Hello everyone, i hope someone can help me out here.

I just bought a Athlon X2 4200 and have it overclocked to 2.75 Ghz.

My system specs are Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe, 2GB A-Data PC3200 memory, ATI Radeon X1950Pro. I have the CPU running stable at 250 X 11.

I upgraded from an Athlon 3700 and had it overclocked at the exact settings.

Ok so here is the problem...i see no difference in performance between the two. I have run some benchmarking tests like Sandra Lite and PC Mark 06 and the results have been the same as with my Athlon 3700 single core. One thing i noticed was that under PC MArk 06 it says i have 1 Physical CPU / 1 logical CPU. I do have two CPU's listed in the Device Manager though, as well as in the Bios. But i notice no changes. I scored a 4200 on Pc Mark when everyone else is 6000 or above with similar systems.

I have the HTT at 4X and my memory is running stable at 220Mhz. Like i said, the system, is stable but just not running any faster then my single core.

Any ideas what could be the issue?

Thanks

Steve

Maybe try downloading the dual core optimizer from AMDs website? That might help.

your memory should be running at 400 or more depending on your clock. go into the bios and correct the problem....... or just try and select something inre to optimum system settings if you don't know how to set the memory yourself.

just because you have 2 cores doesn't mean the machine is going to run twice as fast.

You didn't reinstall the OS. Do that.

I have my 4200 running at 2.5 GHz and notice a big difference overall from my old 4000+ single core, which I ran at 2.6 Ghz. Moreso in actual gaming and gaming w/ Ventrillo, Teamspeak, etc. running also or with MP3's playing while gaming. I don't see how 3dmark06 would give your old cpu a 4000 cpu score, and I believe with mine I am running low to mid 3k's with an A8NSLI-Deluxe. I am running the AMD Dual Core optimizer, but have not run PCmark, or Sandra. Really, the chipsets we have struggle compared to the AM2+ and 775 Dual and Quad Core chipsets. I am running a 3870 Sapphire Toxic on this ole setup, and can almost creep on 10k 3dmark06, so I can't complain for now : ) >

When the new SB750 AM2+ boards come out I may be able to upgrade, but until then I can play any game I throw at this system just fine.

Has your OS pick up the second core? Right click on the task bar, chose task manager and check for two CPU boxes in the performance tab.

If it's only one you're still runing one core. No need to reinstall, just go to device manageri in the control panel and under computer, where it says ACPI uni-processor etc hit delete and reboot. Hopefully it will pick it up once it boots up.

Also reinstall AMD's CPU driver and the optimiser (from AMD's site).

Ok i will definitley install that as soon as i get home today. Hopefully that helps. Thanks

My memory is solid, the bench marks i run on that are good, actually they are smoking since i have the FSB at 250 and my divider at 5/6 i believe. On my mothoerboard its set at 183Mhz which i believe is a 5/6. So memory speed is not a problem.

I guess I wasnt expecting the numbers to jump up and show 200% speed gains. I was expecting it it be faster then my single core 3700 though.

I am going to save that as a last option but i did think about it. It has been a couple years since the last re-load anyways but i havent had single Windows error in a LONG time and i hate to mess with that. But if i have to i may try that if all else fails.

I would have thought that i would see some gains between the two processors but i have seen none. They are exactly the same between the 3700 single and the 4200 dual. I didnt get a 4200 score on the old 3700 single i got that 4200 score with my newer 4200 X2. a score of 4200 just seems VERY low for that processor. Especially with the way i have it overclocked.

Yes Windows does show two processors. It didnt the first time but after a quick Bios update and a reboot it did pick it up. I just noticed though that in 3d MArk 06 that it only shows 1 physical / 1 logical CPU. I thought that might be a reason fo rmy low score.


Thanks for all teh replies i will install the optimizer and hope that helps. I will double check all my bios settings too. I will also try some more benchmarks and see if they all say the same thing.

Well i was hoping it didnt have to come to that but i installed the optimizer and it did very little to help in my benchmarks. Actually, in 3DMArk 06 it didnt change a thing. According to Sandra it only increased by 100 points.

I ran Wprime and it only testing one processor and not both. I also ran CPUZ and only shows Processor 1, Core 1, Thread 1. That doesnt seem right. SHouldnt it be 2? Is it possible to have one bad core and still function? Or is this a driver issue. I dont want to do a Windows reload but as a last resort i guess i can.

WooHoo i got it fixed.

Thanks for all the help you all steered me in the right direction. I had no idea what the problem was but after some more digging i found a way to update the HAL without having to do any installs / uninstalls / reformats or anything.

I found out a little about using the DevCon and command prompt and i got the HAL to update to ACPI Multiprocessor.

I ran Sandra and my CPU scores on the artithmetic test went from 9825 to 19962, the multimedia test went from 25486 to 51758. These socres smoked the standard scores they have in there for a 4800+. I ran 3Dmark again and went from 4200 to 5000. So the update worked.

So all in all i did a bios update, installed the AMD Optiomization driver and then used Devcon to update the HAL.
I am now showing two graphs in the Task Manager and all is well.

Here is the link to the site i found on using the Devcon:
http://www.ngohq.com/processors/11 [...] ndows.html

Again, thanks for the help. Im really glad i didnt have to reformt, i didnt want to waste a whole day to do that.