AMD Phenom II 1100t frequency problem

Hi all,

I've been watching the levels of my processor while gaming, or even sitting on the desktop for that matter, and my CPU seems to take a gigantic drop in MHz. I'm currently using AMD OverDrive to monitor it.

While sitting on the desktop my CPU (all cores) can go from 3300 MHz down to 800 MHz. While gaming, when the frequency drops this low, I notice the FPS drops. Otherwise, the game seems to run fine. This is even when the game shouldn't be lagging at all (barely any enemies on the screen, sitting in town, etc). It doesn't matter if I turn the settings to the absolute lowest possible settings and resolution available, this still happens. Once again, just sitting on the desktop seems to make my CPU MHz's drop as well.

I have Cool 'N Quiet turned off. My power options are set to High Performance with the min/max CPU settings set to 100%.

Could it just be hardware? I realize the system isn't new but I've had this problem for quite some time. Might just be time to invest the funds in to a new machine.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

R