What does "BURST GHz frequency" mean?

[xfilesman]

I often see "burst ghz" described after th e "regular" ( for "lack" of a better term!) ghz is given...So I am wondering if this 'burst' ghz comes on automatically or, when "needed", because I like pcs to have at least 2.3 ghz or above but all the quad-core pcs have about 1.6 ghz or thereabouts but the DUAL-CORE pcs all seem to be 2.3ghz or higher (or thereabouts) but I will consider a quad-core pc if the supposedly faster "burst" ghz kicks in automatically - when needed - or NOT? Thanks for any 'reply(s)' u guys (or gals!) can give back to me! ☺

[iomare · Accepted solution]

Hi,

It is an automatic process and the quad core Processors will be more powerfull than the dual core processors. 

For example the i7 8500U processor which I have in my PV has a base 1.8 Ghz and Turbo 4.0Ghz. It will also save loads of energy having low base frequency and will increase in frequency when needed.

https://ark.intel.com/products/122589/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_00-GHz

further info:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007359/processors/intel-core-processors....

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/turbo-boost/turbo-boost-technolo...

Hope it helps,

David

[xfilesman]

08/05/18 -

Dear David,

Thanks for the "info" (or 'clarification') of "burst" technology! I have just been shopping on HSN or QVC mainly for my laptop purchases and their "quad-core" laptops usually show only 1.6ghz, or thereabouts, in the "specs" section, but without the burst technology. But, I have been noticing more amd more qc laptops with this technology which is great, because I had a very poor experience with a AMD quad-core laptop I purchased awhile back from HSN. Got good reviews, decent price (around $400), had only 4mb ram - another 'spec' I look for in a "fast" pc, and the ghz was only 1.6 with NO Burst GHz. But, of course, I was hearing a lot of good things about the quad core - mainly from the show 'hosts', probably my mistake! Pc was slower than molasses and was locking up or crashing all the time so I took it down to my local, fairly reliable and knowledgable computer shop to see if they could increase the speed any, as well as eliminate the "lockups". They sold me a "solid-state" hd (150 gb - I don't store much "info" onto my hard drives), increased the ram to 8mb but they said they could not increase the ghz because it was "soldered" into the processor. So, basically, long story short(!), my Gateway laptop - which previous laptops I purchased in that brand, were fairly reliable - (they "morphed" into their parent company - Acer?) showed some improvement in speed, which I is mainly what I look for in a pc - just surfing the web, making purchases, wording processing and doing email - but it still locked up on me and basically was still fairly slow in "flipping" web pages, even with the solid-state hard drive which I am not fairly sure if ss hds have anything to do with increasing speed or not. So, basically the three things I look for in purchasing a pc NOW, is 1. Intel processor; 2. 8 RAM (or more) and 3. mid-2 GHz speed, and I am just I just shopping for HP(!) laptops because the current laptop I am writing to u on right now is a fairly fast HP, with all the three above requirements met! Sorry for the long response but even though I have owned laptop(s) - for me and my wife - since 2008, I am still learning about the "ins" and "outs" of 'current' pc technology which, as u probably know, comes upon "consumers" at 'break-neck' speed(!) even though I still do get a lot of my computer-related 'info' from watching the HSN/QVC "presentations" - I do "flexpay" - easier on the budget, what can I say?! Thanks for any further comments you may wish to send to me! In regards, te :-]