Turbo Boost is proprietary Intel technology for automatic "overclocking" central processor computer. In this mode, the CPU clock speed exceeds rated performance, but only up to the “critical” level of heating temperature and power consumption limits.
Features of activating turbo mode on laptop PCs
Laptops can operate from two sources: mains power and batteries. When powered by a battery, the OS “tries” to reduce energy consumption to increase operating life (by default), including by reducing the clock frequency (CPU). Therefore, turning on turbo mode on a laptop has a number of features.
In older device BIOS models, there were options to enable and configure this mode. Nowadays, manufacturers are trying to minimize the possibility of user intervention in the operation of the CPU, and often this parameter is missing. There are two ways to activate the technology:
- Via interface operating system.
- Via BIOS.
How to enable Turbo Boost through the Windows interface
You can influence the turbo mode state by setting the required values in the “Minimum processor state” and “Maximum processor state” parameters in the current power consumption plan:
- In the next section, click on the “Change advanced power settings” link.
- In the drop-down list of the “Power Options” dialog we find the “CPU Power Management” item.
Activate turbo mode via BIOS
This option to enable Turbo Boost on a laptop is suitable for advanced users. It is based on resetting all settings in the BIOS to default values:
- Let's go to the BIOS.
- At the end of the menu we find the “Load Default” section.
- Reset all settings.
To monitor the state of the turbo mode, you can use Intel utility Turbo Boost Technology Monitor.
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Turbo Boost Technology
Processors Intel Core I5 and I7, in addition to the set rated frequency, can operate at a higher speed. This speed is achieved thanks to special Turbo Boost technology. When installing all drivers this technology turns on and works by default. However, if you have installed all the software and there is no acceleration observed, it is worth monitoring Turbo Boost.
Read also: ClockGen - an application for overclocking the system
What is Turbo Boost and how does it work?
Turbo Boost is a technology that is designed specifically for Intel Core I5 and I7 processors of the first three generations. It allows you to temporarily overclock the core frequency above the established nominal. Moreover, such overclocking is performed taking into account the current, voltage, temperature of the device and the state of the operating system itself, that is, it is safe. However, this increase in processor speed is temporary. It depends on the operating conditions, load type, number of cores and platform design. In addition, overclocking using Turbo Boost is only possible for Intel Core I5 and I7 processors of the first three generations. The full list of devices that support this technology is as follows:
It is also worth noting that Turbo Boost technology only works on operating Windows systems 7 and 8. Windows Vista, XP and 10 do not support this technology.
How to check if Turbo Boost is working?
In order to check whether Turbo Boost is enabled and working, the developers Intel released special utility"Turbo Boost Technology Monitor." The operation of this program is simple:
Turbo Boost.exe download for free:
Size: 23 MB | Downloaded: 2247 times | File type: exe | Version: 07/06/16
- Download the Setup.exe file and run it on your PC. Follow the instructions of the installer wizard.
- A new program window will open. Below is the nominal core frequency.
- If you turn on some program or even video in good quality, then we will see how Turbo Boost works.
If the technology does not work, but your processor supports it, you should enable it.
How to enable Turbo Boost?
There are two ways to enable Turbo Boost technology:
- Via BIOS;
- Through the Control Panel of the operating system.
In the first case, in the BIOS, in the “Load Default” section, you need to reset all settings. As for activating the mode through the Control Panel, to do this you should follow these steps:
- Click “Start”, “Control Panel” and select “Power Options”.
- In the new window, check the “Balanced mode” checkbox and click “Set up power plan.”
- In the next window, select “Change advanced power settings.”
- In the list we find the item “Processor power management”. For the minimum and maximum processor state, we set it to 100%.
- After restarting the computer, Turbo Boost mode will be activated.
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How to turn Turbo Boost on or off on Mac – News from Ukraine and the world
Almost everything modern computers Macs are equipped with processors that support Turbo Boost technology, which controls clock speed based on the operating system's request. She speeds up Mac work or PC, however, activating this function also increases battery consumption. Mac users have the option to activate Turbo Boost for more fast work computer or turn it off to save energy. A special application has been developed to control Turbo Boost mode, which is compatible with OS X El Capitan, but does not work with macOS Sierra. Using “Turbo Boost Switcher for OS X” requires a modern processor such as Intel Core i5 or Core i7. To control the operation of Turbo Boost, the utility will load and unload kernel extensions.
