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#1 2018-03-06 19:34:29

Ochi
Member
Registered: 2010-04-06
Posts: 51

[Solved] CPU frequencies fluctuate a lot (only) when system is idle

Hello,

while trying to debug some stutters in certain software I use, I observed the CPU core frequencies reported in either /proc/cpuinfo, /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq or cpupower frequency-info with similar results. In one machine I have an i7-6700K on an ASUS Z170-WS mainboard, on another I have a Xeon E3-1230v6 on an ASUS P10S WS board. Both are using the powersave governor as per default. One is running kernel 4.15.7, the other 4.14.20-lts. I'm using very lightweight desktops (openbox, tint2).

What struck me was that the cpu frequencies flutuate very quickly in a huge range from about 1000 to 4000 Mhz (i7) or 3500 MHz (Xeon) even though I would expect then to slow down when the system is totally idle. On the other hand, if I apply a little load (e.g. having a website open in Firefox or moving around a window), the frequencies drop a lot more towards 800 MHz which should actually be the minimum frequency. In fact, when resizing terminal windows quickly I'm seeing almost perfect 800 MHz on all cores.

Now I wonder if this is expected behavior and whether it's merely the reported frequencies that are wrong when the cores are really idle.

Best regards
Ochi

Last edited by Ochi (2018-03-08 17:08:27)

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#2 2018-03-06 21:49:57

lo1
Member
Registered: 2017-09-25
Posts: 584

Re: [Solved] CPU frequencies fluctuate a lot (only) when system is idle

Very unlikely that the reports are not correct, those should be read directly by the kernel and if both kernels are reporting this misbehaviour this has to be true. Can you post the whole /proc/cpuinfo?

One little test that comes to mind is set the frequency to a lower maximum clockrate and check the result.

I think this will surely need a bug report.

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#3 2018-03-07 16:55:57

Ochi
Member
Registered: 2010-04-06
Posts: 51

Re: [Solved] CPU frequencies fluctuate a lot (only) when system is idle

Thank you for the reply. I experimented with setting lower and upper limits for the frequencies and this works as I would expect on both machines: If I set an upper limit of 800 MHz, all cores always work at about 800 MHz. If I set a lower limit of e.g. 3900 MHz on the Xeon then it operates at this frequency. Also, I can feel that programs work much slower when limiting the frequency to 800 MHz. However if I allow the governor to operate between the hardware's frequency limits, they fluctuate as described before.

Another thing I noticed is that when I measure the power drawn from the wall, it does not make any difference what frequencies I set. The idle power the Xeon machine draws is always 51 watts (+/- 0.2 watts). Maybe the frequency doesn't make a big difference here? Or does the hardware do something else than reported by the kernel?

By the way, do you also have a similar Intel processor and if so, are you able to reproduce my observations?

Oh and the cpuinfos for both machines:

