Hi list, I recently upgraded one of my servers from 2.6.24.2 to 2.6.25. This is more or less a basic fileserver that also does some compilations from time to time. cat /proc/cpuinfo from 2.6.24.2: processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 15 model : 1 model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.70GHz stepping : 2 cpu MHz : 425.000 cache size : 256 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 2 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pebs bts sync_rdtsc bogomips : 3401.38 clflush size : 64 scaling_available_frequencies (p4-clockmod): 425000 637500 850000 1062500 1275000 1487500 1700000 Since the server is idling most of the time I enabled the ondemand governor and installed p4-clockmod. I read that this is not the best solution but acpi-cpufreq is not working for me. Everything was good with 2.6.24. After switching to to 2.6.25 I have the following output. cat /proc/cpuinfo from 2.6.25.4: processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 15 model : 1 model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.70GHz stepping : 2 cpu MHz : 3450.000 cache size : 256 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 2 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pebs bts bogomips : 3402.06 clflush size : 64 scaling_available_frequencies (p4-clockmod): 3450000 5175000 6900000 8625000 10350000 12075000 13800000 The scaling is working but the frequencies are way of. Every value is multiplied by ~8.12. I get the same result with 2.6.25 and 2.6.25.4. I am not sure if this is only a display related problem, or if something more serious is causing this. Please CC me on any replies since I am not subscribed to the ...
On Fri, 30 May 2008 15:44:55 +0200 ... and it's not the best solution because it's not saving you any energy... (in fact it may cost you some) p4-clockmod should go away. (at least as cpufreq driver) -- If you want to reach me at my work email, use arjan@linux.intel.com For development, discussion and tips for power savings, visit http://www.lesswatts.org --
I am most interested in keeping the temperature of my CPU down, which means slower fans, which means less noise. The main "problem" I have is that I do not know if this is a simple display issue or if I am having a more fundamental problem here. /Michael --
Just FYI I found out the cause of my problem. Reverting http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=ed9cbcd400... this patch resultsin the correct numbers for me. <cpuinfo snip> processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 15 model : 1 model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.70GHz stepping : 2 cpu MHz : 637.500 <snip> This patch was reverted because other people seem to have problems with it, reverting the revert does not look like a good idea either. But since I know now, that this is just a "display" problem and everything is working otherwise, I'll just patch this locally for my machine here. Kind regards, Michael --
On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 23:57:14 +0200 just as a side note.. you do realize that with p4-clockmod, your cpu is still running at 1.7 GHz right? (it's just doing less work '-) --
From my testing, I believe the only thing that p4-clockmod does is forces an
idle call when it could otherwise do work on an active process, so fullspeed and
idle uses *EXACTLY* the same amount of power as p4-clockmod slower speed and
idle (and therefore generates exactly the same amount of heat), the only power
difference would be that if you were using p4-clockmod to slow down the cpu when
it had an active running process (force the cpu to be idle a lot of the time
even though it has work). Arjan's point is that if you are using p4-clockmod
to slow down an idle cpu in hopes of saving power when the cpu is not being
used, then it is not going to make *ANY* difference in the power usage at all.
I tried it on my p4 here, and cannot see any power difference in idle/fullspeed
and idle/slowspeed, this is unlike the later power saving stuff that actually
does slow down the cpu frequency, and you can measure a different amount of
power usage with the different clock speeds and an idle cpu.
Roger
--
On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:36:58 -0500, Roger Heflin <rogerheflin@gmail.com> <snip> Thanks for the detailed information everyone. The first time I tested this I was under the impression that it indeed had an influence on the produced heat of the CPU. I did a quick test this morning and of course you are right, there is no change at all. This is a good thing though, since it gives me an excuse to upgrade this machine to a C2D. :) For the time being I will just disable the cpufreq stuff since it really does not make a difference in my case. Kind regards, Michael --
Indeed. And if we had a generic interface for throttling (ACPI T-states-like) and frequency changes (ACPI P-states-like), we could just move p4-clockmod to the throttling one (and NOT letting it register with the frequency changes interface), and be done with it. Do we have these interfaces? -- "One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot Henrique Holschuh --
No. -- Matthew Garrett | mjg59@srcf.ucam.org --
