Question Low base clock speed but high turbo clock speed, acceptable?

[slickskin]

My question is specifically about the Intel Core i7-12700F
It says turbo speed is 4.9 which is fine. But the base clock speed at only 2.1.
Is it acceptable for the base clock to be that low even if the turbo boost potential is high? I would think it would basically always be turbo boosted when playing games. I see another computer with a turbo speed of 4.8 but a way higher base speed.

 

[ak47jar3d]

Yeah. It want to go low when it's not doing anything to save power. Non issue.

 

[slickskin]

Yeah. It want to go low when it's not doing anything to save power. Non issue.

But will the clock fluctuate a lot during games causing frame drops and funny stuff like that going on or stay stable?

 

[hotaru.hino]

Clock speed stability depends mostly on three things:

• How good the power supply is
• How good the motherboard's CPU VRM is
• How good the cooling system is

If you get something decent for all three, though the third one may need more cooling than what the processor requires at the minimum, there shouldn't be issues with clock speeds changing all the time.

 

[ak47jar3d]

But will the clock fluctuate a lot during games causing frame drops and funny stuff like that going on or stay stable?

No, generally it will turbo to highest speed and hold until it hits a thermal /power limit or it's just unnecessary in the given application.