A system and method for determining power-performance state transition thresholds in a computing system. A processor comprises several functional blocks and a power manager. Each of the functional blocks produces data corresponding to an activity level associated with the respective functional block. The power manager determines activity levels of the functional blocks and compares the activity level of a given functional block to a threshold to determine if a power-performance state (P-state) transition is indicated. The threshold is determined in part on a current P-state of the given functional block. When the current P-state of the given functional block is relatively high, the threshold activity level to transition to a higher P-state is higher than it would be if the current P-state were relatively low. The power manager is further configured to determine the thresholds based in part on one or more of a type of circuit being monitored and a type of workload being executed.