We all know that the CPU is the computer’s brain. Whether you are a gamer or someone else who wants to get the best performance, ignoring the CPU would be a foolish idea. In today’s article, we will talk about an Intel technology called Intel SpeedStep.
Ok, do I turn SpeedStep on or off?
After doing in-depth research, here is what I have concluded:
Leaving the Intel SpeedStep ON will make the CPU consume less energy and extend its lifespan. Contrary, turning it OFF will increase the computer’s performance. However, it will produce more heat and consume more energy.
Don’t go anywhere because next, we will explain what SpeedStep truly is and when you should disable it. We will analyze various user reports on enabling/disabling SpeedStep.
Finally, we will also talk about Intel Speed Shift technology, how it differentiates from SpeedStep and how you can benefit from it.
What is Intel SpeedStep?
Before we move on, we first have to understand what SpeedStep is in the first place. If you want a formal, geeky definition, you can read it here. However, if you want a simple explanation, keep reading.
In the simplest terms, Intel SpeedStep is software that can put a limitation on your CPU performance by dynamically changing the clock speed.
We all know that running a CPU at high clock speeds allows for superior performance. However, when the same CPU runs at a lower speed, it consumes less power and produces less heat.
In response to a current processor load, the earlier, non-enhanced versions switched frequency and voltage between low and high levels. SpeedStep expands on this by executing some new strategies.
First, separating frequency and voltage changes, in which voltage is stepped up or down in small amounts independently of frequency changes. As a result, the CPU can reduce system downtime caused by frequency changes.
Second, clock partitioning and recovery, in which the bus clock constantly operates even when the state changes. It continues to run even when the core clock and phase-lock loop are turned off.
Ok, enough theory. Let’s move on to the practical side.
Should you enable or disable Intel SpeedStep?
Before I answer this very question, I think we must first shortly talk about CPU speed and how it works in the first place.
A central processing unit is a state machine. A trigger signal is necessary to move from one state to the next. This trigger signal is commonly referred to as a clock signal or clock pulse. How quickly the CPU proceeds through the states is determined by the time between each clock pulse.
A CPU clock speed is a rate at which clock pulses follow one another. A gigahertz frequency corresponds to 1,000,000,000 clock pulses per second. The shorter the duration between clock pulses, the faster the CPU functions. This speed has a limit that is established by the CPU’s internal hardware.
In general, a faster processor has a higher clock speed. Many other elements, though, come into play. Every second, your CPU executes a large number of instructions from many programs. The clock speed of your processor is measured in GHz and is the number of cycles it executes per second.
A “cycle” is technically a pulse synced by an internal oscillator, but for our purposes, it’s a fundamental unit that lets us grasp the speed of a CPU. During each cycle, the processor’s billions of transistors open and close.
Now, let’s get back to the question: Should you enable or disable Intel SpeedStep?
Well, it depends.
If your tasks require high CPU performance, you may want to disable SpeedStep. Contrary, leave the SpeedStep enabled as it will save more energy and produce less heat.
For instance, let’s say you want to play a video game that requires a strong machine performance. Your CPU is ok but maybe not ideal for that game. Turning SpeedStep off will probably increase your gaming performance as it won’t limit your CPU.
In fact, sometimes power saving features like SpeedStep can cause issues in gaming performance. From my point of view, this is probably due to changing the voltage and clock speed significantly. Namely, the processor must momentarily stop the activity while voltage and clock speed change by a significant amount, resuming the activity after both of them have changed.
Some programs generate workloads that force the CPU to enter and exit power saving modes repeatedly or that cause the CPU to enter power saving mode and then immediately exit it.
This is why Turbo Mode has a much smaller impact on voltage, as the overclock is typically quite small compared to the underclock that SpeedStep can cause.
It is frequently recommended that we enable Intel Turbo Boost and disable Intel SpeedStep in our computers’ BIOS settings for optimal DAW performance.
This is because although the declared objective of TurboBoost is to boost the clock speed of the CPU cores under stress for performance, the more ambiguous purpose of SpeedStep is to modify clock speeds for performance and power savings.
Because power-saving strategies are frequently the scourge of DAW performance, deactivating this SpeedStep is the way to go.
Here are some user’s reports
During my research, I found some very interesting results and experiences from other users.
Report 1)
For instance, one guy did an awesome study where he tested gaming performance with both SpeedStep on and off.
His PC spec: Dell 8910, Intel i7-6700, 16 GB 2133 MHz, GTX 1060
Benchmark in Grand Exchange IV
| SpeedStep | ON | OFF |
| To start options | 90 s | 33 s |
| Load Game | 138 s | 38 s |
| Empty Game | 14 fps | 50 fps |
| Looking at Station | 16 fps | 57 fps |
| Landed | 11 fps | 33 fps |
| Turbo Lift | 15 fps | 44 fps |
He says the following:
“I deactivated SpeedStep in my BIOS, rebooted my Dell 8910, and to my amazement, not only did the game appear to load substantially faster, but my gameplay experience appeared to hit the stratospheric FPS heights frequently described elsewhere.
