Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Morgan Aldridge (morgant@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 02-Jan-2025 03:40:48 JST Morgan Aldridge

   in reply to

   I keep the #X11 #xload & #xmem graphs swallowed into my #MLVWM menu bar, plus have some custom #mlvwmrc configs for apm(8) details, including the current CPU speed. However, the CPU speed I have been using, essentially `sysctl hw.cpuspeed`, is really just the current CPU speed step that #OpenBSD is using.

   My old dual-core i7 is 2.2GHz, but has a maximum boost of 3.2GHz, but I had no idea whether or how OpenBSD would actually boost. So, I set to see if I could better observe & identify. [2/n]

   • Embed this notice
     Morgan Aldridge (morgant@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 02-Jan-2025 03:40:48 JST Morgan Aldridge

     in reply to

     Initial research showed that #OpenBSD _should_ automatically support the boost speeds in my old i7, especially when `sysctl hw.cpuspeed` shows `2201` instead of just `2200` (MHz). Quick exploration in `sysctl` revealed that `hw.cpu<N>.frequency` shows the current frequency (Hz) for each online CPU/core.

     A little scripting & monitoring later and I found that single cores of my CPU do regularly boost up to 3.2GHz for short periods! [3/n]

   • Embed this notice
     Morgan Aldridge (morgant@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 02-Jan-2025 03:40:48 JST Morgan Aldridge

     in reply to

     So, with my new found understanding of monitoring CPU steps & speeds under #OpenBSD, I have now updated my mlvwmrc-openbsd-apmd #MLVWM #mlvwmrc MenuExtras with options for showing the current CPU speed scaling level (the way it used to work) or the current highest CPU/core speed. I've also added an indicator to both modes to designate when the CPU is boosting above the standard CPU speed:

     https://github.com/morgant/mlvwmrc-openbsd-apm/releases/tag/0.2

     [4/4]

   • Embed this notice
     Solène :flan_hacker: (solene@bsd.network)'s status on Thursday, 02-Jan-2025 03:40:48 JST Solène :flan_hacker:

     in reply to

     @morgant did you see https://www.undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20241129093132 ?

   • Embed this notice
     Morgan Aldridge (morgant@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 02-Jan-2025 03:40:49 JST Morgan Aldridge

     • Solène :flan_hacker:

     I've long used @solene's `obsdfreqd` on my #OpenBSD workstations to better tune auto CPU performance policy to reduce power usage, temperatures, and fan noise. Until recently, I generally used the default settings. I've noticed that video conferencing web applications have been requiring more of my workstations over the past year and I get more stutters on my current dual-core i7 workstation, so I've been tweaking my settings for responsiveness. [1/n]