Howto Turbo on a Intel CPU (i5/i7)
DC_Darkling
Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
* Turbo vs Overclock.
I always hear people on these forums scream 'Overclock' when a CPU is not up to the task. And this makes me cringe inside. A truly good OC takes a lot of work, and hours upon hours of testing. And I severely doubt many take the effort. That something runs with a OC CPU, does not mean the CPU runs well.. it just runs.
Turbo has none of these issues. Its quick to setup, requires almost no testing, and if it runs it will run actually good.
* So what is turbo?
A i7 for example can have 8 'cores' which it uses for threads. One core works on this thread, one on the other. A i7 can also put these cores in a sleep mode.
Now a sleeping or parked core produces far less heat. So a i7 with 7 sleeping & 1 active core produces far less heat then when all its cores run.
The result is that the remaining active core or cores get automatic overclocked.
So a 2.8Ghz cpu can get to 3 when it runs on 1 core.
* Additional info
Fully under warranty. As the total heat in the cpu, unlike with oc, does not exceed spec it is under warranty.
It does not exceed any spec, asuring all the calculations the cpu actually performs give out the correct answers. No testing needed except to see 'if its on'.
It parks cores fully automatic. So it decides, quite efficient, on its own if the max performce with turbo is done with 1 or more cores.
All cores which are active use the same speed.
Supported:
Intel® Core™ i7 Mobile and Desktop Processors
Intel® Core™ i7 Desktop Processor Extreme Edition
Intel® Core™ i7 Mobile Processor Extreme Edition
Intel® Core™ i5 Mobile and Desktop Processors
i7: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/corei7/sb/CS-032279.htm?wapkw=i7+turbo
i7 extreme: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/corei7ee/sb/CS-032277.htm?wapkw=i7+turbo
i5: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/corei5/sb/CS-032278.htm?wapkw=i5+turbo
* Setup
As your cpu needs to be able to park itself in its sleep mode, you have to enable the advanced C states in your bios. These can also be known as power saving options! Some bios also have a option for turbo mode which must also be set to on. Naturally you must use all cores in your bios and OS (windows).
If your motherboard/bios is of poor quality, you may not be able to set this option.
Naturally you need a cpu with turbo.
Also be sure that windows is in balanced mode. Remember, the system needs its power saving options set to ON to be able to power down the cores!
Intel stock coolers are notorious for not cooling enough to hit maximum performance. If you do not get the max speed shown in the links above & turbo is on, your cooling is not yet up to the task.
Overclocking with such a cooler would be a even worse choice! It is never EVER a good idea to OC a cpu which refuses to go into turbo for heat related issues!
And thats it for setup! All goes completely automatic from this point. If you know your way around a BIOS and have adequate cooling, turbo could be running withit the next few minutes.
* How to test
Install and run the turbo monitor:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3052&DwnldID=19105&lang=eng
Note that you can only use this on the supported CPUs!
I always hear people on these forums scream 'Overclock' when a CPU is not up to the task. And this makes me cringe inside. A truly good OC takes a lot of work, and hours upon hours of testing. And I severely doubt many take the effort. That something runs with a OC CPU, does not mean the CPU runs well.. it just runs.
Turbo has none of these issues. Its quick to setup, requires almost no testing, and if it runs it will run actually good.
* So what is turbo?
A i7 for example can have 8 'cores' which it uses for threads. One core works on this thread, one on the other. A i7 can also put these cores in a sleep mode.
Now a sleeping or parked core produces far less heat. So a i7 with 7 sleeping & 1 active core produces far less heat then when all its cores run.
The result is that the remaining active core or cores get automatic overclocked.
So a 2.8Ghz cpu can get to 3 when it runs on 1 core.
* Additional info
Fully under warranty. As the total heat in the cpu, unlike with oc, does not exceed spec it is under warranty.
It does not exceed any spec, asuring all the calculations the cpu actually performs give out the correct answers. No testing needed except to see 'if its on'.
It parks cores fully automatic. So it decides, quite efficient, on its own if the max performce with turbo is done with 1 or more cores.
All cores which are active use the same speed.
Supported:
Intel® Core™ i7 Mobile and Desktop Processors
Intel® Core™ i7 Desktop Processor Extreme Edition
Intel® Core™ i7 Mobile Processor Extreme Edition
Intel® Core™ i5 Mobile and Desktop Processors
i7: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/corei7/sb/CS-032279.htm?wapkw=i7+turbo
i7 extreme: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/corei7ee/sb/CS-032277.htm?wapkw=i7+turbo
i5: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/corei5/sb/CS-032278.htm?wapkw=i5+turbo
* Setup
As your cpu needs to be able to park itself in its sleep mode, you have to enable the advanced C states in your bios. These can also be known as power saving options! Some bios also have a option for turbo mode which must also be set to on. Naturally you must use all cores in your bios and OS (windows).
If your motherboard/bios is of poor quality, you may not be able to set this option.
Naturally you need a cpu with turbo.
Also be sure that windows is in balanced mode. Remember, the system needs its power saving options set to ON to be able to power down the cores!
Intel stock coolers are notorious for not cooling enough to hit maximum performance. If you do not get the max speed shown in the links above & turbo is on, your cooling is not yet up to the task.
Overclocking with such a cooler would be a even worse choice! It is never EVER a good idea to OC a cpu which refuses to go into turbo for heat related issues!
And thats it for setup! All goes completely automatic from this point. If you know your way around a BIOS and have adequate cooling, turbo could be running withit the next few minutes.
* How to test
Install and run the turbo monitor:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3052&DwnldID=19105&lang=eng
Note that you can only use this on the supported CPUs!
Comments
Also many folk set the power saving states of to 'increase performance', screwing themselves over due to turbo being off then.
Then there is the power balance & cooling question. But yes, there will be plenty of boards out there who do have it on.
So this is basicly for the folk who do not have it running.
- Turbo Boost = Changes max clockspeed depending on the number of cores under load (e.g. fewer cores = higher clock speed)
- SpeedStep = Downclocks the CPU when idle to save power
I'd also be surprised if any mobos made in the past few years didn't have these features enabled by default since they are core features of Intel CPUs. I also don't see how setting your power state to 'increase performance' would decrease one of the performance increasing features of modern Intel CPUs.
But the C states are very much needed on most motherboards.
No, I did not confuse turbo with speedstep.
Example: i5 2500k
Base freq: 3.3 Ghz
Max turbo freq: 3.7Ghz (and this is when only 1 core is used)
If 2 cores are used, the boost will be even lesser.
If all cores are used, no boost is provided.
This CPU can be easily clocked to 4.5Ghz (provided sufficient cooling) with ease.
OCing CPUs with unlocked multipliers is nothing like previous generation's CPUs.
If one is particularly lazy / fearful, most MoBo manufacturers provide overclocking tools to get the job done in 1 click.
You'll probably end up with higher than needed voltages, though, a manual OC is always preferred.
So, overclocking isn't as risky/hard as before and provides much greater advantages compared to Turbo Boost.
This is mainly for the few who do not have it running, or where it works poorly.
The monitor is just that, a monitor. Turbo reacts within a second, so if you go from fullscreen NS to the monitor, you have to be fast to see the result. Otherwise it will unpark the cores within that second and you will not notice.
Monitor is nice to see if it does hit maximum turbo, excluding cooling problems which can happen with standard intel stock coolers.
Yes, a true GOOD overclock will always produce better results. This is mainly info for the uninformed gamer, who does not dare to overclock and probably runs on a standard cooler.
Anyone else will basicly have few use of this topic, as is intended.