Voltage , also known as (electrical) potential difference , electric pressure , or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field , it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to move a positive test charge from the first point to the second point. In the International System of Units (SI), the derived unit for voltage is the volt (V) .
48-493: Enhanced SpeedStep is a series of dynamic frequency scaling technologies (codenamed Geyserville and including SpeedStep, SpeedStep II , and SpeedStep III ) built into some Intel 's microprocessors that allow the clock speed of the processor to be dynamically changed (to different P-states ) by software. This allows the processor to meet the instantaneous performance needs of the operation being performed, while minimizing power draw and heat generation . EIST (SpeedStep III)
96-733: A bridge circuit . The cathode-ray oscilloscope works by amplifying the voltage and using it to deflect an electron beam from a straight path, so that the deflection of the beam is proportional to the voltage. A common voltage for flashlight batteries is 1.5 volts (DC). A common voltage for automobile batteries is 12 volts (DC). Common voltages supplied by power companies to consumers are 110 to 120 volts (AC) and 220 to 240 volts (AC). The voltage in electric power transmission lines used to distribute electricity from power stations can be several hundred times greater than consumer voltages, typically 110 to 1200 kV (AC). The voltage used in overhead lines to power railway locomotives
144-425: A CPU with a capacitance C , running at frequency f and voltage V is approximately: For a given processor, C is a fixed value. However, V and f can vary considerably. For example, for a 1.6 GHz Pentium M , the clock frequency can be stepped down in 200 MHz decrements over the range from 1.6 to 0.6 GHz. At the same time, the voltage requirement decreases from 1.484 to 0.956 V. The result
192-484: A chip may run at is related to the operating voltage. The efficiency of some electrical components, such as voltage regulators, decreases with increasing temperature, so the power usage may increase with temperature. Since increasing power use may increase the temperature, increases in voltage or frequency may increase system power demands even further than the CMOS formula indicates, and vice versa. ACPI 1.0 (1996) defines
240-482: A given rate of work, a CPU running at a higher clock rate will execute a greater proportion of HLT instructions. The simple equation which relates power, voltage and frequency above also does not take into account the static power consumption of the CPU. This tends not to change with frequency, but does change with temperature and voltage. Microsoft has reported that there may be problems previewing video files when SpeedStep (or
288-549: A microprocessor can be automatically adjusted "on the fly" depending on the actual needs, to conserve power and reduce the amount of heat generated by the chip. Dynamic frequency scaling helps preserve battery on mobile devices and decrease cooling cost and noise on quiet computing settings , or can be useful as a security measure for overheated systems (e.g. after poor overclocking ). Dynamic frequency scaling almost always appear in conjunction with dynamic voltage scaling , since higher frequencies require higher supply voltages for
336-524: A performance level range and a "efficiency/performance preference" hint from the OS. Dynamic frequency scaling reduces the number of instructions a processor can issue in a given amount of time, thus reducing performance. Hence, it is generally used when the workload is not CPU-bound. Dynamic frequency scaling by itself is rarely worthwhile as a way to conserve switching power. Saving the highest possible amount of power requires dynamic voltage scaling too, because of
384-472: A physical scalar quantity . A voltmeter can be used to measure the voltage between two points in a system. Often a common reference potential such as the ground of the system is used as one of the points. In this case, voltage is often mentioned at a point without completely mentioning the other measurement point. A voltage can be associated with either a source of energy or the loss, dissipation, or storage of energy. The SI unit of work per unit charge
432-540: A technology named LongHaul (PowerSaver), while Transmeta 's version was called LongRun . The 36-processor AsAP 1 chip is among the first multi-core processor chips to support completely unconstrained clock operation (requiring only that frequencies are below the maximum allowed) including arbitrary changes in frequency, starts, and stops. The 167-processor AsAP 2 chip is the first multi-core processor chip which enables individual processors to make fully unconstrained changes to their own clock frequencies. According to
480-400: A unitless quantity) and f is the clock frequency. Voltage is therefore the main determinant of power usage and heating. The voltage required for stable operation is determined by the frequency at which the circuit is clocked, and can be reduced if the frequency is also reduced. Dynamic power alone does not account for the total power of the chip, however, as there is also static power, which
528-455: A way for a CPU to go to idle "C states", but defines no frequency-scaling system. ACPI 2.0 (2000) introduces a system of P states (power-performance states) that a processor can use to communicate its possible frequency–power settings to the OS. The operating system then sets the speed as needed by switching between these states. Throttling technology such as SpeedStep, PowerNow!/Cool'n'Quiet, and PowerSaver all work through P states. There
