Processor Power Management in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 include updated support for ACPI Processor Power Management (PPM) features, including support for processor performance states and processor idle sleep states on multiprocessor systems. This paper provides details of the support in Windows Vista, describes how PPM works with Windows Vista power policy, provides guidelines for firmware developers and system designers, and includes details on how Windows Vista may be tuned to optimize the balance between performance and power savings.