Windows Displays incrorrect Processor Speed?

T

thomas234

Big Geek
My Granddad recently had Windows re-installed at his local shop (cost him £45, and all they did was restore using the manufacturers disc!), and when you open the system properties (hold down Windows Key and press Pause break), it says something like this:

AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
1.29GHz, 480mb RAM
etc etc

Before Windows was reinstalled, it looked more like this:

AMD Athlon XP(tm) Processor
2.2GHz, 480mb RAM
etc etc

I've also noticed this on a friends computer, his says:

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor,
970Mhz, 768mb RAM
etc etc

His computer is a brand new Athlon 64 3200+ Socket 939, and I reckon the clock speed should be 2.0GHz at the least, however Windows reports differently. :confused: . Also, when he tries to run Age Of Empires 3, it says his system doesn't meet the system requirements, whereas his graphics card is well upto it, and the game runs smoothly (and also runs Far Cry smoothly).

Does anyone know why Windows does this, and if it is the correct clock speed, and the computers are underperforming?

Thanks, Thomas
 
This could be the CPU throttling taking effect as it lowers clockspeed to lower power consumption and heat.

Download [google]Rightmark CPU utility[/google] and see if the clock speed increases when you do something CPU heavy.
 
You're telling me! I'd have done it for £44!!! Seriously, I'd have done it for free, cos as far as I know all the shop did was start the recovery programme and left it.

Anyway, I now know what I want to do when I'm older ;)
 
thomas234 said:
You're telling me! I'd have done it for £44!!! Seriously, I'd have done it for free, cos as far as I know all the shop did was start the recovery programme and left it.

Anyway, I now know what I want to do when I'm older ;)
Click to expand...

Good Idea, we could be a team :P :P
 
You could offer some PC health checks to go along with the fresh installs too. I think PC World used (maybe still do!) charge £30 to errr delete your temp files, run a spyware/virus app and defrag your drives.

In fact its £50
PC World... UK's Largest Computer Superstore

They will plug in and install your printer for £30
PC World... UK's Largest Computer Superstore

And pop in your overpriced RAM stick for £30
PC World... UK's Largest Computer Superstore

£45 to install windows was a bargain!!!

It makes you utterly sick! At least you get more for your money when it comes to buying computers, Ive only looked at dells prices really and even if there are better packages, £300 for a computer is bloody good. They pretty well used to be £1000 flat fee. Thats when £1000 was really £2000 if you know what I mean. 33mhz cpus were the best!
 
zeus said:
At least you get more for your money when it comes to buying computers, Ive only looked at dells prices really and even if there are better packages, £300 for a computer is bloody good.
Click to expand...

Still not as good as if you build your own, though. For £300 for Dell, I reckon you'd get a Celeron 2.8GHz with 512mb RAM. You also get a hard to upgrade computer with crappy components in (and it's probably not "Vista Ready"). My computer came to a total of £350, including mobo, graphics, ram etc. But yes I agree, you do get more for your money now, especially when you read the flashback section from the Personal Computer World magazine and computers 15 years back were costing well over a grand for not much more power than todays calculators.
 
Chris_ said:
Good Idea, we could be a team :P :P
Click to expand...

[ot]can i join your IT team, then we can all tell people crap, and poeple will believe me easier with me being a bit older LOL, :smahd: [/ot]
 
[OT]The IT Team: After having a quick look at Mr bobs computer, the HWF IT team told him that he'd have to have the fatherboard & motherboard replaced (yes, it's that bad!). They also recommend that Mr Bob gets a new copy of Windows installed, because he has a pirate copy installed, and the guys from MS are probably planning of suing him! The whole job will cost around £600, and all that's really wrong with the computer is that the power connector to the hard drive has come out.

Yes, I'm bored, Really Bored [/OT]
 
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