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#1732858162278576-423: A well-defined voltage between nodes in the circuit, since the electric force is not a conservative force in those cases. However, at lower frequencies when the electric and magnetic fields are not rapidly changing, this can be neglected (see electrostatic approximation ). The electric potential can be generalized to electrodynamics, so that differences in electric potential between points are well-defined even in
624-472: Is overclocking , whereby processor performance is increased by ramping the processor's (dynamic) frequency beyond the manufacturer's design specifications. One major difference between the two is that in modern PC systems overclocking is mostly done over the Front Side Bus (mainly because the multiplier is normally locked), but dynamic frequency scaling is done with the multiplier . Moreover, overclocking
672-448: Is a limit of 16 states maximum. ACPI 5.0 (2011) introduces collaborative processor performance control (CPPC), exposing hundreds of performance levels to the OS for selection in the form of a "performance level" abstracted away from the frequency. This abstraction provides some leeway for the processor to adjust its workings in ways other than just the frequency. A number of modern CPUs can perform frequency scaling autonomously, using
720-463: Is a well-defined voltage across the inductor's terminals. This is the reason that measurements with a voltmeter across an inductor are often reasonably independent of the placement of the test leads. The volt (symbol: V ) is the derived unit for electric potential , voltage, and electromotive force . The volt is named in honour of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), who invented
768-548: Is affected by thermodynamics. The quantity measured by a voltmeter is the negative of the difference of the electrochemical potential of electrons ( Fermi level ) divided by the electron charge and commonly referred to as the voltage difference, while the pure unadjusted electrostatic potential (not measurable with a voltmeter) is sometimes called Galvani potential . The terms "voltage" and "electric potential" are ambiguous in that, in practice, they can refer to either of these in different contexts. The term electromotive force
816-427: Is between 12 kV and 50 kV (AC) or between 0.75 kV and 3 kV (DC). Inside a conductive material, the energy of an electron is affected not only by the average electric potential but also by the specific thermal and atomic environment that it is in. When a voltmeter is connected between two different types of metal, it measures not the electrostatic potential difference, but instead something else that
864-417: Is defined so that negatively charged objects are pulled towards higher voltages, while positively charged objects are pulled towards lower voltages. Therefore, the conventional current in a wire or resistor always flows from higher voltage to lower voltage. Historically, voltage has been referred to using terms like "tension" and "pressure". Even today, the term "tension" is still used, for example within
912-671: Is not to save battery life, as it is not used in AMD's mobile processor line, but instead with the purpose of producing less heat, which in turn allows the system fan to spin down to slower speeds, resulting in cooler and quieter operation, hence the name of the technology. AMD's PowerNow! CPU throttling technology is used in its mobile processor line, though some supporting CPUs like the AMD K6-2 + can be found in desktops as well. AMD PowerTune and AMD ZeroCore Power are dynamic frequency scaling technologies for GPUs . VIA Technologies processors use
960-470: Is often static, while dynamic frequency scaling is always dynamic. Software can often incorporate overclocked frequencies into the frequency scaling algorithm, if the chip degradation risks are allowable. Intel 's CPU throttling technology, SpeedStep , is used in its mobile and desktop CPU lines. AMD employs two different CPU throttling technologies. AMD's Cool'n'Quiet technology is used on its desktop and server processor lines. The aim of Cool'n'Quiet
1008-491: Is primarily because of various leakage currents. Due to static power consumption and asymptotic execution time it has been shown that the energy consumption of software shows convex energy behavior, i.e., there exists an optimal CPU frequency at which energy consumption is minimized. Leakage current has become more and more important as transistor sizes have become smaller and threshold voltage levels are reduced. A decade ago, dynamic power accounted for approximately two-thirds of
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#17328581622781056-480: Is that the power consumption theoretically goes down by a factor of 6.4. In practice, the effect may be smaller because some CPU instructions use less energy per tick of the CPU clock than others. For example, when an operating system is not busy, it tends to issue x86 halt ( HLT ) instructions, which suspend operation of parts of the CPU for a time period, so it uses less energy per tick of the CPU clock than when executing productive instructions in its normal state. For
1104-547: Is the joule per coulomb , where 1 volt = 1 joule (of work) per 1 coulomb of charge. The old SI definition for volt used power and current ; starting in 1990, the quantum Hall and Josephson effect were used, and in 2019 physical constants were given defined values for the definition of all SI units. Voltage is denoted symbolically by Δ V {\displaystyle \Delta V} , simplified V , especially in English -speaking countries. Internationally,
