Mac Mini 2018 4.6GHz boost?

[paxos]

Quick question:
I got the Mac Mini 2018 with the "3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz)" CPU.

But according to the Intel Power Tool the CPU never hits more than 4.3GHz.

Was anyone able to see that boost yet?

 

[rmdeluca]

Yes, when running single core tasks. More info:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-mini-cpu-speeds-explained-i3-vs-i5-vs-i7.2155878/

It helps to turn up the refresh rate on the power gadget if you want to see > 4.3GHz

 

[paxos]

Thats a great post, thanks! Can you give some details how you simulated a single CPU task?

 

[rmdeluca]

Thats a great post, thanks! Can you give some details how you simulated a single CPU task?

Quit everything - all killable background tasks. Then spin loop yes > /dev/null in a command prompt.

 

[paxos]

Interesting.

4.38GHz is the max I can get. At least I can confirm my theory is wrong that the CPU is capped at 4.3GHz

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Interesting.

4.38GHz is the max I can get. At least I can confirm my theory is wrong that the CPU is capped at 4.3GHz

If you're familiar with observing turbo boost in Windows there's no difference. CPUs rarely hit their maximum clock speed and even more rarely hold it there. Only when they are overclocked because that can disable Speedstep.

 

[Spectrum]

Do you have activity monitor running? This has 6 threads running and may cause the max turbo to drop due to simultaneous workload.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

One core loaded.

 

[Ploki]

Quick question:
I got the Mac Mini 2018 with the "3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz)" CPU.

But according to the Intel Power Tool the CPU never hits more than 4.3GHz.

Was anyone able to see that boost yet?

i9 in 15” never hits above 4,5 (out of 4,8).

@leman speculated that there’s a “thermal boost” available only under limited circumstances and available for periods shorter than sampling frequency... (2-3ms).

I dont know really, i think this is bordering false advertising either on account of Intel or Apple.

 

[leman]

Quick question:
I got the Mac Mini 2018 with the "3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz)" CPU.

But according to the Intel Power Tool the CPU never hits more than 4.3GHz.

Was anyone able to see that boost yet?

According to the wikipedia, the turbo boost is limited to 4.3Ghz if four or more cores are in use. Since there is always something running in the background, this might be what you are seeing.

@leman speculated that there’s a “thermal boost” available only under limited circumstances and available for periods shorter than sampling frequency... (2-3ms).

TVB is only a feature in i9 CPUs.
[doublepost=1544533796][/doublepost]

One core loaded.

Your results are consistent with two active cores, boost up to 4.5Ghz.

 

[Ploki]

According to the wikipedia, the turbo boost is limited to 4.3Ghz if four or more cores are in use. Since there is always something running in the background, this might be what you are seeing.



TVB is only a feature in i9 CPUs.
[doublepost=1544533796][/doublepost]

Your results are consistent with two active cores, boost up to 4.5Ghz.

Oh yeah, my bad. Thanks for chiming in.
Makes sense


Off topic, Reading more about TVB i cant see it happening in the i9 MBP.

 

[Saiph53]

You can force the system to only use one core (with or without hyperthreading) with the Xcode Instruments tool. It will then run at 4.6 GHz when running yes > /dev/null.