Name of the technology: Turbo Boost in reverse?

Question

When I checked the frequency of my Intel i3, I saw that frequency went down to 800 MHz, from the default 2300 MHz (apparently to reduce power consumption).

I know about Turbo Boost Technology (Frequency Increase when single cores used), but I never knew that the frequency would go down.

I want to know when this was feature was incorporated (date and processor code name, e.g. Arrandale, Clarkdale). If anyone could give me a press release link, it would be great.

Answer 1

It sounds like dynamic frequency scaling (DFS), which Intel call 'SpeedStep' : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpeedStep

SpeedStep was introduced with the Mobile Pentium III in January 2000 :

http://www.zdnet.com/speedstep-pentium-iii-on-tap-for-tuesday-3002076372/ http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/2000/mp011800.htm