Harman Patil (Editor)

PowerNow!

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Design firm
  
Advanced Micro Devices

Type
  
dynamic frequency scaling

AMD PowerNow! is AMD's dynamic frequency scaling and power saving technology for laptop processors. The CPU's clock speed and VCore are automatically decreased when the computer is under low load or idle, to save battery power, reduce heat and noise. The lifetime of the CPU is also extended because of reduced electromigration, which varies exponentially with temperature.

The technology is a concept similar to Intel's SpeedStep technology. The adaptation of PowerNow! for AMD's desktop CPUs is called Cool'n'Quiet. Newer Opterons also use an adaptation of PowerNow! called Optimized Power Management.

Processors supporting PowerNow!

  • K6-2+
  • K6-III+
  • Athlon XP-M - some models.
  • Mobile Athlon 64
  • Mobile Sempron
  • Turion 64 and X2
  • Athlon II
  • AMD Accelerated Processing Unit
  • References

    PowerNow! Wikipedia