In general, the disclosure is directed to techniques for reducing power consumption within computing devices, such as wireless communication devices. A device dynamically adjusts the CPU clock frequency based on CPU load in order to reduce power consumption. The device monitors the load of the CPU using a number of sample interrupts. The device determines whether to adjust the clock frequency based on the monitored load of the CPU. In general, the device increases the clock frequency when the load of the CPU is high and decreases the clock frequency when the load of the CPU is low.