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userlander

Member

Registered: 2008-08-23

Posts: 413

cpufreq question with Intel quad core processor

The cpu is a Q6600, and the lowest I can get it to run is 1.6GHz on all cores. Is that normal? I thought these could go down to 800MHz. cpufreq seems to be completely ignoring my /etc/conf.d/cpufreq.conf file.

$ cat /etc/conf.d/cpufreq
#configuration for cpufreq control

# valid governors:
#  ondemand, performance, powersave,
#  conservative, userspace
governor="ondemand"

# valid suffixes: Hz, kHz (default), MHz, GHz, THz
min_freq="800MHz"
max_freq="3.6GHz"


$ lsmod |grep cpu
cpufreq_ondemand        8972  4 
acpi_cpufreq            9868  0 
freq_table              5632  2 cpufreq_ondemand,acpi_cpufreq
processor              41388  1 acpi_cpufreq


$ cpufreq-info 
cpufrequtils 005: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
  hardware limits: 1.60 GHz - 2.40 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.40 GHz, 1.60 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.60 GHz and 2.40 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 1.60 GHz.
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1
  hardware limits: 1.60 GHz - 2.40 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.40 GHz, 1.60 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.60 GHz and 2.40 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 1.60 GHz.
analyzing CPU 2:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 2
  hardware limits: 1.60 GHz - 2.40 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.40 GHz, 1.60 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.60 GHz and 2.40 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 1.60 GHz.
analyzing CPU 3:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 3
  hardware limits: 1.60 GHz - 2.40 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.40 GHz, 1.60 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.60 GHz and 2.40 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 1.60 GHz.

Thanks for any tips. This is my first intel processor -- maybe I have missed installing some package? Obviously I'd  like to run these at the lowest idle frequency I can.

Last edited by userlander (2009-01-25 20:04:19)

rebugger

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2007-10-28

Posts: 229

Re: cpufreq question with Intel quad core processor

cpufreq-info says, there is only 1.60GHz and 2.40GHz available. What are the specs of your cpu? Can it go down to 800MHz?

userlander

Member

Registered: 2008-08-23

Posts: 413

Re: cpufreq question with Intel quad core processor

There is another diagnostic -- I saw it in an arch thread when I was researching this, but I forget what it is and can't find the thread again. IIRC, it said these cores can make 8 steps. I wish I could remember it -- still searching. Other than that, I'm not sure what specs you mean.

ADDING: Maybe it's a BIOS limitation? How could I find out if that's holding it back? I didn't see any settings that specifically referred to frequency scaling. I also have this CPU overclocked slightly to 2.7, but 2.4 is the most it seems to be going to. So now I am really confused about what's going on with cpufreq, since the BIOS definitely sees it as 2.7.

Last edited by userlander (2009-01-25 20:19:56)

userlander

Member

Registered: 2008-08-23

Posts: 413

Re: cpufreq question with Intel quad core processor

I guess it's not working right. I reinstalled the kernel package and it didn't budge from 1600MHz. I also opened the Gimp, and it stayed at 1600 the entire time, except right at the end it bumped up to 2.4 for a second.

Then I tried avidemux, where it stayed at 1.6 while I was opening an mpeg (as it was indexing it), then halfway through I did rmmod acpi_cpufreq, and all the cores shot right up to 2.7GHz. Doing "/etc/rc.d/cpufreq stop" before that didn't have any effect -- I guess it couldn't remove the governor?

So the problem appears to be with acpi_cpufreq, or else some acpi setting in the BIOS?

Last edited by userlander (2009-01-25 20:33:39)

Ranguvar

Member

Registered: 2008-08-12

Posts: 2,549

Re: cpufreq question with Intel quad core processor

I have the same CPU, the same frequencies. Isn't their an option in most BIOSes to control the CPU clock depending on load independent of the OS?

userlander

Member

Registered: 2008-08-23

Posts: 413

Re: cpufreq question with Intel quad core processor

I have the same CPU, the same frequencies. Isn't their an option in most BIOSes to control the CPU clock depending on load independent of the OS?

Like I said, I didn't see anything, but I'll look again. can't reboot ATM.

When you say the same frequencies, what do you mean? You can only do 1.6 and 2.4 also?

Ranguvar

Member

Registered: 2008-08-12

Posts: 2,549

Re: cpufreq question with Intel quad core processor

Yep.

userlander

Member

Registered: 2008-08-23

Posts: 413

Re: cpufreq question with Intel quad core processor

Yep.

That sucks. With my A64 I could scale it to whatever it was overclocked to. I guess the only options here are either not to OC it, or not to scale it.

userlander

Member

Registered: 2008-08-23

Posts: 413

Re: cpufreq question with Intel quad core processor

here's the info I couldn't remember where I found it -- it was just dmesg:

 $ dmesg |grepi acpi
...
processor ACPI_CPU:00: registered as cooling_device0
ACPI: Processor [CPU0] (supports 8 throttling states)
ACPI: SSDT BFEE7980, 0152 (r1  PmRef  Cpu1Ist     3000 INTL 20040311)
processor ACPI_CPU:01: registered as cooling_device1
ACPI: Processor [CPU1] (supports 8 throttling states)
ACPI: SSDT BFEE7AE0, 0152 (r1  PmRef  Cpu2Ist     3000 INTL 20040311)
processor ACPI_CPU:02: registered as cooling_device2
ACPI: Processor [CPU2] (supports 8 throttling states)
ACPI: SSDT BFEE7C40, 0152 (r1  PmRef  Cpu3Ist     3000 INTL 20040311)
processor ACPI_CPU:03: registered as cooling_device3
ACPI: Processor [CPU3] (supports 8 throttling states)

I'm not sure if 8 throttling states means 8 *total* (those same 2 freqs. per core), but from the way it's listed it seems to indicate 8 *per* core.

Also can't tell yet if the CPU really IS overclocked and it's just a reporting problem, but indications so far are that it's some kind of bios bug that the linux kernel can't work around. windows apparently works around it, but with some sort of kluge. I think I have the latest bios for my board, so I might just upgrade the board if I can find one that is known to work.