Question regarding Intel Turbo Boost

[DarkSharingan]

Hey everyone, please excuse me if this should have been posted somewhere else, wasn’t
sure whether to post here or the hardware section, but anyway...

So the last couple of days I’ve been curious as to how exactly the Intel Turbo Technology
works, reading a FAQ on intels website gave me some insight into this, like how Turbo Boost turns off idle cores in order to overclock
the remaining cores, aswell as how the overlock will vary depending on the amount
of cores that is being disabled. However, reading the faq also rose a question of mine.

When I play using Dolphin, I normally use HLE, which means 2 of my 4 cores will be used for
Dolphin, which results in Intel Turbo boost boosting my CPU to 3.8Ghz by disabling
the other 2 cores , BUT whenever I take a look at CoreTemp while running a game
in Dolphin, it says that all 4 cores are in use (there is activity on all 4
cores).

Not that I’m complaining, but if all 4 cores are in use, Turbo boost shouldn’t really
activate should it? I know it is activated, because I have a program telling me
so, so what is the deal here? Is turbo boost running or not?

Should I use Dolphins “Lock thread to cores” in order to ensure that turbo boost is
activated or is this not necessary?

Just trying to get the most of out Turbo boost, I know a real overclock would be more effective, but i've never tried this before, and the idea of a temporary overclock is pretty neat aswell.

[NaturalViolence]

There is a difference between how nehalem/westmere's turbo boost (turbo boost 1.0) and sandy/ivy bridge's turbo boost (turbo boost 2.0) work.

I'll elaborate in a couple of hours when I get home.

[NaturalViolence]

No I won't. I don't have time. I have to get ready for tomorrow and I'm going to be out of town for almost a week. Just google sandy bridge turbo boost and you'll probably find the information that you're looking for.

[DarkSharingan]

XD, alright, well thanks for the answer NV, was starting to worry that nobody would respond to my thread. I think i already know the answer as to why Turbo boost in on even though all 4 cores are in use, but i always like to have someone confirm whether i understand "this and that" right. And i'm still not sure whether or not i have to enable "lock thread to cores" to get the most out of turbo boost, i tried turning it on yesterday, but CoreTemp still reported activity on all 4 cores. Oh well, guess i'll google a bit more, thanks again.

[NaturalViolence]

Yeah it happens to me on my ivy bridge cpu too. It just OC all of the cores to max as long as the power consumption, current, and temperature stay low enough and at least one core is under heavy load. *shrugs*