How do I know what frequency my cpu is running?

[fxjr]

I'd like to have some menubar applet or maybe a dashboard applet which could show me this information.

I also can live for while with a commandline which shows me this as well.

I already tried sysctl -a but it seems to always report my max speed: 2.4

also, why menumeters detect my cpu as a 486 cpu?

Thanks in advance.

[solipsism]

Try iStat (http://www.islayer.com/). They have a MenuBar app, and two DashBoard Widgets to choose from. I find it to be much more refiend that MenuMeters and offer many extra features that I prefer since the last time I used MenuMeters.

One possible reason is that all x86 processors are often referred to as 486 processors. Check out Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80486) for some info.

2771

Note: My time and date in the MenuBar image is also from iStat. I prefer it much more over the OS X version.

[fxjr]

Hi, solipsism!

Thanks for the tip about istat. I use the dashboard istatpro, but I think the menubar version is much better! I will give it a try.

But unfortunately, istat doesn't say me at what frequency my processor is, does it? I didn't install it yet, but I'd like to see this. Maybe I can make a feature request about that? :)

Thanks in advance.

If you or anyone who reads this thread nows how to see what is the current frequency of my core2duo cores, please, let me know.

[solipsism]

If you want to know your process speed just access System Profiler. There is no need to list a static entry in iStat.

[cwtnospam]

What about "About this Mac" under the Apple menu?

[macosnoob]

fxjr seems to want to know about what's actually happening in the CPU. The processor speed of course varies over time. It's not running full out at 2.4GHz at every moment. As I understand it, Intel's SpeedStep technology shifts up and down to conserve power, reduce heat, etc., even on desktops.

Won't one of the Apple CHUD applications provide the frequency data? (Can't test it myself. Working on a machine today without Developer tools installed.)

[ataraxia]

"sysctl hw.cpufrequency" really doesn't change to match reality? (I'd test but I have no machine with a variable-speed CPU.) I know machdep.cpu.brand_string won't change because it's just the branding label.

[cornelius1]

If anyone is still looking for an answer to this question, you can use CoolBook to see the current frequency and voltage for free. Download it here:
http://www.coolbook.se

It also allows you to change the speed and voltage, but for that you need to pay $10.