Processor Speed Mystery

[OBIO]

WIfe's Laptop

HP Pavillion ZE 2000 Z
AMD Sempron 2800+ rated at 1.59gig
256meg RAM
38meg HD
integrated video with up to 128meg shared Ram (currently set at 32)

In the Bios, the process is shown as 1.59Gig. In the System display box (under Control Panel) sometimes it shows at 1.59gig, sometimes as 779k.

Why would the System information display the proper processor speed sometimes and only half the actual speed at other times?

OBIO

[stansdds]

Might be AMD's energy saving feature. I forget what it was called, but it throttled down the processor to about 1/2 speed to save energy. Cool-n-Quiet, that was the name!

[Moparmike]

Yup, the Semprons will "throttle" the CPU to make for better battery life.
The Pentium-M will too...my 1.5GHz Intel-powered Toshiba spends most of it's time at 697MHz unless I force it to run at full speed.

[Kiwikat]

Desktops do this too. My Q9550 is almost always at 2.4 GHz. It only hits 3.4 when there is demand for it.

[OBIO]

Thanks folks....that does make sense and gives me a sense of relief...would hate to think how upset my wife would be if her long awaited laptop were to go belly up so soon.

OBIO