Intel's Raptor Lake Reportedly Has 350W Turbo Mode, But Only on New Motherboards

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When Raptor becomes Velociraptor.

Intel
(Image credit: Image by Tom's Hardware, mockup by Universal Pictures)

According to a new report, Intel's 13th-Generation Raptor Lake processors will have a secret sauce to offer unbeatable performance in demanding applications: A new 350W power limit that you can trigger with a new turbo mode that will increase CPU clocks. There is a catch, though — the 350W mode will only work on select motherboards with Intel's 700-series chipsets. 

The new 350W MTP mode will allow Intel's next-generation Core i9 processors to gain about 15% higher performance, albeit for a limited amount of time, reports ProHardver. The mode will also require extremely capable cooling systems, so we would guess that the vast majority of next-gen Core i9 owners will have to use either an advanced liquid cooling system or a monstrous air cooler. 

Intel's 13th-Gen Core 'Raptor Lake' processors are designed to be compatible with Intel 600-series chipsets-based motherboards originally intended for 12th-Gen Core 'Alder Lake' CPUs, which is why they should feature the same power levels: 125W – 150W processor base power (PBP) for base clocks and 241W maximum thermal power (MTP) for turbo clocks. But in a bid to increase the maximum performance of the upcoming Raptor Lake processors, Intel enables an all-new 350W MTP on select motherboards featuring its flagship Z790 chipset. 

In fact, Intel's Core i9-12900KS already supports the company's Enhanced Thermal Velocity Boost (ETVB) feature that increases the MTP beyond 241W, which is the company's sixth adaptive boost level for client chips that enables very high single-core turbo clocks for 'tau' seconds. With Intel's next-generation Core i9 CPUs, the 350W velociraptor mode will likely bring more tangible performance gains, but also for a limited amount of time. It will likely be long enough to make Raptor Lake extremely competitive with the best desktop CPUs for gaming and the best workstation CPUs. 

Virtually all makers of enthusiast-grade motherboards now equip their products with very sophisticated voltage regulating modules (VRMs) that can deliver hundreds of Watts to the CPU (with some going beyond 1kW), so it is likely that most of Intel 790-based platforms will support this 350W turbo mode. It remains to be seen how expensive those motherboards will be.

EDIT, 8/18/2022: Clarified clock behavior. 

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Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

35 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jeremyj_83
    If this is true that is an absolutely insane amount of power.
    Reply
  • ezst036
    Will there be a "turbo" button on the outside of the computer case for this?

    Reply
  • einheriar
    ezst036 said:
    Will there be a "turbo" button on the outside of the computer case for this?

    I would love to find a case like that, want to build a sleeper PC..
    Reply
  • jeremyj_83
    ezst036 said:
    Will there be a "turbo" button on the outside of the computer case for this?

    When I was a kid, we had a 486 DX 33 with the turbo button. That brings back a lot of old memories.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    einheriar said:
    Sorry but a power draw like that is insane
    2 minutes at 150W or 1 minute at 300W, which one do you think uses more power?
    This isn't a power draw it's a choice, you can fine tune all the software you use and only apply high power to the ones where it makes sense.

    Nobody runs their cars at full speed to get to the corner grocery store, why do you think that people would use 350W to play tetris?.

    <Moderator edit for content>
    Reply
  • jeremyj_83
    TerryLaze said:
    2 minutes at 150W or 1 minute at 300W, which one do you think uses more power?
    This isn't a power draw it's a choice, you can fine tune all the software you use and only apply high power to the ones where it makes sense.

    Nobody runs their cars at full speed to get to the corner grocery store, why do you think that people would use 350W to play tetris?.
    The difference is 2 minutes at 150W is a heck of a lot easier to cool than 1 minute at 300W even though they use the same absolute amount of power.

    The 350W limit wouldn't be hit during Tetris, that is just a useless comment. You would find that happening during things that are going to stress the CPU. You might even see that while playing some games but for sure during AVX type stuff.
    Reply
  • btmedic04
    You can always tell how competitive intel thinks amd will be given by how high they let the power limit run. 350w is insane and tells me that intel is really concerned
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    jeremyj_83 said:
    The difference is 2 minutes at 150W is a heck of a lot easier to cool than 1 minute at 300W even though they use the same absolute amount of power.
    No it's not harder unless the CPU can blow up within 60 sec, you can let the CPU increase temps and deal with the heat after it clocks down again.
    harder to cool is only relevant for sustained power draws.
    jeremyj_83 said:
    The 350W limit wouldn't be hit during Tetris, that is just a useless comment. You would find that happening during things that are going to stress the CPU. You might even see that while playing some games but for sure during AVX type stuff.
    That's why I said that you can tune each thing you run and only allow high power to the things where it makes sense.
    Reply
  • King_V
    btmedic04 said:
    You can always tell how competitive intel thinks amd will be given by how high they let the power limit run. 350w is insane and tells me that intel is really concerned

    That's my suspicion. It smacks of a little bit of desperation.

    Short-sighted stupidity, in my opinion.

    Sane People: "Rocket Lake used too much power, and ran too hot!"

    Intel: "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!"

    Sane People: 🤦‍♂️
    Reply
  • Gam3r01
    King_V said:
    That's my suspicion. It smacks of a little bit of desperation.

    Short-sighted stupidity, in my opinion.

    Sane People: "Rocket Lake used too much power, and ran too hot!"

    Intel: "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!"

    Sane People: 🤦‍♂️
    Crazy to think a processor like the FX 9590 now looks reasonable in terms of power consumption.
    Same case back then too, throw was much power at an 8320 as you can and market it as a higher performing processor.
    Reply