How does the i7 4770k boost to 4.0 ghz work?

[TeIIo]

I heard that said cpu can boost itself to 4.0 ghz without any oc? Is this correct and if so how does it work? Does it just do it by itself or is this something that i need to do? Does it add a great amount of temperature?

 

[HybridWolf]

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/forced-induction-intel-turbo-boost-works-technology-explained/

Normally the computer processor in your laptop or desktop has a standard clock speed which partially determines how quickly it performs. While the processor might lower its clock speed at times in order to conserve power, the clock speed which is stated when you buy the computer is the fastest clock speed you’ll receive unless you decide to overclock.

If you do decide to overclock, or you ever speak to someone who regularly overclocks processors, you’ll discover a dirty little secret – the clock speed a processor ships at is typically much lower than the actual maximum clock speed which the processor could achieve.

The extra headroom isn’t used only because the manufacturer (Intel or AMD) needs to plan for worst case scenarios, which means they need a processor which is sold as a 3GHz processor to work at that speed even if someone decides to use a winter jacket as a PC case.

At least, that is how processors used to be. However, Intel’s new Core i5 and Core i7 processors have a feature called Turbo Boost which has the ability to dynamically scale up the clock speed of a processor depending on the thermal headroom available.

How Intel Turbo Boost Works

Intel Turbo Boost monitors the current usage of a Core i5 or i7 processor to determine how close the processor is to the maximum thermal design power, or TDP. The TDP is the maximum amount of power the processor is supposed to use. If the Core i5 or i7 processor sees that it is operating well within limits, Turbo Boost kicks in.

Turbo Boost is a dynamic feature. There is no set-in-stone speed which the Core i5 or i7 processor will reach when in Turbo Boost. Turbo Boost operates in 133Mhz increments and will scale up until it either reaches the maximum Turbo Boost allowed (which is determined by the model of processor) or the processor comes close to its maximum TDP. For example, the Core i5 750 has a base clock speed of 2.66GHz but has a maximum Turbo Boost speed of 3.2GHz.

However, Intel still advertises these processors by their base clock speed. This is because Intel does not guarantee that a processor will ever hit its maximum Turbo Boost speed. I have yet to hear of an Intel processor which can’t hit its maximum Turbo Boost speed, but hitting the maximum Turbo Boost is dependent on workload – it won’t happen all of the time.

Hopefully this answers your question.

- TheHybridWolf