Unusual CPU Clock Behavior After BIOS Update with Intel Microcode 0x129 on ROG STRIX Z790-E

[Hakunai]

I recently updated my BIOS to version 1503 for my ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI II motherboard, which includes the new Intel microcode 0x129. I have an i9-13900K processor, so I wanted to ensure I updated as soon as it was released. However, I've noticed something unusual in HWiNFO: my clock speeds frequently drop to 800MHz and then rise back up to either 5500MHz or 4300MHz for the P and E cores, respectively (Note: It's not as noticeable when  polling period is at 2000ms, but at 20ms they move extremely quickly). This mainly happens when I'm performing light tasks on my PC or when the system is idle. This behavior didn't happen when I was using BIOS version 1202. Is this normal? It seems rather odd. 

 

I really only noticed this when I was looking at Argus Monitor where it will read my cores at 20ms

[Vatergascoigne]

Hello, I observed something similar.
However, I associated it with the latest Windows 11 update.
Although my energy saving plan is set to maximum performance, the clock frequencies go down to 2.9 Ghz on the P-Cores and 2.2 Ghz on the E-Cores.
This is definitely new behavior.

Have you found a solution or explanation for the problem?

13900k
Rog Strix z790 Gaming-F Wifi
RTX 4090 TUF OC
64GB G.Skill Trident

[gur_helios]

I'm experiencing the same behavior on my Apex Encore with Intel profiles (performance & extreme) activated.

There is something very weird going on with the new BIOS 1503. Rock-solid settings as I used them before with BIOS 1402 (and earlier) are not stable anymore now. Deactivating TVB or setting it on "Auto" also makes the system completely unstable. And so on and so forth... 🤔

ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Apex Encore, Intel Core i9-14900KS, G.Skill 2x 24GB (8400MHz)

[Vatergascoigne]

Does this behavior also occur when using the ASUS OC Profile?
Have you tried this?
What power plan do you use on Windows?

[gur_helios]

The power plan in Windows is "High performance".

I will check whether this strange behavior also occurs with the "ASUS OC profile" enabled and will give you a feedback.

[Vatergascoigne]

Thanks 👍

[gur_helios]

Hi Vatergascoigne

I just activated the "ASUS OC profile" without changing any other settings. The CPU core clock fluctuations of all cores are gone and do not be occuring anymore.

Anyway, the current BIOS 1503 has an odd behavior by comparison to their predecessors (BIOS 1402 and earlier).

Regards, Uwe

[Vatergascoigne]

Ich nehme an du bist Deutscher 😂

[gur_helios]

Schweizer 😁

[Vatergascoigne]

Freut mich 🙂

Unter dem ASUS OC Profile, takten sich die Kerne im Idle runter oder behalten sie ihre maximale Frequenz?