I've been running some tests on my existing (WinXP) server that I am going to replace with a new unRAID box.

 

It is an AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (ClawHammer).  Stock specs are 2.4 gHz and Vcore of 1.5 and when cool-n-quiet is enabled, it drops as low as 800 mHz and Vcore of 0.800 volts when idle.  Idle CPU Temp drops from 42 degrees C to 30 degrees C, and the trusty Kill-A-Watt from Newegg shows that power use drops by 44 Watts when CnQ is enabled.

 

Since I am really trying to reduce heat generated by my always-on boxes like unRAID, but unRAID does not have CPU power management compiled into the kernel, even though it has been a standard part of the Slackware kernel since 2.4.

 

If Tom could add cpuspeed support in the build, we could use modprobe command to add the module appropriate for our motherboard (for me, powernow-k8) and select an appropriate governor.  I am already using it on my other Slackware box and the reduction in heat is significant.

That is a great suggestion.  This would remove some of the angst when choosing components to save power/heat - get whatever you want but then crank down the power when idling - letting folks focus on compatibility/speed/price when purchasing hardware.

 

 

Bill

Seems to me that this was an excellent idea 2 years ago, but I've searched here and haven't seen any follow-up.

 

I'd like to see implementation of "Cool 'n' Quiet" for those of us with AMD hardware. I'm currently underclocking / undervolting my Opteron 185 to save some watts. But the capability to automatically do this as per Cool 'n' Quiet would be a lot better. Could deliver the full capability of the CPU when there was demand for it and even greater power savings when the processor load was low.

 

I tried enabling Cool 'n' Quiet in the BIOS (4.5-b6/8) but all that accomplished was to disable the under-clock/volt and return it the CPU default.

 

 

When you enable C&Q in the BIOS, you can't also do a manual clock/voltage setting in the BIOS.... you can only do one or the other.

 

IIRC, CPU Freq Utils was added to unRAID.... but you have to load the appropriate drive for your CPU in your startup script.

 

Here is my config:

  CPU type               : AMD Athlon(tm) X2 Dual Core Processor BE-2400
  Min/Max frequency      : 1000/2300 MHz
  Current frequency      : 1000 MHz
  Frequency governor     : ondemand
  Freq. scaling driver   : powernow-k8
  Cache size             : 512 KB
  Bogomips               : 1994.99
  Bogomips               : 1994.99

  # of CPU's found       : 2

When you enable C&Q in the BIOS, you can't also do a manual clock/voltage setting in the BIOS.... you can only do one or the other.

 

Thanks. I should have known that.

 

IIRC, CPU Freq Utils was added to unRAID.... but you have to load the appropriate drive for your CPU in your startup script.

 

Could you please help me with specifics how this is done? I did some googlng; "modprobe, Opteron 185 linux driver, CPUFreq", etc. and only got myself radically confused. If you could spell out the steps, I'll be happy to add this to the wiki, so other noobs don't have ask about it.

 

The Opteron used powernow-k8.ko

The Opteron used powernow-k8.ko

 

Thanks. But...

 

... you have to load the appropriate drive for your CPU in your startup script.

 

Let ask specifically: What code line(s) need(s) to be added to the go script? Or is it some other script? The config "code" you posted looks like output to me.

 

Sorry. I am doing my best to learn about linux and have made a good bit of progress in a relatively short time, but things that are obvious to a veteran can remain painfully obscure to a novice even when he makes an effort to search and read before asking. You make it sound really simple, but what I found when searching seems anything but. Maybe because I don't know the right place to search. Sorry again.

First see if you have the support:

 

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors

First see if you have the support:

 

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors

 

root@Tower:~# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors
cat: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors: No such file or directory
root@Tower:~#

 

I guess not.

 

Rebooted with BIOS reset to AUTO for CPU clock and with Cool 'n' Quiet enabled in case the governors were supposed to be loaded dependent on the BIOS settings. No apparent difference. This is all of contents:

 

Linux 2.6.31.5-unRAID.
root@Tower:~# cd /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq
-bash: cd: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq: No such file or directory
root@Tower:~# cd /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0
root@Tower:/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0# ls -l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 0 Nov 13 16:03 cache/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Nov 13 16:03 topology/

 

OK I found this article which I am at least able to follow.

 

And from which I deduce that unRAID 4.5-b8 is not including or not loading any CPUfreq drivers or governors.

 

Linux 2.6.31.5-unRAID.
root@Tower:~# ls /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/ \
> /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel\
> /arch/*/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/
/bin/ls: cannot access /lib/modules/2.6.31.5-unRAID/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/: No such file or directory
/bin/ls: cannot access /lib/modules/2.6.31.5-unRAID/kernel/arch/*/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/: No such file or directory
root@Tower:~# modprobe powernow-k8
FATAL: Module powernow_k8 not found.
root@Tower:~#

 

Am I right? If so, what can I/we do about it?

First see if you have the support:

 

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors

 

    No such file or directory

 

Anything we can do about it?

 

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(4.5-beta11)