[Haswell] Microcode update management
Hi,
I'm about to receive my brand new laptop and I've a question for people experienced with Intel Haswell processors :
My processor will be a I7 4600M.
I'm planning to built a 3.17 kernel and recompile other packages such as :
mesa
xf86-video-intel
My goal is have the most up-to-date drivers in order for me to use the new Intel PState governors rather than the traditional CPU governors.
That way, I'm hoping to have a better control of the machine's battery life.
Now that my Slackware's configuration in that regard has been described, one more thing remains unanswered :
How should I handle the Intel's updates for the microcode aimed at the new processors ?
So far, I've discovered two SBo packages for that :
- microcode_ctl
- intel-microcode
Apparently, the former updates the microcode provided by the later at each boot of the machine.
Do you know if such a process is mandatory in order for me to benefit from all the features that this CPU is offering to me ?
Since I've ordered a laptop without any kind of dedicated GPU, I think that my question is somewhat legitimate.
Regards.
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