7i7 8700k reaches 4.8 GHz without dropping during idle.
7i7 8700k reaches 4.8 GHz without dropping during idle.
It will be quicker and more powerful if you keep it at that core level. It’ll also get hotter.
The starting frequency for the 8700K is 3.7 GHz. Turbo Boost must be activated on the CPU to exceed that rate. When it reaches 4.8 GHz, Turbo Boost is active and functioning properly. @Jones Guldberg To reduce CPU speed under light load, switch from the Windows High Performance plan to the Balanced plan. This manages clocking down. For lower power use and cooler idle temps, turn on C States in the BIOS. You can still overclock with them enabled. With C States active, the CPU doesn’t need to slow down. The C States automatically lower voltage when a core is off. That’s quite efficient.
BIOS activates turbo boost automatically at 4800 MHz. The 8700K reaches up to 3.7 GHz without turbo enabled. Windows power settings manage CPU clock reductions.
Even with a constant multiplier, you're not consuming additional heat or energy. On my 5GHz 8700K, when idle it draws around 12 watts with temperatures in the low 30s. By comparison, my 10900K with a less rigid turbo multiplier idles at about 8 watts. The difference isn't huge at such low loads, even though the numbers suggest otherwise.
Even if it's reporting high frequency in HWINFO64, if you look at effective clock, it isn't necessarily as reported due to load which in this metric will be much lower. So the whole desire for it to "clock down" doesn't really mean much because without load, there's no power usage, and no heat or stress. Don't worry so much about the clock speed.
This claim isn't accurate. Changing to the Balanced power plan and adjusting the minimum processor state to 5% won't affect CPU speed. You can also turn on C states in the BIOS, which is unrelated to processing time.
When not in use, your Ryzen CPU maintains a low idle state while still monitoring performance metrics. Similarly, an Intel CPU operates quietly in standby, tracking its effective clock speed accurately. HWiNFO provides reliable updates on these idle conditions.