 10 hours of running Prime it fails, or worse yet, after like 20 hours it fails. No need to get bent out of shape. At some point in time Prime, Linpack, all stress tests will cause your system to fail. This would be considered "reasonable failure". I heard a good comment some 10 years ago from some (at the time) prominent overclocker that said "run Prime for 20 minutes to 1 hour and you'll likely never see your system fail". I agree that with today's multicore chips things are bound to be a bit different but in essence this has not failed me since, especially when I coupled it with real world tests.
Anyway, to stop the thread from derailing more, let's just get back on topic :)
Well I wouldn't call it thread derailing, OC'ing i7/x58 and testing stability to some degree go hand and hand.
I'm sure we can all agree we do what we do to our own standards for our own peace of mind to ensure stability of the core system as well as the integrity of the data that system will be processing since poor stability can easily corrupt data as well as crash the OS, sometimes slowly sometimes quickly.
I've had 24hr "prime stable" rigs start crashing slowly after 72hrs or more of normal operation. As in strange things happening with the OS whether it be apps hanging/pausing randomly, not being able to simply disconnect a usb drive via safely remove, to simply loosing tcpip until a reboot but again these issues don't always develop in 24, 48 or 72 hrs or under prime loads.
So for those that more frequently reboot or turn their rigs on and off they may never run into these issues but for those running say a month at a time longer stability testing in every regard becomes more of an issue.
The level of stability testing is really a matter of choice like insurance, you can decide how much coverage you want/need but just because that policy works for some it won't neccisarily apply to others.
Well, if you need months of uninterruped stability at full load 24/7 but shopping desktop parts, you are buying the wrong stuff and overclocking should most certainly not be your game.
This is mostly a business for hobbyists, enthusiasts, and gamers. You'll never see an overclocked server farm. That'd just be dumb.
The reason why I said not to derail the thread is because this can easily turn into an argument over nothing resulting in complete neglect of the original point of the thread. We already established what we all think, some of us agree while others can agree to disagree.
That's it.
On another note, was running prime had a nice 8 hours stable so far and GF turned the computer off when I went on lunch at work lol
:) As long as I know it was stable
4.3ghz turbo on no HT at 1.405v core CPU-z loaded
How is this for a low voltage OC on air? 3.8GHz (19x200MHz), HT on, 1.2V, 1600MHz DRAM 7-8-7-20-1T, 1.35V QPI/DRAM, 1.65V DRAM :down:? :up:? Let's hear it... :)
Well, the scaling seems almost linear past 3.8GHz, at least for the next two multipliers (20x and 21x). I need about 0.1V - 0.12V on the core per every extra 200MHz (+1x multi.) using the same settings as above for the rest of the system (i.e., HT on, same DRAM settings). I can almost guarantee that it is my cooling having an effect on it as well. I know from the previous two i7 940s I tested that if cooled better lower voltages are possible. The difference is not huge, but still, it is maybe 1.38V for 4.2GHz if cooled better vs. 1.4V. A difference nevertheless. At the moment though it is how I said in the beginning...about 0.1V per additional 200MHz. No other voltages, including QPI change at all.
Oh and yes, this is my new i7 940.
I think Ive seen the intel max voltage specification image for the i7 in this thread, but I dont know what page it was on...tried searching for all sorts of words to make it come up but cant find it. Was wondering would anyone be so kind as to post that image up for me again? I just want to see what max safe volts for all parts of this chip are. Before I start clocking her =)
On another note, Ive read your post dejanh about the relationship between qpi, uncore and ram speeds. I dont think it mentioned this anywhere in there, but is it possible to run qpi/uncore ABOVE core clock speed?
Like, say I get my chip to 3.3ghz or something mild....can I run qpi near below 4ghz but then run uncore at like 3.5ghz?
Thanks
Here is where you find all of the i7 datasheets. The information you are looking for will be in the Processor Datasheet - Volume 1.
http://www.intel.com/design/corei7ee/documentation.htm
Maybe this link should be permanently added to the first post.
In terms of running QPI/Uncore higher than the CPU clock, yeah, you should be able to do so. I do not see a reason why this would not be possible. Even by default the QPI runs higher than CPU clock and Uncore will run same or higher than the lowest clocked i7 920 as soon as you use 1333MHz DRAM because Uncore must be at least 2x DRAM.
Anyone knows where the clock generator for the bclck on the mobo is located?
I thought about something regading the 222mhz bclck limit.
What if this limit is not due to the qpi clock but rather caused by the bclck generator itself?
This would also explain why all boards can clock near that limit, some higher, some lower.
Maybe a voltmod for the clock generator would harness higher clocks?
Or it also could be a complete brainfart from my side. :rofl:
Actually...that makes no sense. ;)
If it was the clock generator of some sort causing the 222MHz BCLK limit then it would surely be different across different manufacturers. But, if it is a limitation of the CPU it would show up on all boards, from all manufacturers, regardless of the board engineering and would have very slight variations (few MHz up and down).
Remember this, and then maybe we can revisit it sometime...
If Intel unlocks new QPI multipliers, particularly lower than 18x (16x and 14x would be nice) and unlocks the 20x multiplier we will be able to push the BCLK much higher. I heard that this is in the works in the likes of a BIOS patch, but I do not have this officially confirmed.
Well im not exactly sure if QPI clocks are really the culprit here, cause of the slowmode some boards offer. QPI clock is a lot slower then with this option, yet still the cpu has the same QPI limit.
Also we dont know which clock generator everyone uses, but the chance is high that all board manufacturors use the same clock generator from the same company. Ci7 is new teritory and usually suppliers of components are limited at the beginning of a new product.
Anyway, its just a random idea. We'll see soon enough i guess. :p:
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l.../Untitled1.jpg
Now with TRUE
Here is an updated screenie :) 20-pass Linpack run...
And before somebody else asks me, power saving transition states are active so the CPU multiplier changes when not under load. However, while under load the CPU is running at full 3.8GHz ;)