Arch Linux

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Best way to benchmark a multi-core CPU (to compare kernel configs)?

So a lot of us have been suffering from this load balancing tick wakeup problem for several kernel versions now. It gives a pretty big hit to laptops' battery life. I get the impression that this load balancing stuff is coming from the Hyperthreading kernel parameter.

I have a Core i3, which has two cores with two "hyperthreads" each. So I turn on hyperthreading, smt, and smp in the kernel config. I want to see if turning some combination of these options off will improve battery life without killing CPU performance.

What is the best way to go about this?

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,700

Website

Re: Best way to benchmark a multi-core CPU (to compare kernel configs)?

Load balancing?  Try the linux-ck kernel.  Is your power issue part of the ASLM stuff recently discussed on LKML?  In terms of measuring power draw, I think ACPI is probably good.

Last edited by graysky (2011-11-19 15:33:24)

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CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Re: Best way to benchmark a multi-core CPU (to compare kernel configs)?

I actually am using the CK kernel, built from the AUR. This issue is different from the APSM issue. I know because I am affected by both and the APSM issue is solved-ish by using some boot parameters.

The load balancing issue is discussed in this thread: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=109371

Like I said, I just want to know what a good benchmarking tool is for multi-core processors. I know of some tools like pibench, but I believe it is single-threaded.