Intel turbo boost is needed. Turbo boost mode in the processor. What is Turbo Boost and how does it work

02.07.2020

When communicating with users, I began to notice that many do not understand at all what Turbo Boost is, what the purpose of turbo acceleration of processors is, and what gain can be gained from this. Also, many turbo acceleration is confused with hypertrading, although these are completely different technologies. Let me remind you that Turbo Boost technology was introduced with the release of the first generation of i3, i5, i7 processors, and Intel and the Xeon line of processors did not pass by. Hypertrading technology began to be implemented on Intel Xeon processors in November 2002, in the i3-i5-i7 with the release of the first generation of this line.

Turbo Boost Intel Processors

Turbo Boost- literal translation of turbo boost (turbo overclocking, turbo acceleration) - Intel's technology for automatically increasing the processor clock frequency above the nominal, if the limits of power, temperature and current as part of the calculated power (TDP) are not exceeded. This results in improved performance for single-threaded and multi-threaded applications. In fact, this is a technology for "self-overclocking" of the processor.

And it becomes completely unclear to me when beginners, and sometimes even experienced fans of overclocking processors, turn off this function in order to eventually increase the processor clock frequency, which will not give a significant increase. Turbo Boost technology is not dependent on the number of active cores, but is dependent on one or more cores operating below design power. System Turbo Boost time depends on workload, operating conditions, and platform design.

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology is usually enabled by default in one of the BIOS menus. As we know, overclocking the processor by increasing the processor clock frequency is possible only on motherboards with the "Z" chipset, but not all users know that it is possible to accelerate the performance on chipsets with the "B" index and others. In this case, of course, we do not have full control over the values, but to increase the processor multiplier, than to raise the lower threshold Turbo Boostwe are quite capable of it, which gives a tangible increase in the speed and responsiveness of the operating system itself, which is sometimes very useful. Since the upper value does not change, then you should not expect an increase in heavy miscalculations, renders, games, the time of these calculations will remain at the same level. I will give an example on my GA-B75-D3H motherboard and an i5 3570 processor, since the appearance and location of some BIOS tabs may differ depending on the model and manufacturer.

To increase the multiplier parameter, you need to go to the BIOS at boot time by pressing the "DEL" button.

Go to Advensed Frequency Settings

And change the multiplier parameter to the maximum, this parameter is individual for each processor model. The multiplier is changed using the Page UP and Page Down keys. For example, on my i5 3470 with operating frequencies of 3.4 - 3.8 GHz, the maximum allowable multiplier is 3.60 and I will say from personal experience increasing the frequency from 3.40 to 3.60 makes the OS noticeably more responsive and faster. Programs start faster, as well as the moments of thoughtfulness of the system disappear, but I repeat once again that this will hardly affect the rendering, FPS in games, since the maximum frequency and multiplier remains at the same level, in my case it is 3.80 GHz and 36.

To increase the impact on performance, you can go to Advanced CPU Core Settings and change the number of cores to the maximum. In my case, these are 4 cores. This parameter disables the power saving mode and all cores will always be used for operation, in the "Auto" mode the number and load on the cores are selected automatically and for some tasks only 1 or 2 cores can be used and only at maximum loads distribute the flow to all cores.

I would like to note that this way of increasing the speed is absolutely safe for the processor and other components of your PC, which I consider to be the most important fact.

Intel processor hypertrading

Hyper-threading- hyper-threading, official name - hyper-threading technology, HTT or HT- technology developed by the company Intel for processors on the NetBurst microarchitecture. HTT implements the idea of "simultaneous multithreading" (eng. simultaneous multithreading, SMT). HTT is a development of super-threading technology (eng. super-threading), which appeared in processors Intel Xeon in February 2002 and in November 2002 added to processors Pentium 4... Once HTT is enabled, one physical processor (one physical core) is identified by the operating system as two separate processors (two logical cores). For certain workloads, using HTT can improve processor performance. The essence of the technology: transfer of "useful work" to idle executive devices.

