Current version: 2.2.0 (August 11, 2016).
Get the PRO version here. Now with macOS Sierra compatibility verified!
Just a couple of link about what others say:
- OSXDaily: http://osxdaily.com/2016/07/13/disable-enable-turbo-boost-mac/
- marco.org: https://marco.org/2015/06/07/disabling-turbo-boost
Features:
Turbo Boost Switcher is a little application for Mac computers that allows to enable and/or disable the Turbo Boost feature.
It installs a precompiled kernel extension (32 or 64 bits depending on your system) that updates the Turbo Boost MSR register, so It will ask for your admin password when using it.
It’s installed on your Mac status bar and allows you to:
- macOS Sierra beta support.
- Visually know if Turbo Boost is enabled or disabled at any time.
- Enable / Disable Turbo Boost manually, getting up to a 25% more battery life and lowering down the CPU Temp up to 20ºC. (check this).
- Configure it to disable Turbo Boost automatically at launch.
- Enable / Disable Turbo Boost automatically for a set of apps (only on Pro version).
- Set default mode for Turbo Boost Enabled or not (On or Off)
- Disable Turbo Boost when battery charger is not connected (only on Pro version).
- OSX Notifications integration (only on Pro version).
- Asks for root password only once (only on Pro version).
- Check your CPU temp and fan speed.
- Display temps in ºC and ºF (only on Pro version).
- Set it to open at login.
- Automatically restore Turbo Boost on exit.
Here you have a couple of screenshots (PRO version):
How to install:
Get the Pro version here to help keeping alive this project :).
You can also download a free binary application or the source code to compile it with XCode.
Once downloaded/compiled, just unzip and double click on your “Turbo Boost Switcher.app”. An icon like the next one will appear on your status bar.
![]()
If you see a message saying the app “can’t be opened because it is from an identified developer”, then you need to change your settings to allow not-signed apps to be installed. Go to your System Preferences->Security and Privacy and mark the option “Anyhwere”. Try again, it should work.
Motivation:
Turbo Boost is enabled by default on all Macs that support it, but why anyone should want to disable it?
Ok, here are some reasons:
- CPU Overheat: When Turbo Boost is activated, prepare to experiment high temperatures on your CPU, since it pushes till it reaches almost the Junction Tº, usually 100 ºC. This is controlled by hardware, but if you want your computer to live long, better keep it as low as possible. With Turbo Boost disabled I’ve been able to get up to 20 ºC degrees less!!!, that’s a value worth considering.
- Battery Life: When disabling Turbo Boost you will get up to a 25% more of your battery life. Just check this post at marco.org :).
- Parallel Processing: Turbo Boost is activated (by Intel® internal algorithms) when one of the CPU cores reaches 100%, increasing the core Mhz, but It won’t do it if all or your cores are 100%, since that will create a lot of overheat. This will reduce your parallel processing performance so, in some situations, you better disable it.
If you are like me, you probably do some high cpu demanding tasks from time to time, like photoshop editing, video transcoding, casual gaming, etc. and your fans go to max speeds while your CPU keeps crazy ranges like 93 – 98 ºC.
I’ve started to look for applications, and the only thing I found was this cool kernel extension https://github.com/nanoant/DisableTurboBoost.kext created by “nanoant”. This is a very simple extension that manipulates the MSR record writing the Turbo Boost flag.
If you don’t want to always be opening your terminal, compile the code, make sure you don’t forget to re-enable it, etc. then Turbo Boost Switcher is for you.
How to know if Turbo Boost is enabled (or not):
To see the differences between having Turbo Boost enabled or not, you can do the following tasks:
- Install smcFanControl, a cool app that will help you to set your fan speeds to desired values.
- The simplest one, do some high demanding gaming with Turbo Boost enabled and disabled, checking the CPU temperature values and see the differences.
- You can also launch some long time high demanding tasks, like the Geekbench benchmarks app. You’ll get a lower value since Turbo Boost will not be triggered. On my Macbook Air I go from 7500 to 4000 points aprox. with Turbo Boost disabled.
