Default plan on Arch installation causes bad CPU performance on laptops
pecigonzalo opened this issue · 9 comments
The default configuration of the service/udevd makes it so by default it uses
00-auto.plan which in term uses 01-powersave.plan. The problem is this plan sets PLAN_CPU_MAX=0 on many cases resulting on max Mhz being = to the min Mhz.
I dont believe this is the desired configuration for anyone as in most systems it will make the laptop unresponsive.
sudo pstate-frequency -dd -Sp auto
VERBOSE: parse short option: -d
DEBUG: __log_level more verbose
VERBOSE: parse short option: -S
DEBUG: Set operation exec_mode to SET
VERBOSE: parse short option: -p
DEBUG: Attempt to set plan
DEBUG: set_power_plan requires SET operation exec_mode
DEBUG: Search the config directory '/etc/pstate-frequency.d/' for power plan configrations
VERBOSE: Sourcing config from location: /etc/pstate-frequency.d//00-auto.plan
VERBOSE: Set power plan to: auto
VERBOSE: Sourcing config from location: /etc/pstate-frequency.d//01-powersave.plan
VERBOSE: Attempt manual plan setting: powersave
DEBUG: set_max requires SET operation exec_mode
VERBOSE: Set max_value to '0'
DEBUG: Check that '0' is all digits
DEBUG: '0' is all digits
VERBOSE: Bound value '0' between 11 and 100
DEBUG: __exec_set_max_arg: '11'
DEBUG: set_min requires SET operation exec_mode
VERBOSE: Set min_value to '0'
DEBUG: Check that '0' is all digits
DEBUG: '0' is all digits
VERBOSE: Bound value '0' between 10 and 99
DEBUG: __exec_set_min_arg: '10'
DEBUG: set_governor requires SET operation exec_mode
VERBOSE: Set governor_value to 'powersave'
DEBUG: Check that 'powersave' is not digits
DEBUG: 'powersave' is not digits
DEBUG: __exec_set_governor_arg: 'powersave'
DEBUG: set_turbo requires SET operation exec_mode
DEBUG: Check for special case arguments: on, off
VERBOSE: Argument was 'off' set to 1
DEBUG: Check that '1' is valid
DEBUG: '1' is valid digit
DEBUG: __exec_set_turbo_arg: '1'
VERBOSE: exec_mode: SET
set_max: 1 [11]
set_min: 1 [10]
set_turbo: 1 [1]
set_governor: 1 [powersave]
VERBOSE: YOU ARE ROOT
DEBUG: Check that we are setting something
DEBUG: Check if we are setting max
DEBUG: Set max to arg
DEBUG: Check if we are setting min
DEBUG: Set min to arg
DEBUG: Check if we are setting turbo
DEBUG: Set turbo to arg
DEBUG: Check if we are setting governor
DEBUG: Set governor to arg
DEBUG: Check that min is not >= max
DEBUG: Check that max is not <= min
VERBOSE: setting_cpu_max: 11
VERBOSE: setting_cpu_min: 10
VERBOSE: setting_cpu_turbo: 1
VERBOSE: setting_cpu_governor: powersave
DEBUG: Set actual values
VERBOSE: Write cpu_governor 'powersave' to all CPUs
VERBOSE: Write governor: 'powersave' to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
DEBUG: Governor 'powersave' written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
VERBOSE: Write governor: 'powersave' to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor
DEBUG: Governor 'powersave' written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor
VERBOSE: Write governor: 'powersave' to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor
DEBUG: Governor 'powersave' written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_governor
VERBOSE: Write governor: 'powersave' to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor
DEBUG: Governor 'powersave' written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_governor
VERBOSE: Write max_value '11' to intel_pstate file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/max_perf_pct
DEBUG: Max value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/max_perf_pct
DEBUG: Bound 418000 between 400000 and 3800000
VERBOSE: Write freq: 418000KHz to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
DEBUG: Max value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
VERBOSE: Write freq: 418000KHz to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
DEBUG: Max value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
VERBOSE: Write freq: 418000KHz to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
DEBUG: Max value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
VERBOSE: Write freq: 418000KHz to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
DEBUG: Max value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
VERBOSE: Write min_value '10' to intel_pstate file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/min_perf_pct
DEBUG: Min value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/min_perf_pct
DEBUG: Bound 380000 between 400000 and 3800000
VERBOSE: Write freq: 400000KHz to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
DEBUG: Min value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
VERBOSE: Write freq: 400000KHz to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
DEBUG: Min value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
VERBOSE: Write freq: 400000KHz to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
DEBUG: Min value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
VERBOSE: Write freq: 400000KHz to file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
DEBUG: Min value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
VERBOSE: Write turbo_value '1' to intel_pstate file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo
DEBUG: Turbo value written to /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo
pstate-frequency version 3.9.2
pstate::CPU_DRIVER -> intel_pstate
pstate::CPU_GOVERNOR -> powersave
pstate::TURBO -> 1 [OFF]
pstate::CPU_MIN -> 10% [400000KHz]
pstate::CPU_MAX -> 11% [418000KHz]
DEBUG: Exit: Success
CPU_MAX is set to 11% as you can see
I think its related to this file config: https://github.com/pyamsoft/pstate-frequency/blob/master/res/plans/01-powersave.plan
Thanks for the update.
When you run the script, is your machine connected to the AC power adapter, or are you on battery power?
The powersave plan by default sets everything to the lowest performance value, which for your machine is 11% of the max CPU frequency.
The plan is performing as expected, if the minimum value is too low for your purposes, you can edit the powersave plan to a more sane CPU_MAX value, such as 30 or 40%.
Alternatively, you can edit the auto
plan to call the balanced plan on both AC and battey.
I understand I can change it, and that is what I did. I know its working as intended with those settings, im not saying its a bug of the software, but I dont think anyone wants a CPU at CPU_MAX=11% or similar. I dont see anyone wanting to run at 400 or 800 Mhz by default.
Maybe the default for auto should be balanced or the powersave should set it to 30% by default.
Thoughts?
The latest version which is 3.9.4 will default to the AC plan if no battery is found on the machine.
I will think about bumping the minimum
Think I'll bump the shipped minimum to 50.
Now that modern processors have become so efficient, they are mostly able to handle themselves.
A minimum of 50 should give reasonale performance for a machine on battery where the general goal is to be as idle as possible to conserve energy.
Hope this will help.
That sounds great, in my experience anything that disabled turbo with balance_power p state profile is normally great for battery.
50 should keep the system responsive while providing good saving benefits
3.9.6
powersave default CPU_MAX is now set as 50.
In the future I will try to add support for a syntax such as +n for example +30 which will mean 30 higher than the CPU_MIN. This should allow for more dynamic system configuration.