It's worth noting that "Turbo Boost Switcher for OS X" is intended for advanced users only. Due to the fact that the application makes changes to system core, before using it you must do backup copy data on the computer.
How to disable Turbo Boost on OS XStep 1: Go to rugarciap website and download Turbo Boost Switcher (free and paid version). To run the utility, you need to disable Gatekeeper in the “Protection and Security” section. Step 2: After you launch the application, a corresponding lightning bolt icon will appear in the top line. It opens a drop-down menu for managing the utility. Here you can disable Turbo Boost by selecting the “Disable Turbo Boost” item. Step 3: When prompted by the OS, enter the administrator password (this is required, since the program makes changes to the system kernel).
After turning off Turbo Boost, the operating system will recalculate the remaining time battery life. If you use heavy programs, you will probably notice a decrease in performance. It is recommended to disable Turbo Boost only if you need to extend the operating time of your computer away from a power outlet.
How to re-enable Turbo BoostTo return to the initial state go to the drop-down menu in the status bar and select "Enable Turbo Boost" and enter the password again. The kernel extension that blocks the feature will be removed. Does disabling Turbo Boost actually improve battery life on your MacBook? Depending on how you use your computer, Turbo Boost can significantly improve your Mac's battery life. But at the expense of overall computing power. In other words, if you turn off Turbo Boost, the laptop's battery life will increase, but the computer will run slower. Whether it's worth sacrificing performance depends on the situation. Sometimes battery life is more important than performance.
Tests "Turbo Boost Switcher" on MacBook Pro showed an increase in autonomy by about an hour. Some users are talking about more drastic changes. “Disabling Turbo Boost reduces CPU performance by about a third, but for non-resource-intensive tasks the difference is almost unnoticeable. MacBook Pro also heats up significantly less and runs 25% longer,” noted the author of the resource Marco.org.
Intel Core I5 and I7 processors, in addition to the established nominal frequency, can operate at higher speeds. This speed is achieved thanks to special Turbo Boost technology. When all drivers are installed, this technology is enabled and works by default. However, if you have installed all the software and there is no acceleration observed, it is worth monitoring Turbo Boost.
What is Turbo Boost and how does it work?
Turbo Boost is a technology that is designed specifically for Intel Core I5 and I7 processors of the first three generations. It allows you to temporarily overclock the core frequency above the established nominal. Moreover, such overclocking is performed taking into account the current, voltage, temperature of the device and the state of the operating system itself, that is, it is safe. However, this increase in processor speed is temporary. It depends on the operating conditions, load type, number of cores and platform design. In addition, overclocking using Turbo Boost is only possible for Intel Core I5 and I7 processors of the first three generations. The full list of devices that support this technology is as follows:
It is also worth noting that Turbo Boost technology only works on Windows 7 and 8 operating systems. Windows Vista, XP and 10 do not support this technology.
Introduction
I remember the computer I purchased back in 1998. He used Pentium processor II 233 on Intel Deschutes core from motherboard Asus board P2B. The system was fast, but I wanted to do something more interesting with it. And I started by installing a third-party cooler. Now I don’t remember exactly how much performance potential I was able to squeeze out, but I remember that it seemed insufficient to me. At some point, I opened the plastic cartridge of the slot processor and began experimenting with Peltier coolers to get even better cooling. In the end, I got a stable processor running at 400 MHz - at the same level as the most expensive models at the time, but significantly cheaper.
Of course, today overclocking gives a much more significant increase than 166 MHz. But the principles remain the same: take a processor running at stock clock speeds, and then squeeze the maximum out of it, trying to achieve the performance of high-end and more expensive models. With a little effort, you can very easily get a sub-$300 Core i7-920 to perform at the same level of performance as a $1,000 Core i7-975 Extreme without losing reliability.
What about automatic overclocking?
Overclocking in general has always been a tricky subject for AMD and Intel, who do not officially support the practice and also void the warranty if the CPU shows signs of tampering. However, in public, both manufacturers are trying to gain the trust of enthusiasts by offering overclocking utilities, supporting aggressive BIOS settings, and even selling processors with an unlocked multiplier. However, experienced users always knew that free cheese only happens in a mousetrap, so killing the CPU with too much voltage is an acceptable risk.