HTT is not implemented in series processors Core 2("Core 2 Duo", "Core 2 Quad").

In processors Core i3, Core i7 and some Core i5 a technology similar in its principles was implemented, which retained the name hyper-threading... When the technology is enabled, each physical processor core is defined by the operating system as two logical cores.

It is worth noting that not all models of intel i3, i5, i7 and Xeon processors are equipped with this multi-threading technology, read the specifications carefully before buying so that it does not come as a surprise to you.

Processor supporting technology hyper-threading:

can store the state of two threads at once;
contains one set of registers and one interrupt controller (APIC) for each logical processor.

To the operating system, it looks like there are two logical processors. Each logical processor has its own set of registers and an interrupt controller (APIC). The rest of the physical processor elements are common to all logical processors.

Let's look at an example. The physical processor executes the instruction stream of the first logical processor. The execution of the command stream is suspended for one of the following reasons:

there was a miss when accessing the processor cache;
branch misprediction performed;
the result of the previous instruction is expected.

The physical processor will not be idle, but will transfer control to the command flow of the second logical processor. Thus, while one logical processor is waiting, for example, data from memory, the computing resources of the physical processor will be used by the second logical processor.

Unfortunately, Hypertrading gives an increase in the performance of far from all tasks. So in some games, disabling this function will not affect the FPS in any way. When performing heavy miscalculations, such as 3D rendering, video editing, video conversion and the like, the increase will be very significant. This is why Intel Xeon processors with hypertrading support are installed on Mac PRO computers, as this is the best option for work to get the best performance. But in games, these processors show far from such a brilliant result, but as you know, the Mac PRO is the original workhorse and it is not particularly calculated for toys during development, for games you can use an iMac or MacBook.

I hope I managed to convey to you that something useful and now you will not confuse these technologies. Good luck!

Modern central processing units are able to adjust their own power depending on the load. They don't have to run at maximum frequency when idle or when performing undemanding tasks. For all other cases, most CPUs have Turbo Boost technology. Let's talk about how to enable Turbo Boost and if it can be done.

Turbo Boost is the official name for the technology for increasing the processor speed from Intel. AMD products have a similar option, but they are called a little differently. In both cases, the technology is used for the same purpose.

You probably paid attention to the characteristics of the CPU, which indicate a frequency range, not a single value. At the rated frequency, the processor operates in standard mode. If the user increases the load, then Turbo Boost automatically increases the performance. The maximum limit is the upper value of the range.

Turbo Boost is designed to be within specifications for heat dissipation and power consumption. These values can only be overcome by self-overclocking.

So, you have completed a number of demanding tasks (editing or rendering, "heavy" game, etc.), and then returned to the desktop, office applications, browsers. As a result, the processor turns off overclocking and returns to nominal values. The procedure is repeated if necessary. Turbo Boost can increase performance both per core and the processor as a whole. You will not be able to manage this mode on your own. It is up to the user to either activate Turbo Boost, or turn it off completely. In the latter case, the processor will run at the base frequency, and you will experience a decrease in performance.

You can only enable or disable automatic overclocking using the system BIOS menu. If under any circumstances this function has been deactivated, then you need to do the following:

Restart your computer and press the BIOS entry key during the initial startup phase.
In the main settings section, find the Intel Turbo Boost item and put the Enabled value in front of it.
Restart your computer using the F10 key.

If you do not find this item, then you can simply reset the BIOS parameters. Turbo Boost always works by default, so factory settings will restore this feature. Go to the Exit tab and select Load Setup Defaults.

Automatic overclocking of the processor under load can be limited by the settings of the operating system. The parameter we need is in the control panel:

Go to the "Power supply" section and open additional options for the current mode.
Find "Processor Power Management" in the list.
In the items of the minimum and maximum state, indicate 100%.
Save your changes and restart your computer.

