Processor Scaling

[Francisco Borges]

On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 11:40 PM, Steve Flynn <anothermindbomb at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 10:25 PM, Lubbers, Nicholas
> <nlubbers at shopthepig.com> wrote:
>
>> I have discovered that my sytem has processor scaling, and most of the
>> time my system is running at half speed. How do I disable processor
>> scaling so I can run at full speed at all times?
>
> Unless you're experiencing an issue with processor scaling, you want
> your processor to run as the slowest speed possible to conserve
> energy. By turning it off, your machine will be sucking more juice and
> running hotter. The processor will ramp the speed up as it's required.

Not quite the case with modern processors. See link below.

> Really though, you're not gaining anything other that a higher
> electricity bill or significantly lower batters life on a laptop.

IF his processor can actually save lots on idle, he should actually
run it at full speed. All the time.

http://www.lesswatts.org/projects/applications-power-management/race-to-idle.php

Note that I don't know if turning off scaling at the BIOS would still
allow the savings to kick in through P-state setting.

HTH, and with kind regards,
-- 
Francisco