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I can see different values of CPU MHz here:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3110 @ 3.00GHz stepping : 6 cpu MHz : 2000.000

Model say 3GHz and cpu MHz say 2GHz but

dmesg | grep MHz


CPU0: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU
E3110 @ 3.00GHz stepping 06 CPU1: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3110 @ 3.00GHz stepping 06

Why there is 2GHz shown?

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2 Answers 2

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Your CPU and operating system are utilising Intel's SpeedStep technology. This allows the CPU to dynamically vary it's clock speed depending on load, etc.

The 3GHz you see is the maximum that your CPU is capable of and the 2GHz amount is what it is currently running at.

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What kernel are you on? there have been issues with reporting CPU speeds with some earlier versions - basically it's to do with CPU power management technologies - you may find you have some set in your BIOS.

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I'm using kernel-2.6.18-194.el5. Are there any issues prior this kernel version? –  skomak Oct 4 '10 at 9:52
Certainly if you google around you'll see people confused by the power management issues as shown by 2.6.20 and lower - either way Graeme has answered your question in the clearest way. –  Chopper3 Oct 4 '10 at 10:06

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