You can find information about your processor on the manufacturer's official website or in one of the online stores. You can also check for automatic overclocking yourself. To do this, install the application and run it. Information about the processor will appear in the main window. The Specification line indicates the base frequency of this CPU. Now launch any demanding application and look at the Core Speed item. With Turbo Boost active, this should be above the rated frequency.

Video instruction

With the help of the video, you can get even more useful information about automatic overclocking of processors. Be sure to watch the video if you are interested in this topic!

Conclusion

So, by default, Turbo Boost runs constantly and is activated when the load increases. You can prevent it from working through the BIOS or Windows power settings. Therefore, the inclusion of technology is carried out by the same methods.

Write in the comments about your experience with Turbo Boost. If necessary, we will answer all additional questions!

Turbo Boost is Intel's proprietary technology for automatically "overclocking" your computer's CPU. In this mode, the CPU clock frequency exceeds the nominal performance indicators, but only up to the "critical" level of the heating temperature and power consumption limits.

Features of activating turbo mode on laptop PCs

Laptops can be operated from two sources: mains power and batteries. When running on battery power, the OS “tries” to reduce power consumption to extend the operating life (by default), including by reducing the clock frequency (CPU). Therefore, the inclusion of turbo mode on a laptop has a number of features.

In older models, the BIOS of devices had options to enable and configure this mode. Now manufacturers are trying to minimize the possibility of user intervention in the CPU, and often this parameter is missing. There are two ways to activate the technology:

Through the operating system interface.
Via BIOS.

How to enable Turbo Boost through the Windows interface

You can influence the state of the turbo mode by setting the desired values in the parameters "Minimum processor state" and "Maximum processor state" in the current energy consumption plan:

In the next section, follow the link "Change advanced power settings".
In the drop-down list of the "Power supply" dialog, we find the item "CPU power management".

We activate turbo mode through BIOS

This option for enabling Turbo Boost on a laptop is suitable for advanced users. It is based on resetting all settings in BIOS to default values:

Go to BIOS.
At the end of the menu, we find the "Load Default" section.
We reset all settings.

You can use the Intel Turbo Boost Technology Monitor utility to monitor the turbo status.

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Turbo Boost Technology

Intel Core I5 and I7 processors, in addition to the specified nominal frequency, can operate at higher speeds. This speed is achieved thanks to the 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 you are not seeing any acceleration, it is worth monitoring Turbo Boost.

Read also: ClockGen - system overclocking application

What is Turbo Boost and how does it work?

Turbo Boost is a technology specifically designed for the first three generations of Intel Core I5 and I7 processors. It allows you to temporarily overclock the core frequency above the specified nominal. Moreover, such overclocking is performed taking into account the current strength, voltage, device temperature and the state of the operating system itself, that is, it is safe. However, such an increase in processor speed is temporary. It depends on operating conditions, type of load, number of cores, and platform design. In addition, overclocking with Turbo Boost is only possible for the first three generations of Intel Core I5 and I7 processors. A complete list of devices that support this technology is as follows:

It is also worth noting that Turbo Boost technology works only on Windows 7 and 8 operating systems. Windows Vista, XP and 10 do not support this technology.

How to check if Turbo Boost is working?

In order to check if Turbo Boost is enabled and working, Intel developers have released a special utility called "Monitor Turbo Boost Technology". The operation of this program is simple:

Turbo Boost.exe free download:

Size: 23 MB | Downloaded: 2247 times | File type: exe | Version: 07/06/16

Download the Setup.exe file and run it on your PC. We 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 a video in good quality, we will see how Turbo Boost works.

If the technology does not work, but your processor supports it, you should enable it.

How do I enable Turbo Boost?

There are two ways to enable Turbo Boost:

Via BIOS;
Through the Control Panel of the operating system.

