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Windows has a feature which can be set from the Power Options menu where the CPU is automatically throttled according to usage in order to save power.

How can I view this throttling in real time? For instance, is the CPU Usage in Windows Task Manager a good indicator?

Superbest
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2 Answers2

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Windows 7 has a tool called Resource Monitor which shows this. You can launch it by pressing Windows+R to bring up the Run dialog, then type perfmon.exe /res and press Enter.

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On the CPU panel, the Maximum Frequency (small blue graph) shows at what power the CPU is currently operating.

Superbest
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    Can someone confirm that this is correct? I will wait for other answers until then. – Superbest Sep 17 '14 at 02:01
  • Why don't you try it? – Xavierjazz Sep 17 '14 at 02:16
  • @Xavierjazz I have tried it: When I increase the minimum activity under *Power Options* the *Maximum Frequency* appears to increase. However, even with the minimum set to 5%, it jumps all over the place quite a bit any way, so I hesitate to treat this experiment as conclusive. – Superbest Sep 17 '14 at 02:54
  • This question started to interest me as well. So have you figured out if it is the case? Does the *Maximum Frequency* drop when the CPU is being throttled? – Divin3 Feb 25 '16 at 04:39
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I like using CoreTemp. It runs as admin, but it's free and signed by GlobalSign in the authors name.

What's cool is seeing how throttling conserves energy. Here's an example:

ThrottledUnthrottled

Louis Waweru
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  • Does Core Temp show the current throttle level? I thought it only showed load (assuming these two aren't the same thing). – Superbest Sep 17 '14 at 03:08
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    @Superbest Well it shows a couple of throttles, the CPU multiplier and voltage level. The multiplier is the second multiplcand in `Frequency`, I'm not sure what the correct term for the first is anymore. The voltage is next to `VID`. With recent Intel chips, if you pay very close attention you might notice some cores get throttled while one or more gets unthrolled (boosted) on things like single-threaded workloads. – Louis Waweru Sep 17 '14 at 03:12