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Windows has a feature which can be set from the Power Options menu where the CPU is automatically throttled according to usage in order to save power.

How can I view this throttling in real time? For instance, is the CPU Usage in Windows Task Manager a good indicator?

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2 Answers 2

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Windows 7 has a tool called Resource Monitor which shows this. You can launch it by pressing Windows+R to bring up the Run dialog, then type perfmon.exe /res and press Enter.

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On the CPU panel, the Maximum Frequency (small blue graph) shows at what power the CPU is currently operating.

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    Can someone confirm that this is correct? I will wait for other answers until then.
    – Superbest
    Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 2:01
  • Why don't you try it?
    – Xavierjazz
    Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 2:16
  • @Xavierjazz I have tried it: When I increase the minimum activity under Power Options the Maximum Frequency appears to increase. However, even with the minimum set to 5%, it jumps all over the place quite a bit any way, so I hesitate to treat this experiment as conclusive.
    – Superbest
    Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 2:54
  • This question started to interest me as well. So have you figured out if it is the case? Does the Maximum Frequency drop when the CPU is being throttled?
    – Divin3
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 4:39
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I like using CoreTemp. It runs as admin, but it's free and signed by GlobalSign in the authors name.

What's cool is seeing how throttling conserves energy. Here's an example:

ThrottledUnthrottled

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  • Does Core Temp show the current throttle level? I thought it only showed load (assuming these two aren't the same thing).
    – Superbest
    Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 3:08
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    @Superbest Well it shows a couple of throttles, the CPU multiplier and voltage level. The multiplier is the second multiplcand in Frequency, I'm not sure what the correct term for the first is anymore. The voltage is next to VID. With recent Intel chips, if you pay very close attention you might notice some cores get throttled while one or more gets unthrolled (boosted) on things like single-threaded workloads.
    – Louis Waweru
    Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 3:12

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