Intel SpeedStep Enable Or Disable?

[ethan206]

Just to be clear I value performance over battery life for my laptop and I know that Speedstep will ramp up CPU performance when you need it and when you don't it'll ramp back down to preserve battery life. However, I'm wondering if I should disable it so I can get maximum CPU performance at all times. Or will it make any differences at all?

CPU: Intel Core i7-2640M (Dual-Core, 3.50GHz)

 

[Darkbreeze]

ESPECIALLY on a laptop, if you don't want the CPU dying an early death due to thermal fatigue, for God's sake leave it enabled.

Also, in the advanced options section of Windows power options, make sure that Processor power management is set to 100% max and 8-10% minimum, and that the processor fan profile is set to active. There is no possible way you can or will be able to, notice the difference in performance. Modern systems go from idle to full load frequencies so fast that the sensor values you see in monitoring software like HWinfo and HWmonitor, cannot possibly display in real time what is actually happening.

It takes hundredths of a second for a CPU core to go from full idle no load to full load full frequency. It happens faster than you could see it, much less feel it or have any sense of it.

That way when it is not actually needing to be at full load, the cores and the heatsink have a chance to get a little relief and cooldown. Cores can go from 30 degrees to 80 degrees and back down to 30 degrees in seconds, so every bit of time the core has a chance to cool itself is just that much longer the CPU is likely to last and that much less likely you are to lose performance when the cores start throttling from overheating after a week or two of full frequency configuration.

Battery life is just a secondary or tertiary consideration, and really has little to do with the reasons why you want to leave this enabled but the fact that it does extend battery life by decreasing power consumption is not a bad extra to get either.

 

[Rdslw]

Just to be clear I value performance over battery life for my laptop and I know that Speedstep will ramp up CPU performance when you need it and when you don't it'll ramp back down to preserve battery life. However, I'm wondering if I should disable it so I can get maximum CPU performance at all times. Or will it make any differences at all?

CPU: Intel Core i7-2640M (Dual-Core, 3.50GHz)

yeah you will kill your cpu within a year.
CPU needs some room to cool down and ANY second you don't need 100% power it will go for a bit less HEAT

 

[Darkbreeze]

Considering that unit is already MANY years old, I'd think it would happen in much less time than a year.

 

[ethan206]

Welp, ok i'll just leave it on then,

 

[Darkbreeze]

As I mentioned before, if the Power profile is set to "Performance" in the control panel or system settings, it would be advisable to make the changes I listed above to the min and max settings. Good luck Ethan.

 

[ethan206]

As I mentioned before, if the Power profile is set to "Performance" in the control panel or system settings, it would be advisable to make the changes I listed above to the min and max settings. Good luck Ethan.

By power profile do you mean the power plan? I currently have it on Balanced when I'm on battery and High Performance when I'm plugged in.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok, power profile IS power plan. Next to High performance there are blue letters that say Change plan settings. Click that. Then click Change advanced power options. Under Processor power management, change the minimum processor state to 5% and leave the maximum at 100%. Make sure the processor cooling profile