In the first case, in the BIOS, in the "Load Default" section, you must reset all settings. As for activating the mode through the Control Panel, for this it is worth performing the following steps:

Click "Start", "Control Panel" and select "Power Supply".

In the new window, put a checkmark "Balanced mode" and click "Configure 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 state of the processor, set 100%.

After restarting your computer, Turbo Boost will be activated.

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How to enable or disable Turbo Boost on Mac - News from Ukraine and the world

Nearly all modern Mac computers are equipped with processors that support Turbo Boost technology, which controls the clock speed as requested by the operating system. It speeds up your Mac or PC, but activating this feature also increases the drain on your battery. Mac users have the option to enable Turbo Boost to speed up their computer, or turn it off to save power. Turbo Boost is controlled by an application that is compatible with OS X El Capitan but does not work with macOS Sierra. Turbo Boost Switcher for OS X requires a modern Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor. To control Turbo Boost, the utility will load and unload kernel extensions.

It should be noted that Turbo Boost Switcher for OS X is intended for advanced users only. Due to the fact that the application makes changes to the system kernel, before using it, you must make a backup copy of the data on the computer.

How to disable Turbo Boost on OS X Step 1: Go to rugarciap website and download Turbo Boost Switcher (free and paid versions available). To run the utility, you must disable the Gatekeeper in the Security and Safety section. Step 2: After you launch the application, a corresponding lightning bolt icon will appear on 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 you disable Turbo Boost, the operating system will recalculate the remaining battery life. If you are using heavy programs, then you will surely notice a decrease in performance. It is recommended that you disable Turbo Boost only when you need to extend the operating time of your computer away from a wall outlet.

How to Re-enable Turbo Boost To reset, go to the drop-down menu in the status bar and select “Enable Turbo Boost” and re-enter your password. The kernel extension that is blocking the feature will be removed. Does disabling Turbo Boost really improve the battery life of your MacBook? Depending on how you use your computer, Turbo Boost can significantly improve the autonomy of your Mac. But at the expense of the overall processing power. In other words, if you disable Turbo Boost, the autonomy of the laptop will increase, but the computer will run slower. Whether it is worth sacrificing performance depends on the situation. Sometimes battery life is more important than performance.

"Turbo Boost Switcher" tests on the MacBook Pro showed an increase in autonomy of 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 imperceptible. MacBook Pro also heats up significantly less and runs 25% longer, "- noted the author of the resource Marco.org.

As practice shows, every user at least once faced the problem of low performance ("slowdown") of the device. In this article we will tell you about Turbo Boost technology - what it is, what it is for. We are sure that many have heard about it, but they are unlikely to be able to accurately answer these questions.

Appointment

Turbo Boost technology (from the English. "Vortex") increases the performance of the laptop by automatically increasing the clock frequency of the processor (cores) at a time of high load. At the same time, the rated indicators of power, temperature and current strength do not exceed the "critical level". Designed by Intel for Core I5, I7 processors.

Important. If you have a modern device with an Intel Core i5, i7 central processor, then the “smart overclocking” technology is most likely supported by the processor, but not activated. After installing the drivers and making the settings, the mode works by default.

Features of activating turbo boost on a laptop

The mobility of the laptop is ensured by the possibility of being powered by a rechargeable battery. At the same time, the system compensates for the time of continuing the autonomous use of the device by reducing its own consumption of resources. One of them is lowering the processor clock speed.

In previous BIOS versions, the user was given the opportunity to launch this mode, make settings on his own. In modern devices, the manufacturer tries to limit any interference with the processor as much as possible, so this is not provided. The mode is activated as follows:

Enabling Turbo Boost through the Windows interface

Here is the algorithm:

Open "Control Panel" - "Power Supply". We select (put a daw) in front of the High Performance Power Scheme. If there is no such parameter in the first window, then open the scheme settings (see figure)
The next section. Follow the link to "Change advanced power settings"
The "Power supply" window opens, look for "Processor power management".
To enable Turbo mode, you need to: put 100% opposite the Minimum and maximum processor state from battery and network. With a decrease in this indicator - the mode will automatically turn off the OS.

