What Are Apps That Use Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology

In my review of ASUS GL553VD, I said that I had found a way to reduce the fan noise produced by the cooling system. With a fresh installation of Windows 10, the cooling system is kicked off every two seconds even for simple tasks like opening a web page. I hate fan noise!

Article index:

1 – Overview
2 – Techniques to disable the Turbo Boost
- 2.1 – BIOS switch
- 2.2 – Advanced Power Management Settings
- 2.3 – ThrottleStop
- 2.4 – Advanced Power Management Settings – The Return!

1 – Overview

After some searches, I found the culprit: Intel Turbo Boost Technology.

So what is Intel Turbo Boost Technology? From Intel's website:

Intel Turbo Boost Technology is a way to automatically run the processor core faster than the noted frequency. The processor must work in the power, temperature, and specification limits of the thermal design power (TDP). Single and multi-threaded application performance increase.

The GL553VD is powered by an Intel Core i7 7700HQ. This quad-core processor works at 2.8GHz (the processor name in the registry is: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz). Thanks to Intel Turbo Boost, the CPU can work in an overclocked mode and the CPU clock can jump up to 3.8GHz.

I monitored the CPU clock speed with the latest version of HWMonitor:

On a desktop machine with a decent CPU cooler, such increases of clock speed are more of less invisible in terms of noise, but on a laptop, you hear them. And it's really annoying.

2 – Techniques to disable Intel Turbo Boost

I found and tested several techniques to disable Intel Turbo Boost Technology.

2.1 – BIOS switch

This is the most simple technique. On desktop motherboards, there is such option in the BIOS. But unfortunately, this kind of option is not available in the GL553VD BIOS!

2.2 – Advanced Power Management Settings

The second technique I found is to set the maximum processor state to 99%. By default the max processor state is 100% and Intel Turbo Boost kicks off when the CPU reaches 100% usage. If we set the max processor state to 99%, the Turbo Boost technology is disabled.

To set the max processor state, open the Advanced setting panel of the Power Options:

Control Panel > Power Options > Change Plan Settings > Change Advanced Power Settings:

Windows 10 - Advanced Power Management Settings

This technique works (the CPU clock speed is limited to 2.8GHz) but the CPU usage is also limited at… 96%:

2.3 – ThrottleStop

ThrottleStop is a tool designed to stop the CPU throttling. In our case, I selected the third option (internet mode) and I clicked on Save:

ThrottleStop works fine, the CPU clock speed is limited to 2.8GHz and the CPU max usage is 100%. But these settings do not resist to a reboot…

2.4 – Advanced Power Management Settings – The Return!

Finally, I found the ultimate and perfect technique: a reg file (a registry file) that updates the advanced settings of Power Options and adds a new option: Processor performance boost mode:

Windows 10 - Advanced Power Management Settings - Processor performance boost mode

This technique limits the CPU clock speed to 2.8GHz, allows a 100% CPU usage and is saved in Windows registry so Intel Turbo Boost is still disabled after a reboot.

Thanks to this technique, the cooling system is quiet. No more fan noise when I launch firefox!

You can download this registry update from THIS PAGE. Unzip the archive, right-click on the reg file and merge.