How to optimize your processor's energy consumption
If you optimize the energy consumption of your processor, this has a positive effect on the battery life of your notebook, among other things. Reason enough to adjust the energy status of your processor. We show you how it works.
Adjust power options for the processor
- Click on "System and Security" in the Control Panel and then on "Power Options".
- With the selected energy saving plan, follow the link »Change energy saving plan settings« and then click on »Change advanced energy settings«.
- In the list, scroll to the entry »Processor Energy Management« and click on the preceding plus sign.
- Open the path "Minimum processor performance".
- The requirements are regulated separately for battery and mains operation. Here you should set about »5%«. To change a value, click on it so that a combo box is visible for input.
- Incidentally, you should also lower the lower limit to »5%« for network operation. This does not mean a reduction in performance, but it enables the processor to run at a lower energy level when idle, which you will probably also notice with more moderate fan noise.
- Now open the path "Maximum processor performance". For battery operation, it is recommended to set a value between »50%« and »75%«, provided that you do not perform any computing-intensive tasks in battery operation.
- This setting slows down the system somewhat, but is hardly noticeable in normal use. On the other hand, the lower energy requirement ensures a longer runtime. In the case of network operation, on the other hand, it makes no sense to brake the system completely, otherwise you could have bought a cheaper computer straight away.
- Confirm the options one after the other with »Apply« and »OK«.
Background knowledge:
Processors support various performance states (P-states) for active operation and performance states (C-states) for idle. The number of possible states depends on the respective processor model. With the processor power management settings, you define the framework in which the system can switch states.
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