12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors Datasheet, Volume 1 of 2

Datasheet

ID 655258
Date 28/10/2021 00:00:00
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Document Table of Contents

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology enables OS to control and select P-state. The following are the key features of Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology:

  • Multiple frequencies and voltage points for optimal performance and power efficiency. These operating points are known as P-states.
  • Frequency selection is software controlled by writing to processor MSRs. The voltage is optimized based on the selected frequency and the number of active processors IA cores.
    • Once the voltage is established, the PLL locks on to the target frequency.
    • All active processor IA cores share the same frequency and voltage. In a multi-core processor, the highest frequency P-state requested among all active IA cores is selected.
    • Software-requested transitions are accepted at any time. If a previous transition is in progress, the new transition is deferred until the previous transition is completed.
  • The processor controls voltage ramp rates internally to ensure glitch-free transitions.

Note:Because there is low transition latency between P-states, a significant number of transitions per-second are possible.