When it comes to Intel processors , you have probably heard or read about their support for SpeedStep technology , and even the improved SpeedStep technology that incorporates the latest processors from the brand. In this article we are going to tell you what this technology consists of, what it is for and whether or not you should enable it.
Intel defines SpeedStep technology as an advanced means of enabling very high performance in its processors, while meeting the need for power conservation in portable systems. This definition may already give you an idea of what it consists of, but let’s see it in depth.
What is Intel SpeedStep Technology and what is it for?
According to the manufacturer, this technology allows the system to dynamically adjust the operating voltage and frequency of the processor cores, reducing power consumption and generated heat. By reducing the voltage and the speed of the processor, consumption is also reduced and therefore less noise and less heat is generated. Of course, this is a dynamic technology that works automatically when the system is idle, returning it to normal values as soon as higher performance is required.
This is, as you will already suppose, a kind of underclock in the processor, with the difference that it is done automatically and dynamically, so that the processor itself will detect the load level and when it is at rest it will reduce its speed and voltage in in order to reduce consumption and heat generated. It really is an advantage, especially for those users concerned about these two factors.
How to activate and deactivate this technology? Worth?
Most motherboards allow SpeedStep to be enabled and disabled directly from the BIOS, but even if it is enabled in the BIOS we can decide to use it or not directly in Windows. Intel itself explains that in PCs with Windows XP operating system we can choose how we want it to behave, but this has disappeared in Windows 10 systems, where we are limited to doing it from the BIOS.
Simply access the BIOS of your PC (when turning it on press DELETE, F2 or F10 depending on the manufacturer) and access the processor options (depending on the manufacturer, you can access this menu in one way or another). You will see that one of the parameters you have is precisely Intel SpeedStep, and right there you can activate and deactivate it.
If you want your processor to always give maximum performance, then you can disable this technology (which by default is always enabled), but unless you intend to overclock, we would recommend that you leave it enabled since it is something that will only bring you benefits ; As we have explained before, when the system is idle, it serves to reduce the operating speed and voltage of the processor, reducing consumption and the heat generated, and at the same time increasing its useful life.
And, when you run an application or game that requires higher processor performance, it will automatically return to the usual values to give you its best performance. Therefore, it is only advisable to disable Intel SpeedStep technology when you are going to overclock, and especially if you are going to do it by touching the processor voltage, since in this case having the technology enabled could cause instability in the system when the computer is Resting.
