Intel i7-4600U CL8064701477000 Data Sheet

The processor supports four different types of power-down modes in package C0. The

different power-down modes can be enabled through configuring

"PM_PDWN_config_0_0_0_MCHBAR". The type of CKE power-down can be configured

through PDWN_mode (bits 15:12) and the idle timer can be configured through

PDWN_idle_counter (bits 11:0). The different power-down modes supported are:
•

No power-down (CKE disable)

•

Active power-down (APD): This mode is entered if there are open pages when

de-asserting CKE. In this mode the open pages are retained. Power-saving in this

mode is the lowest. Power consumption of DDR is defined by IDD3P. Exiting this

mode is defined by tXP – small number of cycles. For this mode, DRAM DLL must

be on.

•

PPD/DLL-off: In this mode the data-in DLLs on DDR are off. Power-saving in this

mode is the best among all power modes. Power consumption is defined by

IDD2P1. Exiting this mode is defined by tXP, but also tXPDLL (10–20 according to

DDR type) cycles until first data transfer is allowed. For this mode, DRAM DLL

must be off.

•

Pre-charged power-down (PPD): This mode is entered if all banks in DDR are

pre-charged when de-asserting CKE. Power saving in this mode is intermediate –

better than APD, but less than DLL-off. Power consumption is defined by IDD2P1.

Exiting this mode is defined by tXP. The difference from APD mode is that when

waking-up all page-buffers are empty.) The LPDDR does not have a DLL. As a

result, the power savings are as good as PPD/DLL-off, but will have lower exit

latency and higher performance.

The CKE is determined per rank, whenever it is inactive. Each rank has an idle-

counter. The idle-counter starts counting as soon as the rank has no accesses, and if

it expires, the rank may enter power-down while no new transactions to the rank

arrives to queues. The idle-counter begins counting at the last incoming transaction

arrival.

It is important to understand that since the power-down decision is per rank, the IMC

can find many opportunities to power down ranks, even while running memory

intensive applications; the savings are significant (may be few Watts, according to the

DDR specification). This is significant when each channel is populated with more

ranks.

Selection of power modes should be according to power-performance or thermal

trade-offs of a given system:
•

When trying to achieve maximum performance and power or thermal

consideration is not an issue – use no power-down

•

In a system which tries to minimize power-consumption, try using the deepest

power-down mode possible – PPD/DLL-off with a low idle timer value

•

In high-performance systems with dense packaging (that is, tricky thermal

design) the power-down mode should be considered in order to reduce the heating

and avoid DDR throttling caused by the heating.

The default value that BIOS configures in "PM_PDWN_config_0_0_0_MCHBAR" is

6080h – that is, PPD/DLL-off mode with idle timer of 80h, or 128 DCLKs. This is a

balanced setting with deep power-down mode and moderate idle timer value.

The idle timer expiration count defines the # of DCKLs that a rank is idle that causes

entry to the selected powermode. As this timer is set to a shorter time, the IMC will

have more opportunities to put DDR in power-down. There is no BIOS hook to set this

Mobile 4th Generation Intel

®

 Core

™

 Processor Family, Mobile Intel

®

 Pentium

®

 Processor Family, and Mobile Intel

®

 Celeron

®

Processor Family

Datasheet – Volume 1 of 2

July 2014

54

Order No.: 329001-007