# AMD A8 quadcore is always running at full speed

## Albatro1974

It seems like I cannot take advantage of any sort of power consumption policy for my AMD A8 processor: it always runs at full speed, leaving me with a laptop that consumes too much... any ideas?

```
cat /proc/cuinfo

processor   : 0

vendor_id   : AuthenticAMD

cpu family   : 21

model      : 16

model name   : AMD A8-4555M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics

stepping   : 1

microcode   : 0x6001116

cpu MHz      : 1597.031

cache size   : 2048 KB

physical id   : 0

siblings   : 4

core id      : 0

cpu cores   : 2

apicid      : 16

initial apicid   : 0

fpu      : yes

fpu_exception   : yes

cpuid level   : 13

wp      : yes

flags      : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 fma cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes xsave avx f16c lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs xop skinit wdt lwp fma4 tce nodeid_msr tbm topoext perfctr_core perfctr_nb arat cpb hw_pstate npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale vmcb_clean flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold bmi1

bogomips   : 3194.06

TLB size   : 1536 4K pages

clflush size   : 64

cache_alignment   : 64

address sizes   : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual

power management: ts ttp tm 100mhzsteps hwpstate cpb eff_freq_ro

```

and

```

#

# CPU Frequency scaling

#

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_COMMON=y

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT is not set

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE is not set

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_USERSPACE is not set

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_ONDEMAND is not set

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_CONSERVATIVE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_ONDEMAND=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_CONSERVATIVE=y

```

any other info needed?

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## audiodef

Have you tried using cpufreqd and cpufrequtils?

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## tomtom69

What happens if you set the default frequency governor to "ondemand" or "powersave" instead of "conservative"?

I use "ondemand" without cpufrequtils or so on my desktop PC.

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## Albatro1974

 *audiodef wrote:*   

> Have you tried using cpufreqd and cpufrequtils?

 

Yes, using the xfce4 plugin I get "No scaling driver available".

Maybe I should use "Generic-x86-64" instead of "Opteron/Athlon64/Hammer/k8"?

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## schorsch_76

No, this option is correct. Please make sure, that the following options are set in the kernel

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=m

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE=m

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=m

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_ONDEMAND=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_CONSERVATIVE=m

Now your xfce plugin can access the files in the /sys filesystem and change the governour.

The current cpu frequency can be checked in the folder

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/

EDIT:

i forgot the following options

#

# x86 CPU frequency scaling drivers

#

CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ=m

CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ_CPB=y

CONFIG_X86_POWERNOW_K8=m

CONFIG_X86_SPEEDSTEP_CENTRINO=m

CONFIG_X86_P4_CLOCKMOD=m

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## audiodef

Well, never mind the plugin for a minute. Can you successfully use cpufreqset from the command line?

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