1152-530: Is the intensity of the electric field. In this case, the voltage increase from point A to point B is equal to the work done per unit charge, against the electric field, to move the charge from A to B without causing any acceleration. Mathematically, this is expressed as the line integral of the electric field along that path. In electrostatics, this line integral is independent of the path taken. Under this definition, any circuit where there are time-varying magnetic fields, such as AC circuits , will not have
1200-450: Is the sum of the voltage between A and B and the voltage between B and C . The various voltages in a circuit can be computed using Kirchhoff's circuit laws . When talking about alternating current (AC) there is a difference between instantaneous voltage and average voltage. Instantaneous voltages can be added for direct current (DC) and AC, but average voltages can be meaningfully added only when they apply to signals that all have
1248-631: The ACPI Specs, the C0 working state of a modern-day CPU can be divided into the so-called "P"-states (performance states) which allow clock rate reduction and "T"-states (throttling states) which will further throttle down a CPU (but not the actual clock rate) by inserting STPCLK (stop clock) signals and thus omitting duty cycles. Different ARM-based systems on chip provide CPU and GPU throttling. Power Saving Technologies: Performance Boosting Technologies: Voltage The voltage between points can be caused by
1296-430: The voltaic pile , possibly the first chemical battery . A simple analogy for an electric circuit is water flowing in a closed circuit of pipework , driven by a mechanical pump . This can be called a "water circuit". The potential difference between two points corresponds to the pressure difference between two points. If the pump creates a pressure difference between two points, then water flowing from one point to
1344-401: The AMD equivalent PowerNow! ) is enabled under Windows 2000 or Windows XP. In contrast, AMD has supplied and supported drivers for its competing PowerNow! technology that work on Windows 2000, ME, 98, and NT. Dynamic frequency scaling Dynamic frequency scaling (also known as CPU throttling ) is a power management technique in computer architecture whereby the frequency of
1392-495: The V component and the fact that modern CPUs are strongly optimized for low power idle states. In most constant-voltage cases, it is more efficient to run briefly at peak speed and stay in a deep idle state for longer time (called " race to idle " or computational sprinting), than it is to run at a reduced clock rate for a long time and only stay briefly in a light idle state. However, reducing voltage along with clock rate can change those trade-offs. A related-but-opposite technique
1440-399: The build-up of electric charge (e.g., a capacitor ), and from an electromotive force (e.g., electromagnetic induction in a generator ). On a macroscopic scale, a potential difference can be caused by electrochemical processes (e.g., cells and batteries), the pressure-induced piezoelectric effect , and the thermoelectric effect . Since it is the difference in electric potential, it is
1488-413: The circuit are not negligible, then their effects can be modelled by adding mutual inductance elements. In the case of a physical inductor though, the ideal lumped representation is often accurate. This is because the external fields of inductors are generally negligible, especially if the inductor has a closed magnetic path . If external fields are negligible, we find that is path-independent, and there
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1536-431: The device with respect to a common reference point (or ground ). The voltage drop is the difference between the two readings. Two points in an electric circuit that are connected by an ideal conductor without resistance and not within a changing magnetic field have a voltage of zero. Any two points with the same potential may be connected by a conductor and no current will flow between them. The voltage between A and C
1584-466: The digital circuit to yield correct results. The combined topic is known as dynamic voltage and frequency scaling ( DVFS ). The dynamic power ( switching power ) dissipated by a chip is C·V ·A·f , where C is the capacitance being switched per clock cycle, V is voltage , A is the Activity Factor indicating the average number of switching events per clock cycle by the transistors in the chip (as
1632-446: The electric field in the region exterior to each component is conservative, and voltages between nodes in the circuit are well-defined, where as long as the path of integration does not pass through the inside of any component. The above is the same formula used in electrostatics. This integral, with the path of integration being along the test leads, is what a voltmeter will actually measure. If uncontained magnetic fields throughout
1680-428: The electric field, rather than to differences in electric potential. In this case, the voltage rise along some path P {\displaystyle {\mathcal {P}}} from r A {\displaystyle \mathbf {r} _{A}} to r B {\displaystyle \mathbf {r} _{B}} is given by: However, in this case the "voltage" between two points depends on
1728-407: The other will be able to do work, such as driving a turbine . Similarly, work can be done by an electric current driven by the potential difference provided by a battery . For example, the voltage provided by a sufficiently-charged automobile battery can "push" a large current through the windings of an automobile's starter motor . If the pump is not working, it produces no pressure difference, and
