F@H in ubuntu running at 45%

[blueswitch]

so I just got my folding setup this week in ubuntu, and it seemed alot slower than windows. I thought maybe it was a bigger job....but while playing with some dock add on's I looked at processor frequency and with only folding up it said 1ghz 45%....so whats up with that....?

 

[ponkan pinoy]

I'll assume that "1ghz" is processor speed, what is it supposed to be? Is it overclocked? What's the 45% supposed to be? Cpu time consumed in a single-processor system, or a dually? System resources consumed?

If your cpu is running slower than spec, it's probably the fact that f@h has a 19 nice level, which means it will run only on idle time, and never ask the system for more resources. In practical terms, this means that if the system automatically clocks itself down, f@h will always run at the lowest processor speed offered. I had this problem with Ubuntu on a Centrino-based laptop, I think most modern cpu's today have the capability to be clocked down (think AMD Cool 'n Quiet)

 

[MRD]

Is it a laptop?

If it's a desktop, Linux shouldn't have any control over cpu speed, that should be bios level... afaik.

cat /proc/cpuinfo, and see what it says for cpu speed.

 

[blueswitch]

sorry for the confussin, this is the AMD rig in my signature. So it should be at 2.6 OC'd. Here is the output from cpuinfo MRD.

mike@Ubuntu:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 15
model           : 44
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 1193.472
cache size      : 512 KB
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 syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni lahf_lm
bogomips        : 2389.33

I've also noticed that device manager doesn't recognize my processor...but that might not be a big deal.

 

[MRD]

If it's a laptop it's being underclocked to save power, but if it's a desktop, I have absolutely no idea why it's running at 1200 mhz. That makes no sense at all to me.

 

[ponkan pinoy]

Ubuntu installed and enabled the cpufreq governor on my laptop without any prompts, though I can't verify that it does this with a desktop machine as well. I wouldn't be too surprised though, as it's transparent with normally scheduled applications, and ought to save power when the processor is idle.

blueswitch, try typing "lsmod | grep cpufreq". If you get any hits that means the module is loaded into the kernel, which means that the governor may be active as well. Under Dapper it's "powernowd", it probably still is under Edgy and Feisty.

Resolving the problem might mean cpu frequency management off, or renice-ing f@h to 0 (1 through 19 might work for you, didn't for me). The former is probably the preferred method, since you won't need the frequency scaling, and you'll still be able to access the computer without getting lagged.

 

[blueswitch]

thats what I get when Gnome loads after turning off AMD Cool and Quiet in the BIOS. This is a desktop by the way. You can see that I'm getting my full clockspeed, but really I'd like to keep cool and quiet on...no need to waste power if it's not needed...so maybe just need to move F@H up to alittle bit of a higher priority? Here's the output of that lsmod | grep cpufreq....this is with the cool and quiet off.

mike@Ubuntu:~$ lsmod | grep cpufreq
cpufreq_userspace 4696 0
cpufreq_stats 5636 0
freq_table 4740 1 cpufreq_stats
cpufreq_powersave 1920 0
cpufreq_ondemand 6428 0
cpufreq_conservative 7332 0

 

[AlabamaCajun]

start fah with -config flag. There is an option in advanced setting about batter power other than that, maybe you could raise the priority of fah to a higher level forceing it to run 100%.

 

[Zerix01]

As a rule you should not use any power saving features when overcloking (system can get confused). Not to mention the point of Cool n' Quite is to reduce your clock speed to save power (does not save power any other way), if you are running F@H 24/7 then at no point would it get a chance to save power.