- Open a terminal and execute “kextstat -v”. If you see a line including “com.rugarciap.DisableTurboBoost” that means Turbo Boost is disabled.
- Check the MSR register for yourself (0x1a0), but that could be tricky and we’re not going to go deeper here.



Pro version working really well on a Hackintosh (Sony Vaio) under El Capitan 😉
Thank you !
I just buy the pro version and work fine on last Sierra Beta 5.
Great! thanks for letting me know :), not tried yet on beta 5.
I have a pro licence how do I download the new update 2.2
I have found out how to do it everything is great now!
Great!
Check your spam folder…, an email was sent to your account with the link to download it. Best regards!
Would love to get the Pro version! I love the free one! Works awesome!
Amazing app! Thanks for all of your hard work! My MBP 15 is now running cool!
https://twitter.com/nkpearson/status/754210331694620672
Thanks man!Just sent you the last promo code to your email ;). Best regards.
I own the 1st rMBP (with the highest CPU config – 2.7G CPU) and I’ve been always having issues with high temp. I need CPU on full force only occasionally and when the tboost is off the temp is lower by 10stC .. I’ll continue using it!
Glad to help! 🙂
https://twitter.com/JauRahh/status/753375405692841984
Just sent to your twitter account! Thanks!
There’s still a trouble with the “On/Off” status in the bar. Sometimes it doesn’t show the good status, the more when “disable at launch” is set.
This app is a must have ! thanks !
Is it possible to have an option for Turbo Boost “re-enabled” when the battery charger is connected (i.e. the dual of the current “Disabled when charger disconnected”)?
Other than that, the app is awesome! I love the pro version you just released adding the option for the OTP (one-time password)! I was using the free version beforehand, but the pro version is 100% worth the $10. I appreciate your work 🙂
Thanks! Maybe in the future, but it could be a bit “confusing” if you combine that with auto configuration based on apps running… will see 😉
Fair enough!
However, I am having trouble with the auto mode. When I add a process to the list and try to change the “Enable/Disable” parameter by double clicking and typing “Enable” (and seeing the text change from “Disable” to “Enable”) it doesn’t seem to stick. I cannot get it to change from “Disable” to “Enable”. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks!
A new verison with new feathure ! !!!
Can’t wait !
You’re the best !
Just become root or choose an user with Admin permissions
it does not work it always ask for password
It works…, asking for root password is normal since that’s needed to install the kernel extension that disables Turbo Boost.
Just use sudo. Open a terminal and write (replacing the path with the corresponding one where you installed the app)
$sudo ./Turbo\ Boost\ Switcher\ Pro.app/Contents/Mac/Turbo\ Boost\ Switcher\ Pro
That will run the app with root permissions
I am already Admin, and it doesn’t work : password window everytime…
Boring
Just use sudo. Open a terminal and write (replacing the path with the corresponding one where you installed the app)
$sudo ./Turbo\ Boost\ Switcher\ Pro.app/Contents/Mac/Turbo\ Boost\ Switcher\ Pro
That will run the app with root permissions
Hi,
do you plan to have a signed version of the app ? 🙂
it’s seem to be mandatory for the kext with OS X 10.11 El Capitan.
Regards,
Yes, just requested Apple that!
Finally a replacement for CoolBook!! Thank you for programming this awesome app, supported you by buying the Pro version.
What do you think about implementing a feature to turn Turbo off when CPU reaches a certain heat?
Hi, thanks for the extension! It keeps asking me for admin password after wakeup from sleep. how can i fix this? thanks!
Just execute the app as root and/or an user with Admin permissions
Is there a way to give this app explicit root-rights? It’s painful to always grand root-privileges.
Hi, very useful app, but I have a comment on Automode: Wouldn’t it make sense to rather ENABLE turbo boost when certain apps are running, rather than DISABLING? Or have the option for both? At least for me, I would want to have turbo mode disabled by default, but enable it when using certain apps (which is why I bought the pro version..)