But with the advent of Turbo Boost technology in Intel Core i7 processors for LGA 1366 and the subsequent release of a more aggressive implementation with Core i5 and Core i7 processors for LGA 1156, Intel has implemented its own intelligent overclocking technology, taking into account several various factors: Voltage, current, temperature and operating system P-states associated with CPU load.
By monitoring all of these parameters, Intel's embedded management system can improve performance by increasing clock speed in situations where the processor's maximum thermal package (TDP) has not been reached. By turning off unused cores and thus reducing power consumption, the processor frees up more capacity for single-threaded workloads, a little less for two active threads, even less for three loaded cores, and so on. As a result, Intel's "auto overclocking" provides an elegant and consistent way to increase performance without exceeding the TDP of any processor in question (130W in the case of Intel processor Bloomfield and 95 W in the case of the Lynnfield processor).
Can you do better?
When we discovered that the Core i7-860 and -870 processors accelerated by an impressive 667 MHz in single-threaded applications, we began to ask ourselves whether an advanced user should overclock the processor themselves at the risk of ruining a good CPU, or should they just rely on dynamic Intel overclocking? No, we don't want to seem lazy. Let's hope that there really are tangible benefits for enthusiasts that provide better performance. But we still don't want to throw into oblivion the efforts Intel engineers made in trying to optimize Nehalem for balanced performance in single and multi-threaded applications.
We decided to do a small experiment: we took the Core i5-750 and Core i7-860 processors, overclocked each of them, and then compared the results of the two processors at standard frequencies with Turbo Boost technology active and with Turbo Boost technology disabled. Of course, we have Intel samples in our laboratory, but we cannot reliably consider them representative of retail models. So we bought both processors from Newegg, just to make sure they matched. We considered using a "boxed" Intel cooler, but in the end we figured that we would never get 4 GHz or higher unless we purchased a third-party cooler. Therefore, for testing we took the Thermalright MUX-120 model.
Getting ready for comparison
Processors
As already mentioned, in our experiment we used retail versions of the Core i5-750 and Core i7-860 processors - the two models that we think are of most interest to enthusiasts. The i5-750 is in the $200 price tier and can reliably run at 4GHz or higher, while the i7-860 is a $300 alternative with Hyper-Threading support, a base clock speed of 2.8GHz and an additional Turbo Boost stage with one active thread. .
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Why didn't we take Core processor i7-920? This is also a very interesting option, especially if you are planning to build a high-end gaming system and need additional lines PCI Express 2.0 that we have Intel chipset X58. But for about the same price as the Core i7-860, the i7-920 adds a third memory channel, loses 133 MHz of base clock speed, and provides a less aggressive Turbo Boost mode. In addition, purchasing a processor for LGA 1366 means purchasing an expensive Intel X58 motherboard. Lynnfield and P55 are more suitable for those enthusiasts who are interested in the optimal price/performance ratio of a new build.
Motherboard
Our choice of motherboard will puzzle some people, but we went with the Intel DP55KG for several reasons.
Let's start with the technical ones: we initially planned to use our motherboard Asus board Maximus III Formula. But after updating the board to the latest BIOS version, published on the company’s website, it stopped working stably with our retail CPU and Corsair Dominator memory kit. We were probably just unlucky, so we took the Gigabyte P55A-UD6 motherboard, which worked great with Turbo Boost enabled, but did not behave so well with Turbo Boost disabled. The tests were successful, but when launching applications and during Windows navigation it felt like this was not a powerful machine, but a Pentium II from ten years ago.
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Click on the picture to enlarge.
Therefore, in search simple solution, we switched to the Intel DP55KG motherboard, which performed well in latest testing of models on Intel P55. If so what motherboard and should have worked as intended, it was Intel's own enthusiast-oriented model. As expected, the Kingsburg motherboard coped with our task, so we continued testing.
Then we tried to eliminate bottlenecks. The ATI Radeon HD 5850 video card is perfect for budget-conscious enthusiasts, and the 160 GB solid state drive Second-generation Intel minimizes storage problems. Two 2GB Corsair DDR3-1600 Dominator GT DDR3-2200 8-8-8 modules allowed us to run at DDR3-1600 frequencies without any stability issues.