Important. Many manufacturers (Lenovo, Sony, etc.) supply their own power managers in the set of drivers for the device.

We activate turbo mode through BIOS

This method of enabling the mode on the device is recommended for advanced users who do not need to describe in detail how to enter the BIOS. Its main purpose is to reset all settings to factory defaults.

We enter the BIOS.
Below we are looking for the "Load Default" subsection.
We reset all settings to their default values.

Checking the operation of the mode

Intel has developed the Turbo Boost Technology Monitor program to test the operation of the mode. It can be downloaded for free from the manufacturer's website. It is not "heavy" only 23 WW. Installation and operation will not be particularly difficult, even for an unprepared user. Procedure:

We click on the exe file on the laptop, follow the instructions of the installation wizard.
After complete installation, the program dialog box opens. The nominal frequency of the processor is indicated at the bottom of the window.
You can see the Turbo Boost mode in operation if you enable video streaming or start the game.
If the mode is not enabled, then follow the instructions described above.

If you have any questions, doubts or suggestions, please write in the comments. We will be happy to answer everything, take into account your wishes, dispel doubts. Good work.

Introduction

I remember a computer I bought back in 1998. He used a Pentium II 233 processor on an Intel Deschutes core with an Asus P2B motherboard. 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 what kind of performance potential I was able to squeeze out, but I remember that it seemed to me insufficient. At some point, I opened the plastic cartridge of the slot processor and started experimenting with Peltier coolers to get even better cooling. In the end, I got a stable processor at 400 MHz - on the same level as the most expensive models at the time, but significantly cheaper.

Of course, overclocking today gives a much more significant boost than 166 MHz. But the principles remain the same: take a processor running at the nominal 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, it is quite easy to get the $ 300 Core i7-920 to run at the performance level of the $ 1,000 Core i7-975 Extreme without compromising reliability.

How about automatic overclocking?

Overclocking in general has always been a difficult issue for AMD and Intel, which did not officially support this practice, and also voided the warranty if the CPU showed signs of tampering. However, in public, both manufacturers are trying to win the trust of enthusiasts by offering overclocking utilities, supporting aggressive BIOS settings, and even selling processors with an unlocked multiplier. However, experienced users have always known that free cheese is only in a mousetrap, so killing the CPU with too much voltage is an acceptable risk.

But with the advent of Turbo Boost technology for 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 implemented its own intelligent overclocking technology, which takes into account several different factors: voltage, amperage, temperature, and Operating system p-states related to CPU load.

By tracking all of these parameters, Intel Embedded Management can improve performance by increasing the 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 potential for single-threaded loads, slightly less for two active threads, even less for three loaded cores, and so on. As a result, Intel's "auto-overclocking" is an elegant and consistent way to maximize performance without exceeding the TDP for any processor in question (130W for the Intel Bloomfield processor and 95W for the Lynnfield processor).

Can you do better?

When we found that the Core i7-860 and -870 processors accelerated to an impressive 667 MHz in single-threaded applications, we began to ask ourselves the question: should the advanced user independently overclock the processor, at the risk of ruining a good CPU, or can they just rely on Intel dynamic overclocking. ? No, we don't want to seem lazy. Hopefully, there are tangible benefits for the enthusiast that provide better performance. But we still do not want to consign to oblivion the efforts of Intel engineers in their attempts to optimize Nehalem for balanced performance in single and multi-threaded applications.

We decided on 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 the nominal frequencies with the active and disabled Turbo Boost technology. Of course, there are Intel samples in our laboratory, but we cannot reliably consider them to be representative of retail models. So we bought both processors from Newegg just to make sure they match. We considered using a "boxed" Intel cooler, but in the end we decided that we would never get 4 GHz or more if we did not purchase a third-party cooler. Therefore, for the tests we took the Thermalright MUX-120 model.