Looking at the CPU speed, it appears that the CPU was previously running at about 800Mhz in-game, but with Speedstep off in BIOS, it is now varying from 3390-4400 MHz.
Given that the X-games primarily require a fast CPU to perform properly, being controlled down to 800MHz appears to be a surefire way to disrupt all gameplay. I also saw a significant increase in CPU activity across all cores, as well as my GPU being awakened from its slumber.”
Report 2)
Here is the other one:
“My main system is an Optiplex with an i7 3770 processor with a base clock of 3.4 G, which Task Manager always recorded as operating at 3.39 with my power strategy, which pegged the clock to 100%.
It’s an old business desktop that was presumably created in 2013 to sit next to a project manager’s desk and be extremely quick at delivering PowerPoint presentations.
Dell is renowned for locking down its motherboards so that no overclocking is possible. They sell office equipment. There are a number of them, and they work. They don’t want to ruin their reputation for working and lasting forever.
But I read in Dell’s original sales brochure that my Optiplex could reach 3.6 GHz in Turbo mode, so I was curious. The magic button, it turns out, is enabling SpeedStep and having a Power Plan that sets your maximum and lowest processor states to 100%.
My processor now runs at a consistent 3.67 GHz, and I noticed the difference right away on the first reboot before I even looked to see whether the clock had changed. Because I use the integrated HD4000 graphics, it’s possible that it has an impact on other things.
I’ve been watching the clock speeds, and SpeedStep hasn’t caused any drops; it simply sits there idling at 3.7. (ish).
My other Dell is a Latitude 6410 with an i5 processor and a separate Nvidia Quadro chip. It also never exceeded its rated clock speed, but when I enabled SpeedStep, the results were even more striking, perhaps because the system is under more strain when running DAW software. In any case, there is little you can do to prevent a Latitude from throttling its CPU; even if you configure your Power Plan to lock the CPU to 100%, it will overrule that.
I’m not sure how this pertains to other proprietary or generic motherboards. I’m just here to say that turning off SpeedStep automatically may be robbing your system of performance.”
As I continued with my research even deeper, I came upon a fascinating article from the official Dell page saying that Intel SpeedStep can hinder your performance on laptops. I concluded that your system might take longer to complete a shutdown and have a slow performance during its use.
I noticed that disabling SpeedStep in the BIOS on some Dell laptops locks the processor to 800 MHz. With SpeedStep turned off, there is no way for OS to increase the CPU speed. I would say that this “trick” is not a good idea on Dell laptops.
Some Dell laptops suffer from a variety of throttling concerns. Some of their laptops have three or four different throttling mechanisms that all kill performance at the same time. Many people become frustrated because solving one problem may not solve all of the others.
Report 3)
Not long after, I came across one programmer who experimented with Intel SpeedStep.
He says:
“I acquired my new Lenovo Thinkpad T490 with an Intel i7 about a month ago. After installing Sculpt, I observed that the performance was quite poor, almost as terrible as on my 8-year-old T430. So I started messing around with BIOS settings, and I was able to improve the problem this way. Disabling the “Intel Enhanced SpeedStep,” in particular, proved highly beneficial.
As a result, I began a more extensive performance test. On a Xubuntu 20.04 system, I timed how long it takes to compile the Genodes Virtualbox port with various BIOS/Kernel settings. This was done once with a native Xubuntu installation and once with Xubuntu as a guest system in Virtualbox in a self-built environment.
These results indicate that Intel Enhanced SpeedStep Technology requires OS support and that the CPU always runs in high-performance mode if the OS lacks this support. When SpeedStep is disabled, however, performance suffers greatly.”
As we can see, disabling Intel SpeedStep improves the computer’s performance in other tasks, such as programming.
Is disabling SpeedStep safe?
We know when and when should we not disable it, but is it really safe to turn it off? I asked myself the same question. After analyzing other people’s experiences, this is what I have concluded:
In the vast majority of cases, disabling Intel SpeedStep is perfectly safe. While it is true that it will reduce the lifespan of your CPU, it is not a big deal. Instead of owning a CPU for 12 years, you will own it for 10.
With SpeedStep disabled, your CPU will run at the speeds that you paid for and have the best performance instead of conserving voltage. I would also point out the fact that most people will never own the same computer for twelve years, so it is nothing to worry about.
How to enable or disable Intel SpeedStep
Finally, let’s see how we can make these adjustments on our machines. Note that there is no universal way of enabling/disabling SpeedStep, and you will see why.
After you turn on your computer, you have to access your BIOS by pressing one of the following: F1, F2, F10, F13, or DEL. Each motherboard has its own specific way of getting into the BIOS, so you will have to do the research for your machine.
Once you enter into BIOS, your next task is to locate the SpeedStep setting. Again, two computers can have two completely different BIOS, so you will have to browse these menus until you see the SpeedStep option. When you find it, you can easily turn it on or off.