Test configuration
| Hardware | |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-860 (Lynnfield) 2.8 GHz, LGA 1156, 8 MB L3 cache, Hyper-Threading, power saving features enabled Intel Core i5-750 (Lynnfield) 2.66 GHz, LGA 1156, 8 MB L3 cache, power saving features enabled |
| motherboards | Intel DP55KG (LGA 1156) Intel P55 Express, BIOS 3878 |
| Memory | Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-2200 8-8-8-24 @ DDR3-1333 |
| HDD | Intel SSDSA2M160G2GC 160 GB SATA 3 Gb/s Intel SSDSA2MH080G1GN 80 GB SATA 3 Gb/s |
| Video card | ATI Radeon HD 5850 1 GB |
| power unit | Cooler Master UCP 1100 W |
| Cooler | Thermalright MUX-120 |
| System software and drivers | |
| operating system | Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64 |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Platform Driver | Intel INF Chipset Update Utility 9.1.1.1015 |
| Graphics driver | Catalyst 9.12 |
Tests and settings
| Audio encoding | |
| iTunes | Version: 9.0.2.25 (64-bit), Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min., Default format AAC |
| Video encoding | |
| TMPEG 4.7 | Version: 4.7.3.292, Import File: "Terminator II" SE DVD (5 Minutes), Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9 |
| DivX 6.8.5 | Encoding mode: Insane Quality, Enhanced Multi-Threading, Enabled using SSE4, Quarter-pixel search |
| XviD 1.2.2 | Display encoding status=off |
| Main Concept Reference 1.6.1 | MPEG2 to MPEG2 (H.264), MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG2), Audio: MPEG2 (44.1 KHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Mode: PAL (25 FPS), Profile: Tom's Hardware Settings for Qct-Core |
| HandBrake 0.9.4 | Version 0.9.4, convert first .vob file from The Last Samurai to .mp4, High Profile |
| Applications | |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 (64-bit) | Version: 2009 Service Pack 1, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV) |
| WinRAR 3.90 | Version 3.90 (64-bit), Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
| 7zip | Version 4.65, Built-in Benchmark |
| Adobe Photoshop CS4 | Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates filters |
| AVG Anti-Virus 9 | Virus scan of 334MB of compressed files |
| Synthetic tests and settings | |
| 3DMark Vantage | Version: 1.02, GPU and CPU scores |
| PCMark Vantage | Version: 1.00, System, Memories, TV and Movies, and Productivity benchmarks, Windows Media Player 10.00.00.3646 |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2010 | CPU Test=CPU Arithmetic/MultiMedia, Memory Test=Bandwidth Benchmark |
| 3D games | |
| Very High Quality Settings, No AA / No AF, 4xAA / No AF, vsync off, 1280x1024 / 1680x1050 / 1900x1200, DirectX 10, Patch 1.2.1, 64-bit executable | |
| High Quality Settings, No AA / No AF, 8xAA / 16xAF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 1920x1200 / 2560x1600, Tomshardware Demo, Steam Version | |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | Ultra High Settings, No AA / No AF, 4xAA / No AF, 1680x1050 / 1920x1200 / 2560x1600, The Gulag, 60 second sequence, Fraps |
Our first test results have already turned out to be very interesting. We observe that Turbo Boost technology provides minimal performance gains in the overall PCMark Vantage score. Meanwhile, overclocking leads to a significant gap between both processors. Turbo Boost was much more effective in the TV and Movies and Productivity tests, although overclocking provided even greater gains in both cases, as you'd expect.
Interestingly, Hyper-Threading technology provides a minimal advantage - this is what we see in all test runs of this package. Of course, this package relies on features built into Windows 7, so it's likely that the operating system's components aren't as optimized for Hyper-Threading as Microsoft would have us believe.
Turbo Boost technology has very little impact on the overall 3DMark Vantage results, but at least provides a noticeable advantage in the CPU test. In GPU tests, we do not see a noticeable impact. However, manual overclocking also has little effect in GPU tests. But this is not surprising. Both CPUs are fast enough that they won't bottleneck our single Radeon HD 5850, so we expect very little improvement in gaming performance after increasing the CPU clock speed.
This synthetic test gave a significant increase due to Hyper-Threading technology in the CPU run, which corresponds to the increase after manual overclocking, namely the quad-core i5-750 at 4 GHz is equal in performance to the i7-860 at standard clock frequencies with Turbo Boost. Well, it remains to be seen how well these results translate to real-world applications.