Preparing for comparison

Processors

As already mentioned, we used retail versions of the Core i5-750 and Core i7-860 processors in our experiment - two models, in our opinion, are the most interesting for enthusiasts. The i5-750 is priced at $ 200 and can run reliably at 4 GHz or higher, while the i7-860 is a $ 300 alternative with Hyper-Threading support, 2.8 GHz base clock speed and optional Turbo Boost step with one active thread. ...

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Why didn't we take the Core i7-920 processor? This is also a very interesting option, especially if you are planning to build a high-end gaming system and you need the additional PCI Express 2.0 lanes that the Intel X58 chipset has. 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 offers a less aggressive Turbo Boost mode. Besides, buying a processor for LGA 1366 means purchasing an expensive motherboard based on Intel X58. The Lynnfield and P55 are more suited to those enthusiasts who are interested in the optimal price / performance ratio of a new build.

Motherboard

Our choice of motherboard will confuse some users, but we chose the Intel DP55KG for several reasons.

Let's start with the technical ones: we originally planned to use our Asus Maximus III Formula motherboard. 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 out of luck, so we went with the Gigabyte P55A-UD6 motherboard, which worked fine with Turbo Boost enabled, but didn't do as well with Turbo Boost disabled. The tests were successful, but when launching applications and while navigating Windows, it felt like we were not looking at a powerful machine, but a Pentium II from ten years ago.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Therefore, in search of a simple solution, we switched to the Intel DP55KG motherboard, which performed well in the last tested models on Intel P55... If any motherboard was supposed to work as expected, it is Intel's own enthusiast model. As you might expect, the Kingsburg motherboard coped with our task, so we continued our tests.

Then we tried to eliminate bottlenecks. The ATI Radeon HD 5850 graphics card is perfect for the budget enthusiast, while Intel's second generation 160GB SSD minimizes storage problems. Two 2GB Corsair DDR3-1600 Dominator GT DDR3-2200 8-8-8 modules allowed us to run at DDR3-1600 without any stability issues.

Test configuration

Hardware
CPU	Intel Core i7-860 (Lynnfield) 2.8GHz, LGA 1156, 8MB L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading, Power Saver Enabled Intel Core i5-750 (Lynnfield) 2.66 GHz, LGA 1156, 8MB 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 160GB SATA 3Gb / s Intel SSDSA2MH080G1GN 80GB SATA 3Gb / s
Video card	ATI Radeon HD 5850 1 GB
Power Supply	Cooler Master UCP 1100W
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
MainConcept 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 quite interesting. We observe that the Turbo Boost technology provides the smallest performance gain in the overall PCMark Vantage score. Meanwhile, overclocking leads to a significant gap between both processors. Turbo Boost proved to be much more effective in the TV and Movies and Productivity tests, although overclocking is even more beneficial in both cases, as you might expect.

Interestingly, the Hyper-Threading technology gives a minimal advantage - we can see this in all test runs of this package. Of course, this package relies on features built into Windows 7, so it is likely that the operating system components are not as well optimized for Hyper-Threading as Microsoft is trying to lead us to believe.

Turbo Boost has very little effect on the overall 3DMark Vantage results, but at least gives a noticeable advantage in the CPU benchmark. In GPU benchmarks, we don't see any noticeable effect. However, manual overclocking in GPU tests is also weak. But this is not surprising. Both CPUs are fast enough not to be a bottleneck for our single Radeon HD 5850, so we expect very little performance gain in games after increasing the CPU clock speed.

This synthetic test gave a significant increase due to the 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 the nominal clock speeds with Turbo Boost. Well, it remains to be seen how well these results will match real-world applications.

The most significant gain 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 running at the stock 2.8 GHz.

