 | |
| Design firm | Advanced Micro Devices |
|---|---|
| Introduced | April 2000 |
| Discontinued | February 2017 |
| Type | Dynamic frequency scaling technology |
AMD PowerNow! wasAMD'sdynamic frequency scaling and power saving technology targeted at mobile and embeddedmicroprocessors. It allows for thecore voltage andfrequency to be controlled on-the-fly by the hostoperating system, orBIOS forembedded systems. PowerNow! was introduced with AMD's embedded processors using theirK6 architecture, with the goal to combat the ever-increasing power demands and heat output withmicroprocessors at the time.[1][2]
The technology is similar in concept toIntel's first generationSpeedStep technology. However, at the time PowerNow! was released,Intel'sSpeedStep only allowed the system to step between two predefined states forcore voltage andfrequency (high and low). This is in contrast toAMD's implementation which allowed for up to 32 customizable settings forcore voltage andfrequency, with steps as small as 25 or 50 mV and 33 to 55 MHz respectively. Thecore frequency itself can also be controlled independently.[1][3]
Though PowerNow! was originally designed with mobile andembedded systems in mind, it was adapted for use indesktop andserver applications with the advent ofCool'n'Quiet andOptimized Power Management respectively. All three of these technologies aimed to complete the same goal for different segments of the market. PowerNow! as a feature was supported onAMD'sserver anddesktopmicroprocessors and were not exclusive toembedded or mobile systems. It was retired and succeeded byAMD's SenseMI's Pure Power feature in 2017 with the introduction of the first generationZen architecture.[4]
Power Saving Technologies:
Performance Boosting Technologies:
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