The most significant increase after overclocking is observed in the Dhrystone iSSE4.2 test, where Hyper-Threading has a weak effect. In the Whetstone iSSE3 test, we see that the 4 GHz Intel Core i5-750 cannot reach the Core i7-860, which runs at the standard 2.8 GHz.
Multimedia tests also show that Turbo Boost technology does not provide a significant increase, but we get an increase in performance after overclocking both CPUs to 4 GHz. Hyper-Threading plays a significant role in both test runs, which is also interesting since we expected Turbo Boost to have a more significant impact in real-world tests.
At standard clock speeds throughput memory remains almost unchanged when Turbo Boost is turned on or off. This is because Turbo Boost only affects the processor multiplier, leaving the base clock speed BCLK unchanged (and therefore the memory divider does not change).
But when we overclock the processors by increasing the base BCLK frequency (since our CPUs have a locked multiplier), the memory bandwidth also increases, as we can see from the results of the SiSoftware Sandra 2010 Bandwidth test.
We have updated our test package to latest version Apple iTunes (9.0.2.25), but the behavior of the program has not changed. It is still poorly optimized for multithreading, so Hyper-Threading technology only does harm in this case.
On the other hand, the load on just one core means that Turbo Boost significantly improves performance in iTunes. The same can be said about manual overclocking of both chips to 4 GHz. It's nice to see that theory is confirmed by practice.
Unfortunately, iTunes is an exception in our test suite, which is dominated by applications with good multithreading support. Let's see how they behave.
MainConcept can use as many threads as it has available. Even with Turbo Boost technology disabled, the Core i5-750 processor operates at a clock frequency of 2.66 GHz, and the i7-860 at 2.8 GHz. Although this test loads all four cores, it works within the thermal package and permissible temperature means we get one step (133 MHz) when Turbo Boost is enabled, which is why both processors perform better with this feature.
More than Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading gives the Core i7-860 a significant advantage over the i5-750 - good evidence that for multi-threaded applications, it really makes sense to pay extra for Hyper-Threading.
However, overclocking minimizes the difference between the two CPUs. At a frequency of 4 GHz, both processors cope with work significantly faster than at standard frequencies. Of course, with the Core i5 we see a more significant increase in percentage, since this processor does not receive multi-threaded acceleration at standard frequencies due to the lack of Hyper-Threading.
Let's move on to the results of the DivX codec, which is well optimized for multithreading, as well as the Xvid codec, which is not so well optimized.
As you might expect, the Xvid codec does not provide an advantage (in fact, it even loses) due to the active Hyper-Threading technology on the Core i7-860 compared to the Intel i5-750. However, Turbo Boost speeds up the execution of the task on both CPUs.
Interestingly, DivX doesn't benefit much from Hyper-Threading either, suggesting a four-thread limit. In our case, the Core i7-860 is only slightly faster. And both processors get a significant boost from overclocking - enough to say that manual overclocking is in the best possible way to speed up performance in multi-threaded applications, but you won’t get such a big boost from Turbo Boost.
HandBrake - new program in our test package. This free utility, which can benefit from multithreading support. In our test, we converted the first .vob file of the movie "The Last Samurai" to .mp4 format.
Since the utility supports multithreading, the Turbo Boost function has little effect. But, again, it is interesting to see that Hyper-Threading does not have the same serious effect as, for example, we saw in the SiSoftware Sandra or 3DMark Vantage packages. The real way The performance boost lies in manual overclocking - we get significant performance improvements by increasing the frequency of our test CPUs to 4 GHz.
Our Adobe Photoshop CS4 test consists of several multi-threaded filters applied to a .TIF image. Therefore, it is not surprising that Turbo Boost technology has minimal effect. Hyper-Threading also does not have a very noticeable effect.
But what really helps increase the performance of Photoshop CS4 is the clock speed. The Core i7-860 at 2.8 GHz performs slightly better than the Core i5-750 at 2.66 GHz, and Turbo Boost gives both processors 133 MHz. At 4 GHz, both processors demonstrate comparable results, which are much higher than those without overclocking.