Multimedia tests also show that the Turbo Boost technology does not give a significant increase, but we get an increase in performance after overclocking both CPUs to 4 GHz. Hyper-Threading plays an important role in both test runs, which is also interesting since we assumed that Turbo Boost would have a more significant impact in real-life tests.

At stock clock speeds, the memory bandwidth remains almost unchanged when Turbo Boost is enabled or disabled. This is because Turbo Boost only affects the processor multiplier, leaving the base BCLK clock rate unchanged (hence the memory divider does not change).

But when we overclock the processors by increasing the BCLK base frequency (since our CPUs have a locked multiplier), the memory bandwidth also increases, as we can see from the SiSoftware Sandra 2010 Bandwidth benchmark.

We have updated our test suite to the latest version of Apple iTunes (9.0.2.25), but the program's behavior has not changed. It is still poorly optimized for multithreading, so Hyper-Threading only hurts in this case.

On the other hand, the load on just one core leads to the fact 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 available. Even with Turbo Boost disabled, the Core i5-750 runs at 2.66GG, while the i7-860 runs at 2.8GHz. Although this test loads all four cores, working within the thermal package and allowable temperature means that we get one step (133 MHz) when Turbo Boost is enabled, which is why both processors perform better with this function.

More than Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading gives the Core i7-860 a significant advantage over the i5-750 - a good indication 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 4 GHz, both processors cope with work much faster than at the nominal frequencies. Of course, in the Core i5 we see a more significant increase in percentage, since this processor does not receive multi-threaded acceleration at nominal 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, and the Xvid codec, which is not so well optimized.

As you might expect, the Xvid codec does not give an advantage (and in fact 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 task execution on both CPUs.

Interestingly, DivX does not benefit too much from Hyper-Threading either, which suggests a four-thread limitation. 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 the best way to speed up performance in multi-threaded applications, and you won't get that much boost from Turbo Boost.

HandBrake is a new program in our test suite. This is a free utility that can benefit from multithreading support. In our test, we converted the first .vob file of The Last Samurai to .mp4 format.

Since the utility is multithreading, Turbo Boost 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 to increase performance is through manual overclocking - we get a significant performance improvement by boosting our test CPUs to 4 GHz.

Our Adobe Photoshop CS4 test consists of several multithreaded filters applied to the image. TIF. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Turbo Boost has minimal effect. Hyper-Threading does not have a very noticeable effect either.

But what really helps to 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, while Turbo Boost gives 133 MHz to both processors. At 4 GHz, both processors demonstrate comparable results, which are much higher than those without overclocking.

We were puzzled by the behavior of AVG 9, which doesn't scale 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's resources. We ran antivirus tests 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 a very similar level, 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 the best performance out of this program. The Core i5-750 has a 4GHz advantage due to the 200MHz BCLK base clock, which is 10MHz higher than the 190MHz of the 4GHz i7-860.

This archiver is well optimized for multithreading (which cannot be said about Hyper-Threading support). WinRAR provides the minimum speed boost from Turbo Boost technology, since all four cores are active. Turning Turbo Boost off completely lowers 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 much faster than at the nominal frequencies).

As you can see, the compression speed (in KB / s) is scaled in proportion not only to the clock speed, but also to the number of available cores. In fact, the 4 GHz Core i5-750 can't even reach the 2.8 GHz 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 is again a major win.

3D games

Crysis in all three tested resolutions shows negligible gains from Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading or overclocking.

This game appeared in our test suite recently. Unlike Crysis, which mainly loads the graphics subsystem, Left 4 Dead 2 scales more efficiently depending on processor performance (of course, if you have a graphics card as powerful as our Radeon HD 5850).

We see that the automatic 133 MHz boost due to the Turbo Boost technology helps a little at low resolutions, but Hyper-Threading has no effect at all. Overclocking gives a noticeable boost at 1680x1050 and 1920x1200. However, all these gains are no longer observed, you should enable anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. As with Crysis, performance is starting to level out whether your system is running a 2.66 GHz Core i5-750 or a 4 GHz 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 gaming benchmark, we see that CPU performance doesn't always match gaming performance. This popular game is not the best choice 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 increase the frame rate.

