[Hardware] This is how Intel achieves such high speed in its latest gaming CPUs

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With the arrival of the Intel Core 12 has appeared a new concept related to the CPU of the company founded by Gordon Moore, Maximum Turbo Power. Due to this, many questions arise: what is behind such a sonorous name? What does it mean inside the processors? Is it a new technology or, instead, we are facing a simple name change of an old technology that was already available?

With the release of the Intel Core 12 for desktop under the Alder Lake architecture, the PC CPU manufacturer and designer has made some changes in naming some of the technologies that surround the brand's PC processors. The Maximum Turbo Power is one of these cases, an already veteran technology under a more attractive name for marketing.

What is the Maximum Turbo Power?
Intel Core 12 Maximum Turbo Power

Intel's definition of MTP is as follows: the maximum sustained power dissipation of a processor compared to TDP, which is the base power consumption. So we are referring to the maximum heat generated measured in watts that a processor can generate when it temporarily increases its clock speed.

So we are facing a significant change by Intel for something that already existed previously, and that is that under the name of Maximum Turbo Power Intel refers to the PL2 mode of its CPUs with Alder Lake-S architecture. Instead, the PL1 mode is now called Processor Base Power or PBP. In other words, we are not seeing a new technology that the creator of the ISA x86 has added in its 12th generation Intel Core.

PL1 mode refers to the standard maximum speed that an Intel Core processor can sustain 100% of the time. Although due to consumption issues the CPU clock speed may have occasional drops, Processor Base Power can maintain it 100% of the time. On the other hand, in PL2, MTP or Maximum Turbo Power mode it is only maintained at said clock speed for a limited time, normally in the TAU described for each architecture.

Higher yield, temporary
There is no doubt that Intel CPUs have higher consumption peaks than AMD's, but this is because for Ryzen the brand in red has chosen to limit the maximum TDP that its processors can generate. Most likely haunted by ghosts of a past in which the processors of the company now run by Lisa Su had problems in that regard. Intel on the other hand gives its processors the ability to boost their clock speeds much more by having a higher margin.

Since many of the benchmarks run tests over a very short period of time this allows the CPU to be activated in Maximum Turbo Power mode in order to achieve the maximum possible performance of the CPU. In any case, it must be borne in mind that on very few occasions the Intel Core will go into MTP mode, since the processor adjusts its clock speed according to the workload that it has to execute at all times. That is, it will not work all the time in said mode and it will only do so at very specific moments.

Is MTP the same on all CPUs?
Intel Core 12 PL1 PL2

No, each of them has its own assigned MTP and not individually, but by processor model. In this case, we must bear in mind that there will be variants where the TDP in Maximum Turbo Power or PL2 mode and the Processor Base Power will be the same, especially in models that are designed for low-power computers or with reduced overclocking capabilities. .

So as we go up in the range we find that the MTP is going up. So an i9 will have a larger value than an i7, which in turn will have a larger value than an i3. Let's not forget that if we are interested in mounting a high-capacity gaming PC with good liquid cooling, we will be interested in the CPU being able to maintain high clock speeds and for this it is necessary that the maximum TDP value is higher.

The duration of the Maximum Turbo Power is defined by a TAU variable defined at the factory by Intel itself, but it is not a constant, but a variable, so we can change the time that the MTP mode lasts. This is important, since if we have good cooling we can make the processor maintain its highest clock speed for as long as possible (it is not possible to change the TAU except for overclocking).

Is Maximum Turbo Power adjustable?
Clock Speed

The clock speed is totally related to the voltage that the processor consumes, so if we reduce the amount of volts that feeds the central CPU then the maximum GHz that it can reach in MTP mode ends up falling. In any case, although it is assumed that this value is the maximum value that can be achieved without being detrimental to the health of the Intel Core.