We were puzzled by the behavior AVG antivirus 9, which no longer scales as well after upgrading from AVG 8.5. However, launching the task manager during the test clarifies the situation. When the scanner is running, it consumes, at best, 10% of the processor resources. We tested the antivirus on dual-processor chips and on Atom platforms - performance really slows down if you reduce the number of processing cores and lower the clock speed. However, the Core i5-750 and Core i7-860 perform at very similar levels, so we can say that their performance in AVG 9 is identical.
3ds Max 2010 benefits from both Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost technologies. Overclocking remains the best way to get maximum performance in this program. The Core i5-750 shows an advantage at 4GHz due to its 200MHz base BCLK clock, which is 10MHz higher than the i7-860's 190MHz at 4GHz.
This archiver is well optimized for multithreading (which cannot be said about Hyper-Threading support). WinRAR gives a minimal speed increase from Turbo Boost technology, since all four cores are active. Turning off Turbo Boost completely reduces the frequency of each CPU by 133 MHz at full load, so this technology still helps a little.
However, when both processors operate at 4 GHz, the performance is comparable (and significantly faster than at standard frequencies).
As you can see, the compression speed (in KB/s) scales proportionally not only to the clock speed, but also to the number of available cores. In fact, the 4GHz Core i5-750 can't even keep up with the 2.8GHz Core i7-860 with Turbo Boost disabled.
Since this archiver is well optimized for multithreading, Turbo Boost has little effect. Hyper-Threading adds a bit of performance, and overclocking again makes a big difference.
3D games
Crysis at all three tested resolutions shows negligible gains from Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading, or overclocking.
This game recently appeared in our test package. Unlike Crysis, which primarily loads the graphics subsystem, Left 4 Dead 2 scales more efficiently with processor performance (assuming you have a graphics card as powerful as our Radeon HD 5850, of course).
We see that the automatic 133 MHz boost due to Turbo Boost technology helps a little at low resolutions, but Hyper-Threading has no effect at all. Overclocking gives a noticeable increase in resolutions of 1680x1050 and 1920x1200. However, all these gains are no longer observed; it is worth turning on anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. As with Crysis, performance starts to level out whether your system is running a 2.66GHz Core i5-750 or a 4GHz Core i7-860.
We will not conduct a full set of gaming tests, since there is no point. In our third and final Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 playtest, we see that CPU performance Doesn't always match gaming performance. This popular game is not the best option for testing, but a 60-second run of Act II: The Gulag shows us that Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading, and even overclocking to 4 GHz do not result in increased frame rates.
Now comes too interesting point. If it were possible to configure all processors to run up to 4 GHz without changing all other variables, then our recommendations based on performance tests would already be obvious. Alas, this is not true.
The good news is that you can increase the voltage on each processor, increase their frequency to 4 GHz, and then get very modest power consumption in idle mode. Enhanced SpeedStep technology is implemented properly on the Intel DP55KG motherboard even when the base BCLK frequency is set to 200 or 190 MHz, that is, both of our test processors reset clock speeds without load. Of course, we see a slight increase in power consumption in both cases, but it is two or three watts, which can be ignored.
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Click on the picture to enlarge.
The PCMark Vantage run graph on an Intel Core i5-750 shows a completely different picture when the processor is running under load. You'll find three lines in the graph: the green one represents our run of the i5-750 with Turbo Boost completely disabled, the red one represents the power consumption with Turbo Boost active, and the blue one represents the platform power consumption when overclocking the processor to 4 GHz using the 200 MHz BCLK base frequency and voltage 1.45 V.
It is quite clear that turning on Turbo Boost leads to increased power consumption. But it is much lower than the overclocking and voltage increase required to keep our 2.66 GHz processor stable at 4 GHz.
Average power consumption without Turbo Boost was 115 W for the entire run. After enabling Turbo Boost, average power consumption increased to 120 W. After overclocking to 4 GHz, this increased to 156 W, and we still finished the test just 28 seconds faster.
Conclusion
In the end, our research into the benefits of Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading, and good old-fashioned overclocking gave us something to think about.
The first thing we learned is that Turbo Boost is most effective at improving the performance of applications that are poorly optimized for multi-threading. Today there are fewer and fewer such applications, but we still have a couple of programs that get a serious performance boost after turning on Turbo Boost. We also noticed a consistent small increase after enabling Turbo Boost, even in multi-threaded applications, which is associated with one step of acceleration at using four cores. Overall, the intelligent overclocking built into processors based on the Nehalem design gives Intel a competitive advantage over AMD and its own Core line 2 in applications such as iTunes, WinZip and Lame. Turbo Boost no longer impacts the performance of MainConcept, HandBrake, WinRAR and 7zip as much - efficiently written applications that can fully load quad-core processors due to their parallelism.