Now comes an interesting point too. If it was possible to tune all processors to work up to 4 GHz without changing all other variables, then our recommendations based on performance tests would already be obvious. Alas, this is not the case.

The good news is that you can raise the voltage on each processor, increase their frequency to 4 GHz, and then get quite modest power consumption in idle mode. Enhanced SpeedStep is properly implemented on the Intel DP55KG motherboard even when the BCLK base clock is set to 200 or 190 MHz, which means both of our test processors dropped 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.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

The PCMark Vantage run graph on an Intel Core i5-750 reveals a completely different picture when the processor is running under load. You will find three lines in the graph: the green represents our i5-750 run with Turbo Boost disabled completely, the red represents the power consumption with the Turbo Boost technology active, and the blue represents the platform power consumption when the processor is overclocked to 4 GHz using the 200 MHz BCLK base frequency and voltage 1.45 V.

It is quite understandable that enabling Turbo Boost results in higher power consumption. But it is much lower than the overclocking and voltage boost required for the stable operation of our 2.66GHz processor at 4GHz.

Average power consumption without Turbo Boost technology was 115W for the entire run. After turning on Turbo Boost, the average power consumption increased to 120 watts. After overclocking to 4 GHz, it increased to 156 watts, and at the same time we finished the test just 28 seconds faster.

Conclusion

In the end, our exploration of the benefits of Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading, and good old-fashioned overclocking gave us some food for thought.

The first thing we learned was that Turbo Boost is most effective at improving the performance of applications that are poorly optimized for multithreading. Today, there are fewer and fewer such applications, but we still have a couple of programs that get significant performance gains after enabling Turbo Boost. We also noticed a constant small increase after turning on Turbo Boost, even in multi-threaded applications, which is associated with one acceleration step when using four cores. In general, the smart overclocking built into the Nehalem-based processors gives Intel a competitive edge over AMD and its own Core 2 lineup in applications such as iTunes, WinZip, and Lame. Turbo Boost no longer affects the performance of MainConcept, HandBrake, WinRAR and 7zip - efficiently written applications that can fully load quad-core processors due to their parallelism.

There is even less sense from Hyper-Threading, but, again, we can give a couple of examples when this technology shows itself well in real conditions. Video transcoding applications, for example, are able to use Hyper-Threading and can reduce task execution time. That said, there is every reason why we would recommend the Core i5-750. This processor costs almost $ 100 less than the Core i7-860, but it still delivers almost the same level of performance with minimal degradation in properly optimized programs. Before us is a kind of modern version of the famous Celeron 300A, which reliably worked at 450 MHz.

Manual overclocking still won the biggest victory. Of course, we appreciate the new Turbo Boost feature in the Core i5 and Core i7 processors, but it is important to emphasize that the benefit of this technology is most evident in single-threaded applications (and this benefit gradually diminishes as developers begin to fully use modern multi-core architectures). If the load on the processors is full, then the benefit from Turbo Boost is no longer so significant. Meanwhile, the gain that overclocking provides is constantly manifested, regardless of whether you launch iTunes or HandBrake. Even today, it is a great time to become an overclocking enthusiast: available 45nm processors easily overclock up to 4 GHz, and recently released 32nm processors up to 4.5 GHz and higher.

Of course, some subtleties are associated with a change in the standard parameters. First, you need to consider the risk. Running the processor at 4 GHz at 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, the power consumption under load increases significantly if you increase the clock speed and voltage. Fortunately, the motherboard we were using correctly reduced power consumption and clock speed when idle.

Finally, our readers should be reminded 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 processor, you'll get the same frame rate at most resolutions, unless you invest in a more expensive graphics card configuration.