Raptorlake and DLVR mysteries unveiled:
I might be wrong on this, but my understanding of DLVR was more as a FIVR alternative? replacement? Some of thing of the sort. This patent is kinda confusing in that regard, but maybe just a different use for the same tech? Wonder also how multiple DLVR would scale... Anyway, still don't really expect it for desktop, but maybe?
I should have took a look at the patent first, and I did.
According to the patent, there's no reason to not include FIVR. The new power system can work with FIVR.
-However, FIVR increases complexity and it says it takes "large die space" or something so DLVR does become a replacement in a sense.
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DLVR isn't the critical part, the way they are delivering power is. Right now, the mainboard VR is in series with FIVR or DLVR. The new system puts a
secondary power delivery system that uses the linear voltage regulators. They said the secondary stage only kicks in when the load is high and when it can cause a voltage droop.
They also said that the DLVR being on results in lower efficiency,
-The power savings are provided because voltages are determined using worst case scenarios, because unexpected load can cause the voltage drop and the resulting voltage must be higher than the application requirements.
By using the DLVR in parallel that kicks in when it's required, the CPU does not have to use the worst case voltages and be closer to "load voltage", saving power.
The part about losing gains above 40A is because their example is using 40A for VR1, and above that the DLVR kicks in. Because of the
reduced efficiency of DLVR, that's why the efficiency gains drop, not that there's an inherent limit of 70A.
(1)(2)(3)
1.It's likely though there will be a reduced gain for desktop chips that clock ridiculously high because of voltage requirements.
2. The higher the load, the lower the gain, because the greater load results in drop of voltage that gets closer to minimum operating voltage. Therefore the margin shrinks. The lower gain is also due to DLVR kicking in and being less efficient.
3. Also sounds mostly beneficial for mobile, where we are entirely at system's mercy for regulating voltage. Overclocking and overvolting will throw the gains out the window.
So the funny thing is for the most efficient operation, the DLVR should always be off! It'll be a great gain for burst and low load scenarios.