1776-424: The path taken. In circuit analysis and electrical engineering , lumped element models are used to represent and analyze circuits. These elements are idealized and self-contained circuit elements used to model physical components. When using a lumped element model, it is assumed that the effects of changing magnetic fields produced by the circuit are suitably contained to each element. Under these assumptions,
1824-697: The phrase " high tension " (HT) which is commonly used in thermionic valve ( vacuum tube ) based and automotive electronics. In electrostatics , the voltage increase from point r A {\displaystyle \mathbf {r} _{A}} to some point r B {\displaystyle \mathbf {r} _{B}} is given by the change in electrostatic potential V {\textstyle V} from r A {\displaystyle \mathbf {r} _{A}} to r B {\displaystyle \mathbf {r} _{B}} . By definition, this is: where E {\displaystyle \mathbf {E} }
1872-430: The points across which the voltage is measured. When using a voltmeter to measure voltage, one electrical lead of the voltmeter must be connected to the first point, one to the second point. A common use of the term "voltage" is in describing the voltage dropped across an electrical device (such as a resistor). The voltage drop across the device can be understood as the difference between measurements at each terminal of
1920-414: The presence of time-varying fields. However, unlike in electrostatics, the electric field can no longer be expressed only in terms of the electric potential. Furthermore, the potential is no longer uniquely determined up to a constant, and can take significantly different forms depending on the choice of gauge . In this general case, some authors use the word "voltage" to refer to the line integral of
1968-415: The same frequency and phase. Instruments for measuring voltages include the voltmeter , the potentiometer , and the oscilloscope . Analog voltmeters , such as moving-coil instruments, work by measuring the current through a fixed resistor, which, according to Ohm's law , is proportional to the voltage across the resistor. The potentiometer works by balancing the unknown voltage against a known voltage in
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2016-423: The same processor is run at a lower frequency (speed), it generates less heat and consumes less power. In many cases, the core voltage can also be reduced, further reducing power consumption and heat generation. By using SpeedStep, users can select the balance of power conservation and performance that best suits them, or even change the clock speed dynamically as the processor burden changes. The power consumed by
2064-465: The symbol U is standardized. It is used, for instance, in the context of Ohm's or Kirchhoff's circuit laws . The electrochemical potential is the voltage that can be directly measured with a voltmeter. The Galvani potential that exists in structures with junctions of dissimilar materials is also work per charge but cannot be measured with a voltmeter in the external circuit (see § Galvani potential vs. electrochemical potential ). Voltage
2112-399: The total chip power. The power loss due to leakage currents in contemporary CPUs and SoCs tend to dominate the total power consumption. In the attempt to control the leakage power, high-k metal-gates and power gating have been common methods. Dynamic voltage scaling is another related power conservation technique that is often used in conjunction with frequency scaling, as the frequency that
2160-401: The turbine will not rotate. Likewise, if the automobile's battery is very weak or "dead" (or "flat"), then it will not turn the starter motor. The hydraulic analogy is a useful way of understanding many electrical concepts. In such a system, the work done to move water is equal to the " pressure drop" (compare p.d.) multiplied by the volume of water moved. Similarly, in an electrical circuit,
2208-465: The work done to move electrons or other charge carriers is equal to "electrical pressure difference" multiplied by the quantity of electrical charges moved. In relation to "flow", the larger the "pressure difference" between two points (potential difference or water pressure difference), the greater the flow between them (electric current or water flow). (See " electric power ".) Specifying a voltage measurement requires explicit or implicit specification of
2256-612: Was first used by Volta in a letter to Giovanni Aldini in 1798, and first appeared in a published paper in 1801 in Annales de chimie et de physique . Volta meant by this a force that was not an electrostatic force, specifically, an electrochemical force. The term was taken up by Michael Faraday in connection with electromagnetic induction in the 1820s. However, a clear definition of voltage and method of measuring it had not been developed at this time. Volta distinguished electromotive force (emf) from tension (potential difference):
2304-560: Was introduced in several Prescott 6 series in the first quarter of 2005, namely the Pentium 4 660. Intel Speed Shift Technology (SST) was introduced in Intel Skylake Processor. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology is sometimes abbreviated as EIST . Intel's trademark of "Intel SpeedStep" was canceled due to the trademark being invalidated in 2012. Running a processor at high clock speeds allows for better performance. However, when
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