Interview: Franck Delattre / CPU-Z

[Easy Rhino]

Today we have an interview with one of the key figures in the hardware scene. Franck's CPU-Z and ClockGen applications are legendary and part of every overclocker's toolbox. He explains how he made first contact with computers and what made him write CPU-Z. Also he talks about current projects and his future.

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[Solaris17]

awsome great read

 

[Easy Rhino]

awsome great read

 

[spearman914]

 

[oli_ramsay]

 

[oli_ramsay]

Ooops, double post!

Gr8 read though!

 

[tkpenalty]

 

[Duxx]

 

[jezz]

que dire , vive la france, ca fait plaisir que des français compétent soit en avant, merci pour tout ce travail,



jezz.

 

[lemonadesoda]

These interviews are a great idea. Keep up the good work. Who is next on your list?

 

[ArkanHell]

Exellent. keep it coming.

 

[blobster21]

Franck is a bit like our national pride, you see

btw did you know that X86-secret.com was led by fellow french chaps ? that's another cutting edge cpu related ressource site living by the words "fighting marketing BS since 2001 !"

 

[panchoman]

nice interview easy rhino! i cant wait to see what you guys come up with for next month's interview!

 

[thoughtdisorder]

Excellent interview, learned lots I did not know about Franck previously!

Good job Rhino!

Sir Delattre

 

[newtekie1]

Great read, I love these interviews.

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

I absolutely love the new interviews! Keep them coming! It is interesting to see that my interests parallel some of these people you interview.

 

[Bundy]

That was great, thanks.

 

[Esse]

Thanks for the interview. Was a good read

 

[VroomBang]

It's great to get to know a little bit the person behind a program I use all the time and take for granted. Good man this franck and thanks rhino for this great insight!

Franck is 100% right about showing the cpu real clock as opposed to the nominal clock only. I'm interested in seeing the real value at all times, not what Intel wants me to see. I can understand some people might be surprised by a lower cpu clock under Speedstep, but it's just a question of knowing it only happens at idle. If you don't like it, you can always deactivate Speedstep (EIST) in your BIOS. Bear in mind Speestep saves energy mostly when the cpu is at idle, so your cpu's performance is not affected by it. If you run a bench for instance, you'll notice the cpu clock back to its nominal value in cpu-z.

It's nice to see that Franck doesn't crumble under Intel's pressure to show a permanent nominal clock. This just shows his commitment and integrity in delivering a monitoring product as accurate as possible. You have to admire that. Franck, you tell these big guys at Intel!
I think that showing both the nominal and the real clock is a good compromise to keep Intel and consumers happy while still being accurate.

Q: Would you say that CPU-Z helps companies like Intel and AMD?

Franck: CPU-Z helps them, unless it displays information that they do not want to show. The best example is Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology (EIST). Let's say you buy a CPU @ 3000 = 15x200. EIST reduces the clock speed at 1000 = 5x200 when idling.
Intel software will show 3000 MHz whatever. CPU-Z displays real time clock, so during idling, it displays 1000 MHz. Of course, this confuses a lot of people since they expect to see 3000MHz. So Intel asked me to always show 3000 MHz, at least besides the 1000 MHz.

Q: In this case they would always want CPU-Z to show 3000 MHz, just so people do not get confused? Do you agree with this?

Franck: No, because CPU-Z shows real clock, and real clock is sometimes 1000, sometimes 3000 MHz.