KDE sysinfo:/ incorrect output

**kungfu** · 22-Dec-2008, 13:19

Hi all I am wondering if anyone else has come across this...

Im using OpenSuse 11.1
This is what is displayed

Code:

"CPU Information
Processor (CPU):   AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
  Speed:  1,000.00 MHz
  Cores:  2
  Temperature:  28�C"

My CPU should actually be a 3Ghz not 1

This is the info from hardware in YAST

> cpu.1: cpuinfo
----- /proc/cpuinfo -----
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 67
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
stepping : 3
cpu MHz : 1000.000
cache size : 1024 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
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 rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy
bogomips : 2009.20
clflush size : 64
power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc

processor : 1
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 67
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
stepping : 3
cpu MHz : 1000.000
cache size : 1024 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 1
initial apicid : 1
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
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 rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy
bogomips : 2009.20
clflush size : 64
power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc

Dave

**caf4926** · 22-Dec-2008, 14:08

It looks fine.

If powersave has cpu setting to dynamic it will automatically cut cpu usage when only under light load. If you want it at max all the time, switch to performance.

Tilman Schmidt · 22-Dec-2008, 15:42

kungfu schrieb:
> This is what is displayed
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> "CPU Information
> Processor (CPU): AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
> Speed: 1,000.00 MHz
> Cores: 2
> Temperature: 28�C"
> --------------------
>
> My CPU should actually be a 3Ghz not 1

It displays the speed your CPU is actually running at right now,
not the maximum speed it could run at if necessary. Try giving
it some work and see if the figure rises. :-)

HTH
T.

**robopensuse** · 22-Dec-2008, 16:47

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 5600+ here, and same thing.

It is not fine it's a kernel bug (/proc/cpuinfo). I have exact same thing. I think it comes same with x86_amd, or i586 arch media.

Every other OS version, and Windows shows 2.8 GHz, only 11.1-RC1, and 11.1 have shown the suspicious number 1,000 Mhz. It remains at that setting no matter what and the bogomips value there is wrong to. It doesn't really matter, but it does mean bad data is going into Smolt.

There's also a bug reported https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=436717
saying the CPU is locked in SMP mode to the lowest frequency, perhaps it's same thing.

**robopensuse** · 22-Dec-2008, 17:22

And here's the workround, to enjoy your processor at full speed, with both cores operating full SMP.

You'll need to alter your boot command line, by altering the GRUB info for the 11.1 kernel. When the kernel update to fix comes out, you'll be able to turn CPUFREQ back on for power-saving and cooler running mode.

rob@fir:~> cat /proc/cmdline
root=/dev/System/Root resume=/dev/sdb5 splash=silent showopts vga=0x346 CPUFREQ=no
rob@fir:~> egrep 'model|cpu|bogo' /proc/cpuinfo
cpu family : 15
model : 67
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+
cpu MHz : 2812.692
cpu cores : 2
cpuid level : 1
bogomips : 5625.38
cpu family : 15
model : 67
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+
cpu MHz : 2812.692
cpu cores : 2
cpuid level : 1
bogomips : 5625.45
fir:/mnt/home/rob #

So add CPUFREQ=no to turn off, the slowness, it really made things noticeably faster for me.

My GRUB entry for the 11.1 kernel now reads :

title openSUSE 11.1
root (hd1,7)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default root=/dev/System/Root resume=/dev/sdb5 splash=silent showopts vga=0x346 CPUFREQ=no
initrd /initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default

**robopensuse** · 23-Dec-2008, 12:42

OK...

Had some help investingating this to check thanks to Bugzilla.

Bottom line is, the initial hunch I had that it was just reporting issues was correct.

Whilst I have yet to do proper benchmarks to test, performance comparison, subjective test with it enabled, and investigation showed the frequency is not locked. May be my boot with CPUFREQ enabled last night, had background stuff running or something to slow the subjective test and slow it.

So contrary to the Bugzilla bug report, the frequency was not locked on my system, but it is hard to avoid sampling the frequency when it's not on low.

The fact that cat /proc/cpuinfo shows the slowest frequency and pathetic bogomips, sux.

But I think it's just the way the kernel reports info that's wrong, not the actual operation of it.

Though there may be suspicion that 'going' slow, rather than being fast and then idle for longer really saves power. The CPU does run cooler with this feature however, so I guess it is a power saver.

I've lowered the bug report priority from highest and lowered the severity from Major, until there's solid evidence of a real performance problem.