CPU Unpark

Trying to find a balance between computer performance and power consumption remains a challenge for CPU manufacturers. In order to improve energy saving, functions such as CPU core parking were introduced. This function allows the power management engine and the scheduler to decide upon the number of cores that are actively running threads at a point in time. However, the user has no control over the CPU state but CPU Unpark is designed to change that, giving you the freedom to adjust the core parking index.

Main Features:

• No installation required


• Real-time graphical representation of CPU usage


• Adjustable core parking index


• Three power plan options: balanced, high-performance, power saver


• Slider for easy index adjustment

Technical Specifications:

• File: CPUUnpark.exe


• Price: Free


• Publisher: Coder Bag


• Download Link

The lower side of the windows includes a slider that helps you adjust the core parking index. It ranges from 0% to 100% and can be freely adjusted using the mouse cursor. In the following, we will describe an example to show how the index adjustment actually works.

Adjusting the Index Value:

For a computer with 6 cores, for instance, each core will represent approximately 17% of its total power. If we want the machine to never park 2 cores out of 6 and be allowed only to toggle a low power state for 4 cores only, we have to set the index to 34%, given that 17*2 equals 34. A value of the index closer to 0 allows the PC to park any number of cores, while an index with a value near 100% instructs the machine to force all cores to run at top performance at all times. Once the “Apply” button is clicked, the changes take effect.

Take Control:

An application such as CPU Unpark gives you a bit more control over the way your computer handles the power-performance dilemma. You get to decide how the CPU acts and, depending on your goal, you can change the number of CPU cores that are allowed to park. If you want more performance, then you can set the index close to the maximum value. Otherwise, if you are targeting energy efficiency, you can configure the PC to park a higher number of cores.