I also second the suggestion in an earlier comment to use power source to enable/disable turbo boost.
Hi, thank you for this awesome app.
I bought the Pro version thought there will be an auto mode to enable Turbo Boost when power adapter is plugged. But there is not.
Would you add this in next version?
Great idea, thanks! I’ll consider it for sure 😉
Thanks for the free version. The paid version doesn’t make much sense to me. I’d gladly pay for a version that disables turbo when the machine is running on battery.
Hi Rugarciap 🙂
For me your app is “essential” and never know that a pro version exist…
i want to buy it… but now i have another Macbook “Macbook Pro Retina 15 mid 2015 WITHOUT DEDICATED GPU” only the intel gpu and Iris Graphics.
On this machine your app don’t work :(…. when i click on “disable” nothing happens and on “console” have only this output
20/04/16 00:20:48,071 Turbo Boost Switcher[1369]: kextstat output: (null)
20/04/16 00:20:48,086 authexec[1404]: executing /usr/sbin/chown
20/04/16 00:20:48,094 authexec[1405]: executing /usr/bin/kextutil
20/04/16 00:20:48,173 Turbo Boost Switcher[1369]: kextstat output: (null)
20/04/16 00:20:48,693 Turbo Boost Switcher[1369]: kextstat output: (null)
🙁 🙁 🙁 :(…
I privately pay you to fix this on my machine …
please let me how i can contact you .. and if possible i want to buy the complete Pro version with this fix.
thanks .
Sorry Rugarciap…
it’s a my mistake…
in short a “permission” problem occurs in my case…
i have set the correct permission “copied from another machine via BatChMod utility” set the exactly same permission and WORKS!!!
OK , now.. i want the Pro Version… where i can buy it ?… Guarantee me that you implement some new feature like the suggested from other users as soon as possible ?.
thanks you.. 😀
Just posted a blog…, new version is incoming REALLY soon
That’s strange… , it seems kextstat is not working, and that’s an utility provided by OSX.
Try opening a terminal and running “kextstat -v” and, if that command doesn’t show results, try with “sudo kextstat -v”.
This command displays kernel extensions installed, and by the log you posted it seems it isn’t working
Hey, is it possible to get the Pro Edition via Paypal?
Thanks!, and yes, you can use paypal as payment method on gumroad 🙂
Best!
Just wanted to say thanks a lot for making this feature available to the masses.
I’ve been tearing my hair out trying to come up with a cooling solution when rendering on my i7 3770 imac. Even with custom fan profiles I was regularly hitting 90C + which is not great for overnight renders.
I just did a quick test on a small render and the difference was about 14C cooler (using TG Pro to measure) with turbo boost off and only lost about 7% overall render time. That’s a win in my books. Kudos to you and whoever wrote the original script.
Thanks again!
Helo Xinli
Please, be aware that using Ray’s version can cause the app to display wrong temperature measures depending on the Mac model you’re using.
I’ll release a new version very soon with this fixed.
Best.
Hi, I just modified some code from the origin code, and I known the reason why the console print this error.But I can not explain this in English, sorry.
You can checkout my fork at GitHub.Here is the url:https://github.com/wr1241/Turbo-Boost-Switcher/commit/207ff7d61a2f1031d810092d1774954097ca4011
I love this software!
Thank you Ray!
I’m also aware of the problem, it’s just these days it’s impossible for me to release a new version, but I will do it as soon as I can.
Thanks again!
Best!
By the way, just reviewed your code and have some comments 🙂
You changed it to use always the same sensor. That will work on a reduced set of laptos, but not on all Macs.
The real problem is to always try to read from the sensors array, instead of storing the correct one for future reads. This was fixed on previous version, but storing the right sensor on NSUserDefaults. The right solution is to use the same sensor per session, without storing it on NSUserDefaults, that will force to use the same sensor forever.
As I told on previous post, I will release a new version as soon as I can with this little fix.
Best!