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    Turbo Boost with HD Graphics -- not working?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by weqq, Dec 31, 2011.

  1. weqq

    weqq Newbie

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    Hello everyone,

    My laptop (Acer 1430z, so maybe a netbook) has a Pentium U5600, which according to Intel should have turbo boost for its GPU. However, when I use GPU-Z and log the GPU clock speed to a file, while running Half-Life 2's benchmark, I never see the clock speed increase beyond the stock 166MHz. I've checked with HWiNFO too, the situation appears to be the same. I tested this with the laptop plugged in on high performance mode.

    I'm running a pretty fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate with the latest Intel graphics drivers. Any idea what's wrong? This is pretty important to me since it looks like the turbo speed for the GPU is 3 times faster than the base clock. Right now most Source games are basically unplayable at 10-20FPS, a boost to 40 would help greatly.

    Thanks in advance! (also if this is the wrong forum, sorry!)
     
    weqq, Dec 31, 2011
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  2. key001

    key001 Notebook Evangelist

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    It doesn't have turbo boost
    Intel® Pentium® Processor U5600 (3M Cache, 1.33 GHz)
    Turbo boost means that the cpu disables x of its cores to run the remaining cores at a higher frequency, has nothing to do with the GPU.

    You're seeing your GPU running @166MHz instead of 500 because it's in 2d or idle mode. You could try changing your power scheme from performance mode to always on.
     
    key001, Dec 31, 2011
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  3. weqq

    weqq Newbie

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    Hm, I think I've seen the GPU dynamic clocking advertised as Turbo Boost before. Intel's marketing terminology never seems to get simpler, eh? :p

    But anyhow, what do you mean by "always on"? Neither Windows' control panel nor the Intel driver have an option for that, only performance, balanced and power save.

    Another weird thing: I tested Furmark. Incredibly, it was bottlenecked by the CPU. GPU load was like 30%, but CPU load on one core was 100%. Could this indicate the Intel drivers are in fact trying to render 3D on the CPU? That would certainly explain why the GPU is stuck in 2D mode...
     
    weqq, Dec 31, 2011
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  4. weqq

    weqq Newbie

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    weqq, Dec 31, 2011
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