Power Management

Figure 4-1. Idle Power Management Breakdown of the Processor Cores

T h re a d 0

T h re a d 1

T h re a d 0

T h re a d 1

C o re 0 S ta te

C o re N S ta te

P ro c e s s o r P a c k a g e S ta te

Figure 4-2. Thread and Core C-State Entry and Exit

 

 

C0

 

 

 

MWAIT(C1), HLT

 

 

MWAIT(C7),

 

 

 

 

 

MWAIT(C1), HLT

 

MWAIT(C6), P_LVL4 I/O Read

 

(C1E Enabled)

MWAIT(C3),

P_LVL3 I/O Read

 

 

 

P_LVL2 I/O Read

 

 

C1

C1E

C3

C6

C7

While individual threads can request low power C-states, power saving actions only take place once the core C-state is resolved. Core C-states are automatically resolved by the processor. For thread and core C-states, a transition to and from C0 is required before entering any other C-state.

4.2.3Requesting Low-Power Idle States

The core C-state will be C1E if all actives cores have also resolved a core C1 state or higher.

The primary software interfaces for requesting low power idle states are through the MWAIT instruction with sub-state hints and the HLT instruction (for C1 and C1E). However, software may make C-state requests using the legacy method of I/O reads from the ACPI-defined processor clock control registers, referred to as P_LVLx. This method of requesting C-states provides legacy support for operating systems that initiate C-state transitions via I/O reads.

Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-1600/E5-2600/E5-4600 Product Families

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Datasheet Volume One

 

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Intel E5-1600, CM8062101038606 Requesting Low-Power Idle States, Idle Power Management Breakdown of the Processor Cores