What exactly does the Ultimate Performance power plan on Windows 10/11?

[Azurael]

I just found out this is an option, but I have never seen it in any system. 

 

How does it differ from the High Performance Power plan?

Is there a risk with using it given the fact it is not there by default?

[Hellowpplz]

1 minute ago, Azurael said:

I just found out this is an option, but I have never seen it in any system. 

 

How does it differ from the High Performance Power plan?

Is there a risk with using it given the fact it is not there by default?

Basically it makes the cpu minimum and maximum speed be set to 100% (along-side some other settings related to disk-drives sleep and screen off and sleep mode). Meaning that regardless of your workload your cpu will run at it's full speed. This could reduce your cpu life-span, and I really wouldn't put it on it except for when your running heavy tasks and you suspect your cpu is holding back.

[manikyath]

2 minutes ago, Hellowpplz said:

This could reduce your cpu life-span

assuming this is max clock and not boost clock, there's no reason why it would reduce the expected lifespan in any sensible metric what so ever. on that note.. neither would boost clock, assuming you're not running some OC.

 

what it *does* do is waste a LOT of power..

 

4 minutes ago, Hellowpplz said:

I really wouldn't put it on it except for when your running heavy tasks and you suspect your cpu is holding back.

i got news for you.. if you're running these heavy tasks, your cpu will go turbo clocks either way, so the power plan makes zero difference.

(unless if you're comparing to a SUPER mellow profile where it wont actually turbo.. but i dont exactly recommend those profiles either.)

[Hellowpplz]

10 minutes ago, manikyath said:

if you're running these heavy tasks, your cpu will go turbo clocks either way, so the power plan makes zero difference.

Im saying for like troubleshooting purposes. Im aware of this already im not living under a rock . I've had times where the cpu really would straight REFUSE to go to near it's max clock but then this plan fixed it (as you said). *cough cough* dell power manager *cough cough*

[Mumintroll]

Just use the High performace power plan.

Never switch to Balanced power plan, unless you're using a laptop. Balanced can cause instability.

[GuiltySpark_]

15 minutes ago, Mumintroll said:

Just use the High performace power plan.

Never switch to Balanced power plan, unless you're using a laptop. Balanced can cause instability.

Bad information/advice. 

 

For 99% of users, Balanced is where you should be. High Performance is useful for troubleshooting but in Balanced your chip will properly clock up and down as needed and as expected. Instability is not a concern, I'm not sure where this user is getting their information.

 

There is no reason for it to be sitting at its maximum clocks all the time while idling. 

[Kilrah]

Balanced is standard. High performance will keep the CPU at full speed not allowing it to clock down. Almost zero benefit outside of benchmarking where you might want to eliminate the tiny delay between something needing horsepower and the CPU speeding up to give it, but at the cost of a significant increase in idle power draw.

 

My 13900K draws about 30W in normal "idle" in Balanced mode, doubles to 60W in High Performance from clocks going from average 2GHz to 5.7...

 

If you have instability on the Balanced plan there's something very wrong with your hardware/BIOS settings.

[Mumintroll]

3 hours ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

Bad information/advice. 

 

For 99% of users, Balanced is where you should be. High Performance is useful for troubleshooting but in Balanced your chip will properly clock up and down as needed and as expected. Instability is not a concern, I'm not sure where this user is getting their information.

 

There is no reason for it to be sitting at its maximum clocks all the time while idling. 

 

Oh but there are alot of instability and performance issues written over the years if you just search for it.

From stuttering, to audio crackles and dropouts, worse performance and so on.

Every pc is unique, with each their own set of hardware. The high performance power plan is the most compatible. Sure if balanced works for you then go ahead and use it, but don't go and ridiculate others for using the high performance power plan.

[GuiltySpark_]

2 minutes ago, Mumintroll said:

 

Oh but there are alot of instability and performance issues written over the years if you just search for it.

From stuttering, to audio crackles and dropouts, worse performance and so on.

Every pc is unique, with each their own set of hardware. The high performance power plan is the most compatible. Sure if balanced works for you then go ahead and use it, but don't go and ridiculate others for using the high performance power plan.

The standard is Balanced. The issues you are talking about may have happened to you and that sucks but it doesn't mean its a good idea to suggest that other do the same without explaining what it actually does and the downsides. 

 

Like we've said, useful troubleshooting tool but completely unnecessary to run 24/7 if you have a healthy system. I'm sorry if you felt ridiculed but unnecessary advice should be countered. 

[Azurael]

1 hour ago, Kilrah said:

Balanced is standard. High performance will keep the CPU at full speed not allowing it to clock down. Almost zero benefit outside of benchmarking where you might want to eliminate the tiny delay between something needing horsepower and the CPU speeding up to give it, but at the cost of a significant increase in idle power draw.

