PCFormat Forum Archive

Hi guys, is it safe to turn off Intel Speed Step in the BIOS? What do most over clockers do with this setting? Asus has an extensive overclocking guide for this BIOS on their website but they do not mention this setting at all. If I leave it on, my brand new Asus Maximus Hero VI motherboard and Intel 4770K CPU combo throttles back to around 800MHz and seems content to sit there most of the time while in the Windows 7 desktop environment. Switching it off gives me a permanent over clock speed. I am running the 4770K at a relatively low over clock of 4.2 GHz with a Corsair H100i dual radiator closed liquid cooling system. CPU idle temp is usually 35 Celcius.

PC is mainly to run Flight Sim FSX which although many years old, is one of the most demanding programs on both CPU and GPU and I want max performance without pushing stability, heat or longevity boundaries of the system.

Thanks in advance.

GregH

Speed Step is just a bit of firmware that allows your OS to ramp up (or down) your CPU clock based on how much processing power it needs.
This is definitely beneficial to most end-user systems - even big-draw systems like gaming or media rigs.

You should however turn it off when OC'ing as you want exclusive control of your CPU.

Great thanks hamin_aus!