Clock Frequencies and Boost Clock Analysis

Most modern processors feature a capability called "Boost" or "Turbo" that automatically overclocks the CPU beyond the nominal clock frequency provided certain conditions related to thread-count, power-draw, and temperatures are met. Our testing on this page investigates what actual real-life frequencies can be achieved in such scenarios. The data below presents the minimum, maximum, and average clock frequency of a given core/thread-count combination for a typical heavy workload. We start with one thread and go all the way up to the CPU's maximum thread count while at the same time measuring the average clock frequency for these timed testing runs.



As you can see from the data above, the Core i5-8600 reaches its maximum Turbo Boost multiplier (43x) only with single-thread workloads (as expected). We do see the two-core multiplier engaged too because the OS will run background tasks from time to time, which bring the active core count (as the processor sees it) to two, which leads to the 2-core boost setting getting activated. For 2-thread, 3-thread, and 4-thread workloads, the processor appears to be deciding on 4.20 GHz as the maximum boost state. 4.10 GHz appears to be the highest 5-thread and 6-thread multiplier, and it is sustained well.

When not loaded at all, the processor's idle clock is 800 MHz.