Do I need AMD Athlon 64 Cool'n'Quiet Driver for Linux?

[Ant]

Hello,

Do I need AMD Athlon 64 Cool'n'Quiet Driver for Linux
(http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html
) to take advantage of the power saving and making less heat when my
computer is not working too hard? Or does Kernel 2.6.18 already have
this feature?

Thank you in advance.
--
"The foreign policy aim of ants can be summed up as follows: restless
aggression, territorial conquest, and genocidal annihilation of
neighboring colonies whenever possible. If ants had nuclear weapons,
they would probably end the world in a week." --Journey to the Ants,
page 59. Bert Holldobler & Edward O. Wilson
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[General Schvantzkoph]

Hello,

Do I need AMD Athlon 64 Cool'n'Quiet Driver for Linux
(http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html
) to take advantage of the power saving and making less heat when my
computer is not working too hard? Or does Kernel 2.6.18 already have
this feature?

Thank you in advance.

It's in the kernel.

 

[Ant]

It's in the kernel.

Thank you for the quick response.
--
"He who runs from the white ant may stumble upon the stinging ant."
--Nigeria
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/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
( ) or (e-mail address removed)
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[Wes Newell]

Hello,

Do I need AMD Athlon 64 Cool'n'Quiet Driver for Linux
(http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html
) to take advantage of the power saving and making less heat when my
computer is not working too hard? Or does Kernel 2.6.18 already have
this feature?

It's in the kernel, but it still has to be configured and turned on, and
enabled in the bios. See kernel source docs.

/usr/src/linux-2.6.18/Documentation/cpu-freq

Basically, you can run it as power on demand or you can do it manually
changing the speed at will.

 

[Ant]

It's in the kernel, but it still has to be configured and turned on, and
enabled in the bios. See kernel source docs.

/usr/src/linux-2.6.18/Documentation/cpu-freq

Basically, you can run it as power on demand or you can do it manually
changing the speed at will.

Thanks. I'd rather have the system figure it out to speed up (e.g.,
compiling or gaming) and down (idling and surfing the Web) depending on
my computer usage. This is how I do it in Windows XP Pro. SP2 (all updates).

Assuming I read the amd-powernow.txt file correctly, it seems to
autodetect and load the driver itself. I am using Kernel 2.6.18-4-K7
that came from Debian's apt-get (don't compile my own Kernel). To check
to see if it is loaded, do I just run lsmod to find "powernow" module? I
have not enabled the cool'n'quiet feature in CMOS/BIOS yet. I just want
to research before I mess something up.
--
"Everything tastes better at a picnic... the ants, the sand,
everything." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: (e-mail address removed)
( ) or (e-mail address removed)
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

 

[Wes Newell]

Assuming I read the amd-powernow.txt file correctly, it seems to
autodetect and load the driver itself. I am using Kernel 2.6.18-4-K7
that came from Debian's apt-get (don't compile my own Kernel). To check
to see if it is loaded, do I just run lsmod to find "powernow" module? I
have not enabled the cool'n'quiet feature in CMOS/BIOS yet. I just want
to research before I mess something up.

if you haven't enabled it in the bios then there's no point to doing
anything. I doubt the drivers would even load not finding anything to use.
Enable in bios. Configure the default /etc/cpufreqd.conf file to your
liking and understanding. Start or restart cpufreqd check cat
/proc/cpuinfo. My cpufreqd.conf file as an example.

# you need: 1 [General] section,
# 1 or more [Profile] sections
# 1 or more [Rule] sections
#
# a section ends at the first blank line
#
# [Rule] sample:
# [Rule]
# name=sample_rule
# ac=on # (on/off)
# battery_interval=0-10
# cpu_interval=30-60
# programs=xine,mplayer
# profile=sample_profile
#
# [Profile] sample:
# [Profile]
# name=sample_profile
# minfreq=800000
# maxfreq=2000000
# policy=performance
#
# see CPUFREQD.CONF(5) manpage for a complete reference

[General]
pidfile=/var/run/cpufreqd.pid
poll_interval=2
# pm_type=apm #(acpi, apm or pmu)
# Uncomment the following line to enable ACPI workaround (see cpufreqd.conf(5))
# acpi_workaround=1
verbosity=5 #(if you want a minimal logging set to 5)

[Profile]
name=hi_boost
minfreq=2000000
maxfreq=2000000
policy=userspace

[Profile]
name=medium_boost
minfreq=1800000
maxfreq=1800000
policy=userspace

[Profile]
name=lo_boost
minfreq=800000
maxfreq=800000
policy=userspace

[Rule]
name=cpulow
cpu_interval=0-7
profile=lo_boost

[Rule]
name=cpumedium
cpu_interval=7-45
profile=medium_boost

[Rule]
name=cpuhigh
cpu_interval=45-100
profile=hi_boost

[Rule]
name=crackattack
programs=crack-attack
cpu_interval=95-100
profile=lo_boost

# full power when watching DVDs :
# [Rule]
# name=dvd_watching
# programs=xine,mplayer,avidemux,totem,mythcommflag
# cpu_interval=0-100
# profile=hi_boost

 

[Steffen Moser]

Thanks. I'd rather have the system figure it out to speed up (e.g.,
compiling or gaming) and down (idling and surfing the Web) depending on
my computer usage. This is how I do it in Windows XP Pro. SP2 (all updates).

Assuming I read the amd-powernow.txt file correctly, it seems to
autodetect and load the driver itself. I am using Kernel 2.6.18-4-K7
that came from Debian's apt-get (don't compile my own Kernel). To check
to see if it is loaded, do I just run lsmod to find "powernow" module?

You can also type "dmesg | grep powernow".

At least for me (running a socket-939 Opteron 185), this gives:

| steffen@pc01:~> dmesg | grep powernow
|
| powernow-k8: Found 2 AMD Athlon 64 / Opteron processors (version 1.50.4)
| powernow-k8: 0 : fid 0x12 (2600 MHz), vid 0x8 (1350 mV)
| powernow-k8: 1 : fid 0x10 (2400 MHz), vid 0xa (1300 mV)
| powernow-k8: 2 : fid 0xe (2200 MHz), vid 0xc (1250 mV)
| powernow-k8: 3 : fid 0xc (2000 MHz), vid 0xe (1200 mV)
| powernow-k8: 4 : fid 0xa (1800 MHz), vid 0xe (1200 mV)
| powernow-k8: 5 : fid 0x2 (1000 MHz), vid 0xe (1200 mV)

And "/proc/cpuinfo" shows the clock speed that the CPU is running
with at the moment (quite idle):

| steffen@pc01:~> cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "cpu MHz"
|
| cpu MHz : 1004.647
| cpu MHz : 1004.647

When loaded, it goes up to:

| steffen@pc01:~> cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "cpu MHz"
|
| cpu MHz : 2612.082
| cpu MHz : 2612.082

Getting results like these will show you that CnQ is working correctly.

HTH!

Best regards,
Steffen