What is an advantage of placing the regulators that generate CPU supply voltages inside the chip or package rather than on the motherboard (integrated regulators)?

Answer: C. Voltage can be set per core and switched faster, enabling finer-grained, quicker DVFS

Motherboard regulators are distant and work through large capacitive components, so voltage changes are slow and providing many separate rails is difficult. Regulators inside the chip or package can generate separate voltages per core and switch in a microsecond or less, enabling power saving that tracks load changes quickly. On the other hand, the regulators' loss heat and area are added to the chip side.

• A. The regulators' own losses add heat inside the chip.
• B. A supply voltage is still needed.
• C. Correct. In exchange, on-chip heat and area increase.