The Old And The New Enhanced Speedstep Technology
- 1. Centrino Or Simply Pentium M: The Customer Has The Choice
- 2. High Quality And Very Photogenic: The Thinkpad T40 From The Outside
- 3. Inside: Complex Cooling System And High-Grade RAM
- 4. Invisible Equipment Features: The "Thinkvantage"
- 5. Test Configuration: The Who's Who Of Mobile Equipment
- 6. Pentium M: The CPU Optimized For Working On The Move
- 7. The Old And The New Enhanced Speedstep Technology
- 8. Work More Efficiently While Using Less Energy: µOp-Fusion & Co
- 9. Synthetic Benchmarks
7. The Old And The New Enhanced Speedstep Technology
The Enhanced Speedstep technology has also been improved. And lo and behold! It's called "Enhanced Speedstep" and supports several clock speeds and supply voltage settings. The Pentium 4-M only had two of them, the "Maximum Performance" and the "Battery-Optimized Mode." The refined "Enhanced Speedstep" technology is now managed solely by the CPU voltage regulator and the CPU, but without the participation of the chipset.
| Enhanced Speedstep Technology operating Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentium-M 1.60HGz | Pentium-M 1.50HGz | Pentium-M 1.40HGz | Pentium-M 1.30HGz | LV Pentium-M 1.10HGz | ULV Pentium-M 900MHz |
| 1,6 GHz/1,484V | - | - | - | - | - |
| - | 1,5 GHz/1,484V | - | - | - | - |
| 1,4 GHz/1,420V | 1,4 GHz/1,452V | 1,4 GHz/1,484V | - | - | - |
| - | - | - | 1,3 GHz/1,388V | - | - |
| 1,2 GHz/1,276V | 1,2 GHz/1,356V | 1,2 GHz/1,436V | 1,2 GHz/1,356V | - | - |
| - | - | - | - | 1,1 GHz/1,18V | - |
| 1 GHz/1,164V | 1 GHz/1,228V | 1 GHz/1,308V | 1 GHz/1,292V | 1 GHz/1,164V | |
| - | - | - | - | 900 GHz/1,1V | 900MHz/1,004V |
| 800MHz/1,036V | 800MHz/1,116V | 800MHz/1,108V | 800MHz/1,26V | 800MHz/1,02V | 800MHz/0,988V |
| 600MHz/0,956V | 600MHz/0,956V | 600MHz/0,956V | 600MHz/0,956V | 600MHz/0,956V | 600MHz/0,844V |
Overview of Speedstep frequency operating points for the latest Pentium M models.
Switching between the separate operating points is fully automatic and dependent on the processor load. The latency time between each state is approximately ten microseconds (Pentium 4-M: 250 microseconds), according to the manufacturer. Intel says that switching between more than two CPU operating states only makes real sense with these sorts of switching times. That is also the reason why this technology wasn't introduced until the advent of the Pentium M. And it must also be the reason why competitors AMD and Transmeta have long offered this feature in their mobile processors.
Thanks to the choice of energy schemes in Windows XP, the user still has the option of deactivating this option and adjusting CPU performance to personal requirements manually.
| Windows XP Power Schemes | AC Power (Frequency Example mobile Pentium-M 1.6 GHz) | Battery DC (Frequency Example mobile Pentium-M 1.6 GHz) |
|---|---|---|
| Home/Office Desktop | None (1.6 GHz Always) | Adaptive (600 MHz <...>1.6 GHz) |
| Portable /Laptop | Adaptive (600 MHz <...>1.6 GHz) | Adaptive (600 MHz <...>1.6 GHz) |
| Presentation | Adaptive (600 MHz <...>1.6 GHz) | Degrade (600 MHz) |
| Always On | None (1.6 GHz Always) | None (1.6 GHz Always) |
| Minimal Power Management | Adaptive (600 MHz <...>1.6 GHz) | Adaptive (600 MHz <...>1.6 GHz) |
| Maximum Battery | Adaptive (600 MHz <...>1.6 GHz) | Degrade (600 MHz) |
CPU performance is heavily dependent on the choice of power scheme in the system control settings.
For everyday use, the "Portable Laptop" setting still offers a good compromise between performance and battery life.
- Previous page Pentium M: The CPU Optimized For...
- Next page Work More Efficiently While Using...