 

My 13900K draws about 30W in normal "idle" in Balanced mode, doubles to 60W in High Performance from clocks going from average 2GHz to 5.7...

 

If you have instability on the Balanced plan there's something very wrong with your hardware/BIOS settings.

When gaming what plan do you use? I just set to high performance for everything so I don't forget to change it. If I don't have a routine that includied switch my power plan I would always forget to change it.

[GuiltySpark_]

5 minutes ago, Azurael said:

When gaming what plan do you use? I just set to high performance for everything so I don't forget to change it. If I don't have a routine that includied switch my power plan I would always forget to change it.

Why would you ever change it off Balanced unless you were troubleshooting? 

 

Frankly, I think the naming being "High Performance" is part of the problem. People, as we can see, think this means their games will run faster when in reality that isn't the case. (unless, again, something isn't working as expected)

 

The only time I ever even think about touching power plans is on laptops. Desktops are set and forget to Balanced.

[Mumintroll]

 

[Mumintroll]

It's funny when people defend Balanced power plan and at the same time build their rigs with power hungry components.

If you really cared about power consumption why did you pick I9 and that beefy gpu in the first place?

[GuiltySpark_]

Just now, Mumintroll said:

It's funny when people defend Balanced power plan and at the same time build their rigs with power hungry components.

If you really cared about power consumption why did you pick I9 and that beefy gpu in the first place?

I'm not following here. When sitting at the desktop or scrolling through a web page, why would I need my 7800x3D sitting at 5Ghz? I'm sure you probably run your Nvidia GPU this way too, but why would you need that at full boost clockspeed at idle? Added power draw, fans won't go into zero RPM. 

 

Its just silly to change these things from the defaults for zero benefit. 

 

[Kilrah]

5 minutes ago, Mumintroll said:

It's funny when people defend Balanced power plan and at the same time build their rigs with power hungry components.

If you really cared about power consumption why did you pick I9 and that beefy gpu in the first place?

Because it needs to be powerful when needed. But PCs are used for lots of things, and that need may only be present 10% of the time it's powered on, and having it draw double the power when not necessary makes no sense.

 

29 minutes ago, Azurael said:

When gaming what plan do you use?

Balanced, again no point switching to high perf.

 

50 minutes ago, Mumintroll said:

Oh but there are alot of instability and performance issues written over the years if you just search for it.

Every Windows user is on Balanced unless they change it, while some may have issues there it'll be a tiny fraction and if it happens it's only revealing that there's a problem somewhere else that is what should be fixed.

[Azurael]

8 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Because it needs to be powerful when needed. But PCs are used for lots of things, and that need may only be present 10% of the time it's powered on, and having it draw double the power when not necessary makes no sense.

 

Balanced, again no point switching to high perf.

 

Every Windows user is on Balanced unless they change it, while some may have issues there it'll be a tiny fraction and if it happens it's only revealing that there's a problem somewhere else that is what should be fixed.

So even with Balanced you not leaving anything on still sitting the table for in terms of performance ans the system ramps up and down based on what it needs to run the game? 

If the answer is no I also have to ask, is there any chance of damaging the sytem if left on High Performance for long stretches?

[GuiltySpark_]

30 minutes ago, Azurael said:

So even with Balanced you not leaving anything on still sitting the table for in terms of performance ans the system ramps up and down based on what it needs to run the game? 

No, again, assuming the system is healthy. Modern systems handle this stuff gracefully without any input. 

 

30 minutes ago, Azurael said:

If the answer is no I also have to ask, is there any chance of damaging the sytem if left on High Performance for long stretches?

No, not in any realistic sense. 

[Azurael]

9 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

No, again, assuming the system is healthy. Modern systems handle this stuff gracefully without any input. 

 

No, not in any realistic sense. 

Can you define a healtht modern system just to put my anxious hyopcondiac mind to rest? I tend to over think things and it never helps if I get myself in a tizzy.

[GuiltySpark_]

15 minutes ago, Azurael said:

Can you define a healtht modern system just to put my anxious hyopcondiac mind to rest? I tend to over think things and it never helps if I get myself in a tizzy.

Your PC is fine. I'm not sure what you think you're missing out on but if your OS is up to date, BIOS is up to date and any system level/chipset drivers are up to date you're all good. Start installing weird things that mess with Windows internal power management or thread/process management thats when you screw things up.

[Azurael]

51 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

Your PC is fine. I'm not sure what you think you're missing out on but if your OS is up to date, BIOS is up to date and any system level/chipset drivers are up to date you're all good. Start installing weird things that mess with Windows internal power management or thread/process management thats when you screw things up.

I have not updated the BIOS in year. (Since right after I bought the PC.) I have been meaning to do so, but I really am not looking forward to doing the 6 or more updates one at a time.