Enable/disable CPU turbo boost from command line

Intel’s turbo boost can be enabled and disabled in Windows using the command line.

First we need to check the active profile.

powercfg.exe /GETACTIVESCHEME
Power Scheme GUID: 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c  (High performance)

By default Windows does not display the turbo boost setting via the powercfg utility. To enable it use the command:

powercfg.exe -attributes SUB_PROCESSOR be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7 -ATTRIB_HIDE

Using the current profile’s GUID 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c we can check if turbo boost is enabled or not.

powercfg.exe /QUERY 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7
Power Scheme GUID: 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c  (High performance)
  GUID Alias: SCHEME_MIN
  Subgroup GUID: 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00  (Processor power management)
    GUID Alias: SUB_PROCESSOR
    Power Setting GUID: be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7  (Processor performance boost mode)
      GUID Alias: PERFBOOSTMODE
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Disabled
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Enabled
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Aggressive
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Efficient Enabled
      Possible Setting Index: 004
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Efficient Aggressive
      Possible Setting Index: 005
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Aggressive At Guaranteed
      Possible Setting Index: 006
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Efficient Aggressive At Guaranteed
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

The output of the command shows that turbo boost is disabled using AC and using DC:

Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000 
Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

To enable turbo boost in AC:

powercfg.exe /SETACVALUEINDEX 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7 003

To enable turbo boost in DC:

powercfg.exe /SETDCVALUEINDEX 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00 be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7 003

The last argument is the index of the turbo boost mode to enable (003 is “Efficient enabled”).

To apply the changes use the command

powercfg.exe -S SCHEME_CURRENT