Enhanced Speedstep (EIST) Enabled in AIDA 64

[Sora]

I've seen the Enhanced Speedstep (EIST) enabled in AIDA 64 for at least a year now, having posted awhile back on it in the forums, with no fix yet, thinking maybe I would just ignore it thinking it is a small matter. In AIDA: Motherboard - CPUID - Power Management Features - Enhanced Speedstep Technology (EIST, ESS) In my BIOS, Speedstep (EIST) is disabled, so this is a bug for me still. The reason I bring it up again is because lately, within the last 4 months, I've been getting these several entries in the Event Viewer upon bootup of Windows 7 x64 Professional. Just wondering if the Speedstep in AIDA 64 showing Supported and Enabled is the culprit, or does anyone know what these entries could be pointing too?

Processor 0 in group 0 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)

0 performance state(s)

8 throttle state(s)

Processor 2 in group 0 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)

0 performance state(s)

8 throttle state(s)

Processor 4 in group 0 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)

0 performance state(s)

8 throttle state(s)

Processor 6 in group 0 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)

0 performance state(s)

8 throttle state(s)

Processor 1 in group 0 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)

0 performance state(s)

8 throttle state(s)

Processor 3 in group 0 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)

0 performance state(s)

8 throttle state(s)

Processor 5 in group 0 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)

0 performance state(s)

8 throttle state(s)

Processor 7 in group 0 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)

0 performance state(s)

8 throttle state(s)

[Fiery]

I'm not sure why the Event Log shows that info. But AIDA64 detects EIST state using the industry standard method, documented by Intel. It goes via CPU MSR (Model Specific Register) 1A0. I suppose your processor has that bit enabled for some reason, but the BIOS removed the EIST-related ACPI entries to effectively have EIST disabled under Windows. It's a small discrepancy in the BIOS. Of course in an ideal world the BIOS should also take care of disabling the EIST bit in MSR 1A0

Regards,

Fiery

[Sora]

Here are the entries in my BIOS for the Gigabyte X58A-UD7 Mobo and the settings I have them on now:

Advanced CPU Features:

CPU Clock Ratio: 20x200 @ 4GHz

Intel® Turbo Boost Tech: Disabled

CPU Cores Enabled: All

CPU Multi Threading: Enabled

CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E): Disabled

C3/C6/C7 State Support: Disabled

CPU Thermal Monitor: Disabled

CPU EIST Function: Disabled Isn't this the Speedstep setting, showing disabled here, but enabled in AIDA 64?

Virtualization Technology: Disabled

Bi-Directional PROCHOT: Enabled

Are you saying that even though my BIOS shows the Speedstep EIST entry, no matter what I select, Enabled or Disabled, that my processor won't allow me to turn off this feature? I just want to verify I understood you correctly Fiery. Thanks!

[Fiery]

EIST = Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology, so you have it disabled in the BIOS.

What I meant to say above is that even though the BIOS doesn't populate the ACPI tables, it leaves the EIST bit enabled in the processor. For EIST to work properly, you need to have the EIST bit enabled in the processor, and also populate the necessary ACPI tables. Without the ACPI tables the operating system (Windows) cannot know how to switch between performance states. In your case the ACPI entries are missing (I guess), but the processor EIST bit is still enabled. It means the processor could switch between EIST states, but without operating system support it will not. So it still means the EIST feature is not utilized, even though the processors "thinks" it is enabled.

[Sora]

Thanks for explaining this more in detail for me Fiery! Will ignore it then.