To overclockers : do you have speedstep disabled?

[sims]

When I first started overclocking, most guides and forum posts I read suggested turning off any power management feature to maintain stability. I've abide by such advice since, but now I think it's idiotic.

For one, why should stability be of concern since all speedstep does is lower the cpu multiplier. If you're running at 3ghz with 1.325vcore, a lower multiplier would result in 2ghz but you're still running at the same 1.325vcore. I don't need to mention that 1.325vcore is rather excessive for 2ghz already.

So why shouldn't we enabled speedstep? There are many benefits from it, such as : conserve energy, lower temperature, and probably prolong your cpu life expectancy(afterall, we have our cpu at idle states the majority of the time).

Since I became more familiar with overclocking, I've learned that most advice from people who claim to be experience with the subject are unfounded and rubbish. Recommending to disable speedstep is a foolish and completely unjustified suggestion.

[RPGW1ZaRD]

I don't know about speedstep but at least Cool n Quiet slowed down performance majorly on PCSX2. But then it's not me either paying the electricity bills so I don't mind the extra power consumption and especially I don't care if idle temps are a bit lower. I switch CPUs like once a year or two it seems so I doubt the lifespan of the CPUs I own wouldn't last me long enough until it's time to swap again.

The benefits of using speedstep are all factors that means very little to me but perhaps for some others it's more important...

[skoreanime]

I concur with RPG. I'm going to be upgrading my CPU in the next year anyways so prolonging it's already 10 year+ lifespan another few years is pointless really. Plus, having my computer idle at 3Ghz during the winter really keeps my room nice and toasty...I save a lot more money by turning off the furnace during the day .

[emwearz]

@sims have you ever run benchmarks / games / pcsx2 with speedstep enabled, I get dodgey FPS that jump and fall, there usually much lower that with it off and it seems to have random freeze outs where the screen shows a single image liek its clearing out ram or something.

Not totally sure but if you go from say you computer is running at 3.0ghz while playing a game and your fans are on 100% then the next second it is at 2.2 and the fans are on 20% your CPU will get overtly hot, slowly doing more damage to it and making its lifespan shorter than if you just had it running at full speed with full fans the whole time, Much like when your overclocking anything you really should have a cooling phase so you don't go from hot cooled to hot with no cooling. Just my thoughts, dunno if it holds any truth

Overall I prefer to pay a few more buck a year on electricity to have my computer running at its full potential.

[Bakryuuha]

I disabled speedstep on my laptop, thinking it would help boost performance (from 4 to 5 fps, who even cares...). I turned on the computer, and realized that my 1.4 Ghz P.M. was running at 500 Mhz! Couldnt even start the Halo Trial... I have no clue what it does, but its obviously holding a grudge against me or something...

[skid]

sims, once again I agree with you here.

I also read the guides that said speedstep should be turned off when overclocking. I turned it off initially but found that it didn't help me achieve a faster clock, so what is the point? Nowadays, I leave speedstep on when I overclock. It does not make any sense to turn it off - why would dropping the multiplier make a difference?

[refraction]

i see your reasoning. with the dual core fix (MS one, not the AMD one) it doesnt matter too much i spose, but without i imagine the cores could desync and cause slowdowns due to the power management side of things.

Strangely i dont think i can turn mine off lol, its disabled in the bios but i look in Everest and it says its still on? O-o

[3x3cUt0r]

Most boards can't disable that feature.

[Squall-Leonhart]

thats actually incorrect, most can, but some Bios's actually hide that feature in the Ctrl+F1/Ctrl+F2 invisible menus

[TastEPlasma]

Greetings,

I left it on when I put together my current rig, and I didn't expierence any oddities during testing. Performance scaled about as expected, no hiccups. I rather like the idea of speedstepping, this system being my first exposure to it, and saving power and cpu life (and thus enabling higher clocks) appeals to me, as does reduced heat production in the summer. As I have seen no detriment (but, neither did I run the otherwise perfectly smooth tests with speedstepping off), I thought it was a "nifty" feature, and left it on.

Sincerely,
TastEPlasma

[3x3cUt0r]

Originally Posted by Squall-Leonhart

thats actually incorrect, most can, but some Bios's actually hide that feature in the Ctrl+F1/Ctrl+F2 invisible menus

The feature isnt hidden, you can see it and change it but it doesn't disable Speedstep

[james.miller]

very very few boards dont give you the option to disable speedstep.