Turbo Boost Manager

A simple and lightweight system tray application for managing CPU Turbo Boost settings on Windows systems.

Overview

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Turbo Boost Manager provides an easy-to-use interface for controlling your CPU's turbo boost functionality directly from the Windows system tray. It allows you to quickly enable or disable turbo boost for both AC power (plugged in) and battery power scenarios without diving into complex power management settings.

Features

• 🖥️ System Tray Integration - Convenient access from Windows system tray
• 🔋 Dual Power Mode Support - Separate settings for AC power and battery operation
• 💾 State Persistence - Remembers your settings between sessions
• 📊 Real-time Control - Instant application of power settings
• 🎯 Lightweight - Minimal resource usage
• 🔄 Auto-apply on Startup - Automatically applies saved settings when launched

How It Works

Technical Implementation

Turbo Boost Manager works by interfacing with Windows' built-in powercfg utility to modify CPU power management settings. Specifically, it manipulates the Processor Throttle Maximum parameter in the active power scheme.

Power Configuration Parameters

The application modifies the following powercfg parameters:

• Setting Location: SUB_PROCESSOR\PROCTHROTTLEMAX
• AC Power (Plugged In): Uses /setacvalueindex command
• DC Power (On Battery): Uses /setdcvalueindex command

Turbo Boost Control Logic

• Turbo Boost ON: Sets processor throttle maximum to 100%
• Turbo Boost OFF: Sets processor throttle maximum to 99%

The 1% difference effectively disables turbo boost while maintaining normal CPU operation, as turbo boost typically requires 100% processor state to activate.

Command Execution Flow

1. Get Active Power Scheme:

   powercfg /getactivescheme
   

2. Modify Power Setting:

   powercfg /setacvalueindex <GUID> SUB_PROCESSOR PROCTHROTTLEMAX <value>
   powercfg /setdcvalueindex <GUID> SUB_PROCESSOR PROCTHROTTLEMAX <value>
   

3. Apply Changes:

   powercfg /setactive <GUID>
   

Installation

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
• Administrator privileges (required for powercfg operations)

Option 1: Download Executable (Recommended)

1. Download the latest TurboBoostManager.exe from the Releases page
2. Place the executable in a folder of your choice
3. Optionally, place a custom icon.png file in an img/ subfolder for custom tray icon
4. Run TurboBoostManager.exe

Option 2: Build from Source

1. Install Python 3.12+ and uv package manager

2. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/turbo-boost-manager.git
   cd turbo-boost-manager

3. Install dependencies:

   uv sync

4. Run the application:

   uv run python main.py

5. Build executable (optional):

   uv add --dev pyinstaller
   pyinstaller TurboBoostManager.spec

Usage

Basic Operation

1. Launch the application - it will appear in your system tray
2. Right-click the tray icon to open the context menu
3. Configure settings:
   • Plugged in → On/Off - Control turbo boost when connected to AC power
   • On battery → On/Off - Control turbo boost when running on battery
4. Exit - Close the application

Menu Options