# [SOLVED]poor desktop performance - cpufrequtils on dual Xeon

## ferg

Hi all,

I've decided that as Summer gets warmer I really should try and make my machine as quiet as possible, and so I've decided to look into using the cpufrequtils to make my Intel Xeons (x2) 3.4Ghz Nocona CPUs step down to hopefully expel less heat.

fair enough and that works well. The average temps have dropped 5 deg C.  BUt desktop performance has gone way way down.  I could imagine that this happens initially, but playing movies etc is jerky. Nautilus is like I'm running on a ZX81.  This even happens if I change to the performance module which is apparently full speed all the time.

The only way to restore this is to stop the cpufrequtils script from running at boot.

Is this expected behaviour or am I doing something wrong.

Note this is on Gentoo_Sources 2.6.25-r4

Cheers

Ferg

----------

## Nerevar

That is certainly not normal. Post the output of cpufreq-info and see if there are any errors from dmesg. If you are not already, try using the ondemand governor.

----------

## ferg

 *DarrenSmith wrote:*   

> That is certainly not normal. Post the output of cpufreq-info and see if there are any errors from dmesg. If you are not already, try using the ondemand governor.

 

Hi Darren,

thanks for replying.

I'm already using the ondemand governor and dmesg shows no errors at all.

```
scotgate chris # cpufreq-info 

cpufrequtils 002: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006

Report errors and bugs to linux@brodo.de, please.

analyzing CPU 0:

  driver: p4-clockmod

  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0 2

  hardware limits: 425 MHz - 3.40 GHz

  available frequency steps: 425 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.28 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.55 GHz, 2.98 GHz, 3.40 GHz

  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance

  current policy: frequency should be within 425 MHz and 3.40 GHz.

                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use

                  within this range.

  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

analyzing CPU 1:

  driver: p4-clockmod

  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1 3

  hardware limits: 425 MHz - 3.40 GHz

  available frequency steps: 425 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.28 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.55 GHz, 2.98 GHz, 3.40 GHz

  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance

  current policy: frequency should be within 425 MHz and 3.40 GHz.

                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use

                  within this range.

  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

analyzing CPU 2:

  driver: p4-clockmod

  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0 2

  hardware limits: 425 MHz - 3.40 GHz

  available frequency steps: 425 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.28 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.55 GHz, 2.98 GHz, 3.40 GHz

  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance

  current policy: frequency should be within 425 MHz and 3.40 GHz.

                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use

                  within this range.

  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

analyzing CPU 3:

  driver: p4-clockmod

  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1 3

  hardware limits: 425 MHz - 3.40 GHz

  available frequency steps: 425 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.28 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.55 GHz, 2.98 GHz, 3.40 GHz

  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance

  current policy: frequency should be within 425 MHz and 3.40 GHz.

                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use

                  within this range.

  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

```

Please note that I am not running cpufrequtils at the moment.  Should I to get more useful info?

Also please note that this is a dual hyperthreaded Xeon  machine running full AMD64 Gentoo.

Cheers

Ferg

----------

## Nerevar

Go ahead and run it and switch to the ondemand governor. Then see if there are any errors in dmesg and repost the cpufreq-info.

----------

## ferg

Hi,

sorry about the delay there!

No errors in dmesg, and here's the output from cpufreq-info

```
scotgate sbin # cpufreq-info 

cpufrequtils 002: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006

Report errors and bugs to linux@brodo.de, please.

analyzing CPU 0:

  driver: p4-clockmod

  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0 2

  hardware limits: 425 MHz - 3.40 GHz

  available frequency steps: 425 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.28 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.55 GHz, 2.98 GHz, 3.40 GHz

  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance

  current policy: frequency should be within 425 MHz and 3.40 GHz.

                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use

                  within this range.

  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

analyzing CPU 1:

  driver: p4-clockmod

  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1 3

  hardware limits: 425 MHz - 3.40 GHz

  available frequency steps: 425 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.28 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.55 GHz, 2.98 GHz, 3.40 GHz

  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance

  current policy: frequency should be within 425 MHz and 3.40 GHz.

                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use

                  within this range.

  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

analyzing CPU 2:

  driver: p4-clockmod

  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0 2

  hardware limits: 425 MHz - 3.40 GHz

  available frequency steps: 425 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.28 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.55 GHz, 2.98 GHz, 3.40 GHz

  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance

  current policy: frequency should be within 425 MHz and 3.40 GHz.

                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use

                  within this range.

  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

analyzing CPU 3:

  driver: p4-clockmod

  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1 3

  hardware limits: 425 MHz - 3.40 GHz

  available frequency steps: 425 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.28 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.55 GHz, 2.98 GHz, 3.40 GHz

  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance

  current policy: frequency should be within 425 MHz and 3.40 GHz.

                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use

                  within this range.

  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

```

Any clues?

Cheers

Ferg

----------

## ferg

Due to a pretty warm few days I gave this a try again.  But no change.  Any ideas would be most welcome!

Cheers

Ferg

----------

## ferg

I did find a post on another forum about increasing the idle threshold:

http://sidux.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-11236-start-0.html

```
echo 40 >> /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/ondemand/up_threshold
```

```
echo 40 >> /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/ondemand/up_threshold

```

Just doing this on a single CPU makes it much less choppy!

Cheers

Ferg

----------

