Some games/software expected/relied on a certain CPU speed to run correctly. If your computer was faster than that, the software would run too fast. The turbo button let you toggle between the maximum speed your computer could go, and the speed that the software needed/expected in order to run normally.

Basically, there was an actual reason for the turbo button, it wasn’t just marketing on computers.

note: on most computers, it worked the opposite to how one would think. Turning it on slowed your cpu to around 33 MHz

Indeed. As a silly example, I had a Pacman clone game that ran based on CPU cycle speed. I needed to turn the in-game speed setting way down and toggle turbo off to make it slow enough to be playable.

Create a post

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community’s icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

  • 1 user online
  • 147 users / day
  • 307 users / week
  • 617 users / month
  • 2.26K users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 3.36K Posts
  • 67.7K Comments
  • Modlog