Core Ultra 9 185H P-Core all core boost behavior

[MadSnoopy]

My 185H shows odd P-Core all core behavior.

PL1 and PL2 are set to 115W, max all core turbo is set to default 48x, E-Cores disabled, loaded result is 48x-48x-45x-45x-45x-45x.

If i set max all core turbo to 44x then result is 44x-44x-41x-41x-41x-41x.

Cores 3,4,5 and 6 are always 3x below cores 1 and 2, order never changes.

Same behaviour on Windows 11 and Arch Linux, so not OS related.

Snapshot of HWINFO, all core turbo 44x, loaded with Prime95 smallest FFTs without AVX.

I'm expecting cores to boost in unison/close in frequency until limits are reached.

On mainboard manufacturer support i was told that this is correct behaviour and cannot be changed.

But for me this does not make sense from performance and efficiency views, so i'm checking here.

Mainboard is ERYING M-ATX Core Ultra 9 185H.

[TheExpertGuy]

What you're seeing is indeed unusual on the surface, but it actually aligns with how many mobile-class CPUs (like the Core Ultra 9 185H) handle all-core turbo and power distribution, especially on boards like ERYING’s, which often use custom or barebones EC firmware.

Intel CPUs especially in hybrid or mobile-focused designs often group cores by quality bins. That means:

• Cores 0 and 1 (or logical 1 and 2 in your case) are usually the highest quality silicon (aka “favored cores”).

• They get preferential treatment in terms of boosting frequency under all-core loads until the limits (PL1/PL2/TjMax) are hit.

That explains why you're consistently seeing higher frequencies on cores 1 and 2 regardless of your turbo multiplier they're simply allowed to stretch further.

Even when you manually cap the all-core turbo to 44x, the CPU seems to apply internal logic that still differentiates between core groups. It’s internal firmware + microcode doing its thing even when you think you’re applying a blanket setting, per-core frequency bins override it.

You mentioned an ERYING board, fair warning, those aren’t exactly high-end, and they’re often not fully optimized for sustained turbo behavior. The power delivery design may force the CPU to act more conservatively under load (hence frequency staggering to maintain thermals).

Prime95 (smallest FFTs, no AVX) is still a brutal all-core load. Even without AVX, the thermal and current draw is enough to force frequency regulation. You may notice even less uniformity if temps hit high 90s.