[LAU] Advice needed: hardware vendors

Luke Hart luke.hart at birchleys.eu
Wed Apr 9 14:41:06 UTC 2014


On 09/04/2014 14:08, Len Ovens wrote:
>
> On Wed, 9 Apr 2014, Ede Wolf wrote:
>
>> This is interesting, as the kernel help for the performance governor 
>> states:
>>
>> "This cpufreq governor sets the frequency statically to the highest 
>> available CPU frequency."
>
> Yup, setting the governor to "performance" sets it to full speed.
>
>> Who or what process may still downscale the freq? Or is it CPU 
>> internal? And
>
> CPU/MB chipset internal.
>
>> in latter case may that be an indicator that your cooling isn't 
>> sufficient?
>
> That is correct too. Those who run portable applications on a lap top 
> are the most likely to run into this. The hardware is just not 
> designed to run full out all the time. The lap top is also more 
> sensitive to dust for this reason. A desktop machine needs to be kept 
> clean as well.
Just because the CPU is running at full speed doesn't mean it is 
generating the maximum amount of heat. If there's nothing for the 
processor to do (no user task or housekeeping) linux will execute the 
HLT instruction that puts the processor to sleep until the next 
interrupt. So heat may not be an issue unless you are running lots of 
audio processing. Of course the i[357] processors will change the clock 
speed in response to a wider range of factors, including workload, no. 
of active cores, current and power consumption (Turbo boost, 
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/turbo-boost/turbo-boost-technology.html).

     Luke


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