Which power saving options should i turn on for core i7?

dmxdex2020 · 19 Mar 2010 at 14:51

Just got my core i7 stable at 3.8 with HT on with intel cpu burn test. Highest temps on core 0 was 79 which is good enough. Which powers saving options should i turn on and which should i avoid?

dmxdex2020 · 19 Mar 2010 at 17:44

Ok so i have CPU enhanced halt state on along with EIST. cpu has the multi reduced to 12 along with clock speed which is at 2.2. My question is this when i am gaming will this shoot up to 3.8 with 20 multi? i go into game and come up and cpuz shows that its gone up to 3.8 but after few seconds it shoots down which i assume is because im on the desktop?

setter · 19 Mar 2010 at 18:32

I normally turn off cpu spread spectrum and pcie spread spectrum. The multiplier dropping will be down to intel's speedstep. Personally when setting up any overclock, i turn this off, however once your chosen clockspeed has been tested stable, you can turn this back on. No sense in having the rig sitting at 3.8ghz when browsing the web, when you next start an intensive task, the multiplier will kick up to 20x.

dmxdex2020 · 19 Mar 2010 at 18:36

Ok so enhanced halt state and EIST are ok being on, i mainly game so i guess once im gaming they will jump up. Should save me wee bit on the leccy.

JonJ678 · 19 Mar 2010 at 18:37

On a related note, does anyone have a link to power savings achieved by using the various settings?

setter · 19 Mar 2010 at 18:38

Yep, theyll be fine left on. Help save on the leccy, and save the planet.

setter · 19 Mar 2010 at 18:43

JonJ678 said:
On a related note, does anyone have a link to power savings achieved by using the various settings?

Fraid not jon, i remember a post you made a while back about power consumption on overclocked rigs. Im gonna invest in one of those wall socket readers, id be interested in seeing what my rig draws both at 4ghz, and at stock with the power saving features enabled, id also like to see how power usage varies with different graphics cards on the system, both oc'ed and stock.

JonJ678 · 19 Mar 2010 at 18:52

You might like this thread. Didn't seem to catch the forum's imagination somehow.

Cpu power consumption should scale quadratically with voltage over stock voltage, and linearly with clock speed over stock speeds. That's for load though, it's really hard to find any information about idle / partial loading.

RavenXXX2 · 19 Mar 2010 at 19:40

Err, turn all the power saving features off when overclocking, the main one enhanced halt state and EIST will knock you clocks back but not the main thing which is the volts, unless you have it on auto, and with a 3.8Ghz OC I would hope not.

dmxdex2020 · 19 Mar 2010 at 20:54

raven people said that when your in game it bumps the OC to 3.8 which i have just found out. When i go to desktop it then bumps it down. the energy saving options are good options if you ask me. Argh not sure if to keep it on or off. When im gaming my cpu uses all of the OC power i assume?

RavenXXX2 · 19 Mar 2010 at 21:33

The benefits of having the power saving features is to reduce the mullti and the volts, if the volts are not reduced you're saving nothing, so if you disable the power saving features you will be running at you OC speed all the time with the same volts with power saving enabled, if you run your CPU volts on auto then yes it's worth it.

If you have turbo mode on which boosts the multi up by one to give you an extra 2 GHz, the power saving features will limit how many cores are in use depending on load, with them off they will run at 100%.

dmxdex2020 · 19 Mar 2010 at 22:12

from what i have just reas volts are also adjusted. probs will turn it off. shame as it bumps the wattage down abit.

RavenXXX2 · 19 Mar 2010 at 22:20

I wouldn't recommend having auto CPU volts at 3.8 Ghz. :eek:

dmxdex2020 · 19 Mar 2010 at 23:27

nah i dont use auto cause i know it over use what it needs. i just turned off the power saving. shame as it seemed like a good program. took wattage down abit when it was idle.

RavenXXX2 · 19 Mar 2010 at 23:38

I am sure volts won't drop when you manually set the CPU voltage, could be wrong but...

bhavv · 20 Mar 2010 at 01:18

I just run with all the power save stuff enabled, and my system is fine. Desktop mode runs at 2400 Mhz, games and benchies run at 4200 Mhz

RavenXXX2 · 20 Mar 2010 at 01:25

Yeah your volts wont drop just your clock speed, so it's basically useless running at 2400 with whatever volts your CPU is set at.

bhavv · 20 Mar 2010 at 01:27

I see, so the power usage doesnt actually reduce with the lower clock speed if the volts stay the same?

JonJ678 · 20 Mar 2010 at 01:32

It should scale linearly with clock speed / stock clock speed, but I don't know if it actually does or not.

RavenXXX2 · 20 Mar 2010 at 01:34

I would say not, I'm at 4.2 24/7 with no power savings, when its idle I'm just using the same watts as a guy with a 4.2 OC and power saving on even though his multi drops the clocks to 2400, volts stay the same.