Hyper-Threading is even less useful, but, again, we can give a couple of examples where this technology shows itself well in real conditions. Video transcoding applications, for example, can use Hyper-Threading and can reduce task completion time. However, there are all reasons why we would recommend the Core i5-750. This processor costs almost $100 less than the Core i7-860, but still delivers virtually the same level of performance with minimal hit-off in properly optimized programs. Before us is, in a way, a modern version of the famous Celeron 300A, which worked reliably at 450 MHz.
The biggest victory still came from manual overclocking. Of course we appreciate new feature Turbo Boost in Core i5 and Core i7 processors, but it's important to emphasize that the benefit of this technology is most obvious in single-threaded applications (and that benefit is fading away as developers begin to take full advantage of modern multi-core architectures). If the load on the processors is full, then the advantage from Turbo Boost is no longer so significant. Meanwhile, the gain that overclocking gives manifests itself constantly, regardless of whether you launch iTunes or HandBrake. It's a great time to be an overclocking enthusiast, with affordable 45nm processors easily overclocking to 4GHz, and recently released 32nm processors reaching 4.5GHz and beyond.
Of course, there are some subtleties associated with changing the standard parameters. First, risk must be considered. Running a processor at 4 GHz with a voltage of 1.45 V is not so dangerous (even with air cooling), but if the processor burns out, you will not be able to replace it under warranty. Moreover, power consumption under load increases significantly if you increase the clock speed and voltage. Luckily, the motherboard we were using correctly reduced power consumption and clock speed when idle.
Finally, we should remind our readers that it doesn't make much sense for a gamer to invest in an expensive processor. Whether it's a $200 Core i5-750 or a $300 Core i7-860, you'll get the same frame rates at most resolutions unless you invest in a more expensive graphics card configuration.
Few owners of computers with i5 and i7 processors know that these “hearts” can briefly operate above their factory frequency, that is, faster.
This is achieved through special technology from Intel, which, if installed all correct drivers enabled and running by default. Let's check it out and look at this work - it will help us with this Turbo Boost technology monitor.
Table of contents:
Briefly about Turbo Boost technology
As you understand from the above, this technology allows you to overclock the processor frequency above the nominal value set at the factory for a short time. This happens absolutely safely, because voltage, current, temperature and even the state of the operating system are taken into account.
The duration of this acceleration depends on the operating conditions, type of workload, number of active cores, and platform design. Computer performance can increase very noticeably and significantly.
All this is wonderful, of course, but there is a small fly in the ointment - this technology does not support all processors, but only the first three generations of i5 and i7...
Read also on the website:
Checking the operation of Turbo Boost
The Turbo Boost technology monitor for older i5 and i7 processors has already been removed from the official resources of Intel, but the installer continues to “walk” on the Internet - I will provide a link to it at the end of the article.
Let's check Turbo work Boost or find out whether this technology is actually used on our computer?
Installing the monitor is quick and easy. We launch it and get such a widget on the computer screen. We poke at it right click mouse and select the size...
...you can also attach it here on top of all windows so that you can observe the operation of the technology, for example, when launching any computer programs.
The frequency of my processor set from the factory is 2.3 GHz. Just by moving the mouse and opening and closing several windows, I “caught” the moment of processor acceleration with my screenshot...
After making sure that everything was working as it should, I removed the Turbo Boost technology monitor, which I advise you to do as well.
Download Turbo Boost technology monitor
Hello.
Not long ago I “dealt” with the slow operation of one laptop (I note that the model was equipped with a modern Intel Core i7-7700HQ, i.e. quite a powerful thing) . As it turned out later, the reason why it slowed down in games was disabled Turbo Boost technology (is on modern processors, allows you to increase processor performance during load), and not updated drivers for the video card (those that were “installed” during the installation of Windows were used).
I think that many users of their devices face a similar problem (low performance). Actually, this article is just about what parameters can affect the performance of a laptop, how to check and change them...
