I bought an Athlon 64 2800+ not too long ago. When I first installed it, it would idle at roughly 1000 MHz operating frequency, then rev up to 1800-2000 MHz when the system was under a load. Recently, I've been noticing a performance hit in many different applications (from CD-Ripping to City of Villains and anything else that's system intensive). I monitored the CPU under load and noticed that it never leaves its idling frequency of 1000 MHz. According to CPU-Z, the multiplier is at 5x. I've only recently started to learn a bit more about the A64, so I don't know if the multiplier was this low when things ran smoothly. A friend of mine has an A64 3200+ and his multiplier is at 10x. Also, his CPU is running on 1.47 Volts, whereas I'm running at 1.1V. He has a Clawhammer (non-FX), and mine is NewCastle, so I don't know if that could account for the discrepancy.
From the time of the CPU working properly until now I haven't installed any new drivers for MoBo or CPU, no new BIOS, changed the RAM configuration, or basically changed anything on the system. I installed the newest ATI Catalyst drivers and put in a Plextor DVD burner, but to my knowledge neither of those changes would affect CPU speed.
After searching through the forums for 15 mins or so it became clear that I was in over my head. If anyone has any information or ideas that could bring my system back up to where it should be operating, please help in any way possible.
Here is a ScreenCap of CPU-Z running on my system, if it helps:
http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/100/untitled7rb1.jpg
Thank you so much!
