Laptop running slow

How do I determine the speed of my processor? Question:

How do I determine the speed of my processor?

Answer:

There are multiple ways of determining the speed of the computer processor. Below is a listing of the methods of determining the speed.

Note: Before following any of the below steps it is important to realize that software settings can be adjusted or overclocked. This means that the settings could be higher than the actual speed of the computer processor. The best method of determining the speed of a processor would be to open the case and physically look at the computer processor (see hardware).

Documentation

If you have purchased the computer from an Original Equipment Manufacturer, the manufacturer will likely include documentation that lists the system specifications of the computer.

At boot

The majority of computers today will indicate the computer processor speed as the computer boots. For example, as the computer boots you may see a listing similar to:

Intel Pentium(TM) III 1000MHz

The above example indicates that the computer is running an Intel Processor running at 1GHz, or 1000MHz.

Note: Unfortunately, the boot process will be very fast; therefore, you may have little or no time to read all that is on the screen during one boot. Also, many motherboard and computer manufacturers will have a BIOS screen as the computer boots up showing the company or motherboard logo; press the ESC key to display the text behind the logo. Finally, some computers may accept the Pause key to pause the boot process allowing you to read all the text.

CMOS

If the computer does not have documentation or does not indicate the processor speed as it boots, it is also possible that the processor speed will be listed in the CMOS setup. Generally, this information will be listed under the main or advanced settings of CMOS. Information about getting into CMOS setup can be found on document CH00192.

Software

Various software utilities are available to list and detect the computer processor. You can find some of these utilities on our hardware download page.

Hardware

The best method of determining the computer processor speed would be to physically look at the actual processor. It is important to note that this option may not be available if a non-removable heat-sink is attached to the processor.

Power down the computer, open the chassis and locate the computer processor:

Once the processor has been located, if the computer processor is a slot processor, the processor speed, cache and other information can be located on the top of the processor. For example, a slot processor may have a listing of numbers similar to 500/512/100/2.0V, which is:

500 MHz Processor 512 KB Cache 100 Bus Speed 2.0V Voltage

If your processor is not a slot processor, but is instead a socket processor, determining the speed may be more difficult. The CPU information is generally located on the top of the processor itself. Unfortunately, however, it is more than likely that a heat sink is attached to the processor. Before the speed can be determined it must be removed. Once removed, it is possible that a white paste (thermal compound) may be on the processor / heat sink. This can be wiped away, providing you have more paste, which can be applied later to the processor. A socket processor may have a listing of information similar to 1000/256/133/1.7, which is:

1000 MHz Processor 256 KB Cache 133 Bus Speed 1.7 Voltage

Additional information:

• See our MHz and GHz dictionary definitions for additional information and related links about each of these terms.

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