2500k underclocking itself

[UnknownXV]

Hi,

 

I've recently done a few upgrades to my PC (3 weeks), everything running smoothly. Lately the past 3 days I've had slower performance than usual in Chivalry Medieval warfare, which is a cpu intensive game. On my 2500k I never had issues, I was always just using stock. I decided to try and OC it to squeeze a bit more performance out of the game. I had bought an H220 cpu cooler for that. 

 

So, I proceeded to do a minor OC, I didn't even change the voltage, just went from 3.3 ghz to 3.8 and was planning on running it for a day at least to see how that felt. I wanted to see the temperatures and whatnot first though, so I opened Corsair link, speedfan and cpu-z to see the relevant information. Very oddly indeed, CPU-Z is reporting my cpu running at 2.2 ghz under load now. The multiplier in the bios is at 38. This makes no sense. Temperatures are quite fine, under prime95 load never going above 46 c, so it can't be thermal underclocking. I disabled speedstep technology, and C states, just to see if that helped. It did not. I've taken some pictures with my phone of my bios settings, as well as a capture of my desktop with the programs open. 

 

Does anyone know what's going on? Why on earth would my cpu underclock itself like this? I returned my settings to normal, and nothing has changed, it's still underclocking itself. SiW reports my cpu frequency at 3,800 mhz, but by core, it's the same as cpu-z. I'm quite puzzled here. 

 

System:

 

Windows 7 home 64 bit

Cpu: I5 2500k

GPU: GTX 770

Motherboard: Asrock Extreme 3 gen 3 Z68

RAM: 16GB Corsair vengeance 1,600 mhz (running at 1,333)

PSU: Corsair AX860i 

 

 

Thanks for any help. 

[Godlygamer23]

Intel Speedstep disabled?

[UnknownXV]

Yup. 

[Godlygamer23]

Flash the BIOS.

[ProKoN]

get the intel extreme tuning utility

 

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/desktop-boards-software-extreme-tuning-utility.html

 

 

run the stress test.

 

does your cpu hit the max frequency while under 100% load?

[UnknownXV]

I can't flash the bios since that would destroy my raid 0 array.

 

I ran the intel stress test, cpu still underclocked. Idles at 2.49 ghz, loads at 2.39 ghz. This really makes no sense. xD

 

Also reports cpu usage at 0% with the test active. 

 

[ProKoN]

what does cpuz report while the test is active?

[ProKoN]

IETUtility version? 4.1?

[UnknownXV]

Version 4.1 correct. Cpu-z reports the same thing. 

 

[Godlygamer23]

So far, the only thing you can do is flash the BIOS. (I know you technically can't)

[ProKoN]

go into bios.

 

load optimum defaults

 

just set your raid settings correct and try to boot back into windows under default bios values.

 

try the test again

[UnknownXV]

I was scared for a second, I didn't reset the raid correct (checked for boot, said raid array, but I forgot to set it in storage). Still let me do it after reloading into the bios, phew.

 

Everything is back to default but it didn't fix the problem. :(

 

I really don't understand. Is my cpu failing or something? Does it throttle back when it fails? Prime95 and this intel test all indicate it's working okay. 

[ProKoN]

no its probably just a bugged out \ corrupted bios as godly has pointed out.

 

most common fix is a reflash.

 

you should be able to flash without loosing your raid array. just reset it correctly after the flash and away you go. save any important info first before you flash it up :)

 

i know you had mentioned you tried default settings but i wanted to be sure.

 

why is your mem downclocked? as part of your diagnosis?

 

 your cpu should be fine, i would like to see you hit 5 ghz on the h220

[ProKoN]

will the IETU allow you to make any adjustments under the manual tuning tab?

[UnknownXV]

It will not let me make any manual adjustments to the cpu in intel utility. Everything is greyed out.

 

I'm worried about losing my raid array not because of data, which is easy enough to backup, but because if it fails I'd have to reinstall windows 7. I only have an OEM copy, I don't think I can use it twice. If I can't, that's $100 for trying to figure this out. xD

 

I downclocked the memory because I heard it was best to do this when trying to OC. If any instability occurs, you know it's very unlikely it's because of the ram. 

 

Thanks a lot btw, for trying to help. This is definitely a bizare issue.