The material is relevant for modern laptops with Intel Core i3, i5, i7 CPUs.
Power settings
The first thing I recommend doing is paying attention to the power supply. The fact is that the default settings on most laptops are set for "optimal" operation of the device (i.e., often aimed at saving energy so that the device can work longer from battery). At the same time, if the processor power supply is set to low, the function will be automatically disabled (which will seriously affect performance).
First, pay attention to the system tray: there should be a “battery” icon there. By clicking on it with the left mouse button, you can see a window in which there is a “performance” slider, move it to maximum.
To find out if Turbo Boost technology is being used your laptop, you need to install one of the special. utilities:
- There is a special on the official website. monitor to monitor processor performance (see screenshot below, left). If your CPU performance "jumps" above the dark blue mark (in the example below 2.5 GHz) - then Turbo Boost is supported. To test, start some game/watch a movie, etc.
- - in the main program window (CPU tab) pay attention to the parameter Core Speed(the frequency there will constantly change, but its maximum should reach the value that we saw in the CPU specification, in the Max Turbo Frequency column, i.e. 3.1 GHz or 3100 MHz, which is the same thing (see screenshot below and higher)).
Does Turbo Boost work on a laptop (clickable). Monitor from the Intel website and the utility (on the right) CPU-Z
Why Turbo Boost may not work(*if supported by your CPU):
- due to power settings (be sure to set the CPU power to 100%, see the first step in the article);
- missing drivers();
- the technology can be disabled in the BIOS/UEFI (see screenshot below, Turbo Mode).
Turbo Boost (UEFI) / Clickable
High temperature, overheating
Another fairly popular reason for decreased performance in laptops is overheating. The fact is that when the processor temperature reaches a certain point, it begins to reduce its performance (to lower the temperature). If the temperature continues to rise and reaches a critical point, the device turns off. Modern two-level protection (you may have already heard this term somewhere).
By the way, the critical processor temperature, upon reaching which the laptop will turn off, is indicated in the specification on the Intel website (see the “T junction” column).
In general, in general, it is highly undesirable for the processor temperature to exceed 70 C.
It is not uncommon for performance to deteriorate due to the fact that in addition to the game that the user launched (say), some third-party “heavy” applications are running on the laptop. It is not uncommon for users to catch mining viruses (which have become popular recently).
First, I recommend opening Task Manager (combination Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and sort applications by CPU load. It’s not uncommon for “unclear” processes to load the system (I'm not even talking about the fact that sometimes the CPU is loaded, but the dispatcher may not show what...).
To help!
Not optimal video driver and game graphics settings
Because Many people are most often dissatisfied with performance in games - this topic has been included in a separate subsection of the article.
Most users do not believe that just by setting the settings of the video driver and the game itself, you can significantly increase the number of . I note that sometimes FPS increases by 100% or more!
The first thing I recommend is optimizing your video driver settings. Those. set the highest performance and disable some “effects” (this can be done by going to the video driver settings and activating the advanced user mode).
I already have 3 articles on my blog on setting up video cards from Intel, AMD, nVidia. To avoid repetition here, here are the links:
- AMD - https://site/kak-uskorit-videokartu-amd-radeon.html
- nVidia-
- Intel HD -
In addition, pay attention to the graphics settings in the game itself. Particular attention to:
- resolution (the higher it is, the greater the load on the video card; when it decreases, the number of FPS increases);
- graphics quality;
- detailing;
- effects and shadows (if any).
To help!
Why do games slow down (even on powerful computer)? We eliminate lags and brakes -
Not an optimized system
And I can’t help but note in this article that you can slightly increase the performance of a laptop by Windows optimization. As a rule, it includes several stages:
- Disabling services: some of them are simply not needed by many, and they take up resources;
- Registry cleaning, removal junk files(over time, many people accumulate tens of gigabytes of junk files that affect performance);
- Disk Defragmenter(relevant for HDD, SSD does not need to be defragmented);
- Setting up Windows startup(it’s no secret that as new programs are installed, the system’s startup “expands”; moreover, you can use many startup software very rarely, and it will take up time every time you turn on the PC. Is it necessary?!);
- Updating old drivers;
- Enabling performance// in Windows settings
- Disabling indexing files on disk.
How to do all this (step by step and without the risks of “ruining” something) is described in this article:
That's all for now...
All the best!
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