Firstly I do not overclock. My PC does not seem to be running as smooth or as fast as usual when carrying out various functions. It would appear that I am not getting the speed I should be on my Intel E6600 duo 2.4ghz CPU. I am NOT an expert on Pc's but I have quite a reasonable understanding. I have DrHardware installed and when carrying out benchmark tests on CPU/Memory all seems ok.However when I run the benmark test (sometimes locks up) Benchmark Multiprocessor I am getting a reading about a quarter of an Intel Core 2 duo 6300. Is there any simple way or program out there that will check to see that my duo E6600 is working 100%. Any assistnace/help would be greatly appreciated

To check the speed use, cpu-z. But id say its a case of "Intel speed step" which is a system which reduces your multiplier and cpu voltage to save energy and reduce heat. You can normally disable this in Bios, if you feel it is appropriate. 02coled C2D Quad Q6600 @"soon OC" 1:1 Ram : CPU 4gb Elipedia @ 850mhz EVGA 680i BFG 8800 GTS 512mb - in post! 680w Thermaltake Purepower 2 x 250gb Sata2 Vista Home Premium 32bit X

Sorry reading your post again, you could also use "Windows task manager" which can be found holding down ctrl, shirt and esc and then going to the performance tab, which shows cpu usage! C2D Quad Q6600 @"soon OC" 1:1 Ram : CPU 4gb Elipedia @ 850mhz EVGA 680i BFG 8800 GTS 512mb - in post! 680w Thermaltake Purepower 2 x 250gb Sata2 Vista Home Premium 32bit X

Thanks for that; but how can I tell that the cpu is working correctly and at the right speed

I see that you're running Vista...how much RAM do you have? "how can I tell that the cpu is working correctly and at the right speed" Like you were told...use CPU-Z. Download, unzip, then click on CPUZ.exe: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php My guess is there's nothing wrong with your CPU settings. It *may* be, as 02coled pointed out, that you have SpeedStep enabled, or your system may be bogged down with a bunch of garbage files and/or useless background apps. Try CCleaner. Download it, install & then run it to clear out all the accumulated garbage on your system (do NOT allow Yahoo toolbar to install): http://www.filehippo.com/download_c... Run MSCONFIG & disable unnecessary programs from loading at startup: http://netsquirrel.com/msconfig/msc...

I will come back with the results. I have 2048MB DDR Ram There is no real junk on the PC as I only reformatted it about 3 weeks ago; and regularly use CCleaner, have very little (3 items running in start up with msconfig).........and do not use yahoo or google toolbar. Just the basic internet explorer 7 one. I have just quickly run CPU-Z, not quite sure what I am looking at but on the CPU tab it confirms Intel Core Duo E6600 @2.4ghz And under Clocks (Core 0) Core Speed 1600.00 mhz Multiplier x6.0 Bus Speed 266.7 mhz Rated FSB 1066.7

"Core Speed 1600.00 mhz Multiplier x6.0 Bus Speed 266.7 mhz" There ya go. Your CPU isn't running at 2.4GHz, it's running at 1.6GHz. As 02coled suspected in response #1, it appears you have SpeedStep enabled, therefore your CPU is underclocking under light load. Go into the BIOS & disable it...you may also wanna manually set the multipler to 9.0x. And dial down your RAM to DDR533 while you're at it.