From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jul 26 01:04:11 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5A5AB16A419 for ; Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:04:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from mxout4.cac.washington.edu (mxout4.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.19]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3871B13C45E for ; Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:04:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from hymn03.u.washington.edu (hymn03.u.washington.edu [140.142.12.169]) by mxout4.cac.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.06) with ESMTP id l6Q14ALS023130 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:04:10 -0700 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by hymn03.u.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.03) with ESMTP id l6Q14AZe022975; Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:04:10 -0700 X-Auth-Received: from [192.55.52.10] by hymn03.u.washington.edu via HTTP; Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:04:10 PDT Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:04:10 -0700 (PDT) From: youshi10@u.washington.edu To: "V.I.Victor" In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-PMX-Version: 5.3.2.304607, Antispam-Engine: 2.5.1.298604, Antispam-Data: 2007.7.25.174233 X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='SUPERLONG_LINE 0.05, NO_REAL_NAME 0, __C230066_P5 0, __CT 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0' Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ACPI slowing CPU... or something else X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:04:11 -0000 On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, V.I.Victor wrote: > On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 youshi10@u.washington.edu wrote: > >> On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, V.I.Victor wrote: >> >>> On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, Garrett Cooper wrote: >>> >>>> V.I.Victor wrote: >>>>> I've two 5.4 desktop boxes. Pretty much the same installation; both >>>>> from the same CD, same apps, no monitor/keyboard, 1-user logged-on via >>>>> ssh (command-line only w/no gui) and otherwise lightly loaded. >>>>> >>>>> Box_A: CPU: AMD-K7(tm) Processor (598.84-MHz 686-class CPU) >>>>> avail memory = 121630720 (115 MB) >>>>> ACPI disabled by blacklist. >>>>> >>>>> Box_B: CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz (1794.19-MHz 686-class CPU) >>>>> avail memory = 252186624 (240 MB) >>>>> cpu0: on acpi0 >>>>> acpi_throttle0: on cpu0 >>>>> ... >>> >>>> Yes. On my virtual machine with ACPI: >>>> >>>> dev.cpu.0.freq: 2653 >>>> dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 2653/-1 2321/-1 1989/-1 1658/-1 1326/-1 994/-1 663/-1 >>>> 331/-1 >>>> >>>> [root@optimus-vm-7 ~]# dmesg | grep 26 >>>> FreeBSD 7.0-CURRENT #5: Tue Jul 17 08:22:26 UTC 2007 >>>> CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6700 @ 2.66GHz (2666.79-MHz K8-class >>>> CPU) >>>> Timecounter "TSC" frequency 2666794890 Hz quality 800 >>>> >>>> What are the following sysctls set to? >>>> >>>> kern.clockrate >>>> hw.acpi.cpu.cx_lowest >>>> dev.cpu.0.cx_lowest >>>> dev.cpu.0.cx_usage >>> >>> Thanks for the reply! I don't seem to have the last 2 you've asked about. >>> >>> 'sysctl -a | egrep "clockrate|cpu"' reported the following: >>> >>> kern.clockrate: { hz = 100, tick = 10000, profhz = 1024, stathz = 128 } >>> kern.threads.virtual_cpu: 1 >>> kern.ccpu: 1948 >>> kern.smp.maxcpus: 1 >>> kern.smp.cpus: 1 >>> hw.ncpu: 1 >>> hw.clockrate: 1794 >>> hw.acpi.cpu.cx_supported: C1/0 >>> hw.acpi.cpu.cx_lowest: C1 >>> hw.acpi.cpu.cx_usage: 100.00% >>> machdep.cpu_idle_hlt: 1 >>> dev.cpu.0.%desc: ACPI CPU >>> dev.cpu.0.%driver: cpu >>> dev.cpu.0.%location: handle=\_PR_.CPU0 >>> dev.cpu.0.%pnpinfo: _HID=none _UID=0 >>> dev.cpu.0.%parent: acpi0 >>> dev.cpu.0.freq: 1796 >>> dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 1796/-1 1571/-1 1347/-1 1122/-1 898/-1 673/-1 449/-1 224/-1 >>> dev.acpi_throttle.0.%parent: cpu0 >>> dev.cpufreq.0.%driver: cpufreq >>> dev.cpufreq.0.%parent: cpu0 >> >> >> >> Do you have SMP enabled? > > No. Both boxes have pretty minimal, basic installations. > >> You also might be able to tune the kernel clock rate to obtain better >> performance; I forget what the values were for sysctl, but if you search >> around the current@ archives a bit, there was a discussion involving VMware >> and clock tuning approximately 2-3 months ago which details this issue, and >> possible solutions. > > Perhaps tuning could help. I'll check the archives. > > However, it just seems to me that the 1.8 GHz box ought to perform the simple prog (orig post) at least as fast as the 6 MHz box. Depends on: 1. What you're trying to do. 2. What your programs are optimized for. 3. Additional factors (I/O, load, etc). 4. Hardware attached to each machine. Some examples... a. Comparing a SCSI disk vs a PATA disk. b. Clockspeed applied to the RAM on one machine isn't equal to the other. c. Motherboard manufacturers -- some manufacturers have done a shoddy job with memory handling, BIOS manufacturing, and other critical stats in the past. Try disabling ACPI on the P4 though and see what happens. I will say though, the Willamette (1st gen P4) chips weren't Intel's finest desktop chip; some people went far enough to complain that the Willamette series was nothing more than overclocked Coppermines, i.e. P3's. I haven't taken a look at the architectures and compared them, so those may be empty claims. You'll get performance with a Northwood or Prescott series P4 processor though, in particular the later revisions of both chips, once they introduced Hyperthreading. And remember, operating frequency of a CPU doesn't mean everything; it's just a ballpark figure for performance ;). Finally, quite a few advancements have been made going from 5.4 to 6.2. I'd say give 6.2 (and soon 7-BETA/-RELEASE) a try before ruling out a major problem with your PC(s), or FreeBSD (overall). -Garrett