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 94
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
stepping	: 3
microcode	: 0xc2
cpu MHz		: 3090.613
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 8016.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 1
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 94
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
stepping	: 3
microcode	: 0xc2
cpu MHz		: 3062.307
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 2
initial apicid	: 2
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 8016.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 2
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 94
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
stepping	: 3
microcode	: 0xc2
cpu MHz		: 3737.906
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 2
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 4
initial apicid	: 4
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 8016.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 3
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 94
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
stepping	: 3
microcode	: 0xc2
cpu MHz		: 3492.136
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 3
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 6
initial apicid	: 6
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 8016.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 4
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 94
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
stepping	: 3
microcode	: 0xc2
cpu MHz		: 3734.205
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 1
initial apicid	: 1
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 8016.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 5
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 94
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
stepping	: 3
microcode	: 0xc2
cpu MHz		: 3396.498
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 3
initial apicid	: 3
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 8016.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 6
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 94
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
stepping	: 3
microcode	: 0xc2
cpu MHz		: 2871.633
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 2
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 5
initial apicid	: 5
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 8016.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 7
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 94
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
stepping	: 3
microcode	: 0xc2
cpu MHz		: 2504.783
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 3
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 7
initial apicid	: 7
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 8016.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 158
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v6 @ 3.50GHz
stepping	: 9
microcode	: 0x80
cpu MHz		: 1160.156
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 7008.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 1
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 158
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v6 @ 3.50GHz
stepping	: 9
microcode	: 0x80
cpu MHz		: 916.036
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 2
initial apicid	: 2
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 7008.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 2
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 158
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v6 @ 3.50GHz
stepping	: 9
microcode	: 0x80
cpu MHz		: 1194.732
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 2
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 4
initial apicid	: 4
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 7008.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 3
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 158
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v6 @ 3.50GHz
stepping	: 9
microcode	: 0x80
cpu MHz		: 805.146
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 3
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 6
initial apicid	: 6
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 7008.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 4
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 158
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v6 @ 3.50GHz
stepping	: 9
microcode	: 0x80
cpu MHz		: 842.998
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 1
initial apicid	: 1
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 7008.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 5
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 158
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v6 @ 3.50GHz
stepping	: 9
microcode	: 0x80
cpu MHz		: 913.288
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 3
initial apicid	: 3
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 7008.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 6
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 158
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v6 @ 3.50GHz
stepping	: 9
microcode	: 0x80
cpu MHz		: 803.158
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 2
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 5
initial apicid	: 5
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 7008.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 7
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 158
model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v6 @ 3.50GHz
stepping	: 9
microcode	: 0x80
cpu MHz		: 1288.321
cache size	: 8192 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 8
core id		: 3
cpu cores	: 4
apicid		: 7
initial apicid	: 7
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 22
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 pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2
bogomips	: 7008.00
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

EDIT/UPDATE: Having read a bit more about intel_pstate and the P-states of modern Intel CPUs in general makes me think that this is not a bug but merely a, let's say, simplified representation of what is going on in the complex power management of modern processors as frequencies in user space. See for instance here, here and here. As pointed out in the presentation linked on the latter website "P-States != Frequency" and "P-States != Power". In some cases the governors may even lead to counter-intuitive results regarding the actual power draw. As far as I'm concerned I'm going to just "trust" the intel_pstates driver and let the CPU do its thing. If there are no other comments I would call this issue solved.

Last edited by Ochi (2018-03-07 18:39:29)

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#4 2018-03-07 18:36:10

lo1
Member
Registered: 2017-09-25
Posts: 584

Re: [Solved] CPU frequencies fluctuate a lot (only) when system is idle

Another thing I noticed is that when I measure the power drawn from the wall, it does not make any difference what frequencies I set. The idle power the Xeon machine draws is always 51 watts (+/- 0.2 watts). Maybe the frequency doesn't make a big difference here? Or does the hardware do something else than reported by the kernel?

It is surely related: we now know that by changing the frequency we just merely patch a symptom, but the problem is elsewhere. I'm not using any Intel CPU but I've found this gentoo topic, which deals with rebuilding the kernel with other CONFIG options: maybe not the way you'll go, but starting from there may be useful to investigate about the powerstate of both of your CPU.

Meanwhile, try to provide as much information as possible regarding your system (drivers, kernel parameters, enabled services...)

Last edited by lo1 (2018-03-07 18:37:00)

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#5 2018-03-07 18:40:57

Ochi
Member
Registered: 2010-04-06
Posts: 51

Re: [Solved] CPU frequencies fluctuate a lot (only) when system is idle

Seems like I was just updating my last post as you were replying as well. smile Please also consider my EDIT/UPDATE at the bottom of my post.

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#6 2018-03-07 18:52:15

lo1
Member
Registered: 2017-09-25
Posts: 584

Re: [Solved] CPU frequencies fluctuate a lot (only) when system is idle

So "it's not a bug, it's a feature". So far so good.

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