Turbo Boost Widely Varies Between Machines

[consultant]

I've got a new Samsung Series 6 Laptop with a Core i5 2520M processer (2.5 Ghz) and a brand new Fujitsu Lifebook with an i5 2540M (2.6 Ghz) processor. I've loaded Performance Test and the Intel Turbo Boost monitor up.

The slower 2520M CPU gets a score over 3,000 and the faster 2540M gets a score around 1,700! Reason is, when running the CPU benchmarks, the Samsung uses Turbo Boost and the Fujitsu doesn't use it at all! But, I can see when I run BurnIn or Futremark PCMark 7, both machines run Turbo Boost and the PCMark scores are what I would expect.

It seems the CPU tests on Passmark Performance test are not rigorous enough to push the Fujitsu into Turbo Boost? This concerns me because if this is the case, then what is my average performance going to be when using the machine for work!? (I need to choose which one to keep!)

[David (PassMark)]

What you might find is that the machines are setup differently. The Fujitsu might be setup to conserve battery life rather than maximum performance. Or you might have run the test on battery power rather than mains power.

The application itself doesn't do anything to prevent the machine from going into turbo mode.

If you look at task manager while the CPU test is running, then you'll see 100% CPU utilization. I am not sure how much more rigorous the tests could be.