Should I turn off Speedstep?

Question

Got forwarded a link to Computer active website

The basis of the article was about EIST/Speedstep/Powernow! and the fact you can turn it off. But from a little research I think it shouldnt be a problem. Is it?

Will turning off Steepstep make my PC any faster?

I'm guessing no, but if in doubt ask the experts!

Answer 1

If your processor supports any of these features that throttle your CPU when idling you best leave it on. I'm sure Intel has more expertise on the performance of CPU than most of us.

My advice: leave it on and no, you don't have to reboot to increase your clock speed

And after looking into a Wikipedia article on Speedstep, it turns out Windows XP has excellent support for Speedstep or similar features:

Under Microsoft Windows XP, SpeedStep support is built into the power management console under the control panel. In Windows XP a user can regulate the processor's speed indirectly by changing power schemes.

The "Home/Office Desk" disables SpeedStep, the "Portable/Laptop" power scheme enables SpeedStep, and the "Max Battery" uses SpeedStep to slow the processor to minimal power levels as the battery weakens.

The SpeedStep settings for power schemes, either built-in or custom, cannot be modified from the control panel's GUI, but can be modified using the POWERCFG.EXE command-line utility.