Currently, ondemand calculates the target frequency proportional to load
using the formula:
Target frequency = C * load
where C = policy->cpuinfo.max_freq / 100
Though, in many cases, the minimum available frequency is pretty high and
the above calculation introduces a dead band from load 0 to
100 * policy->cpuinfo.min_freq / policy->cpuinfo.max_freq where the target
frequency is always calculated to less than policy->cpuinfo.min_freq and
the minimum frequency is selected.
For example: on Intel i7-3770 @ 3.4GHz the policy->cpuinfo.min_freq = 1600000
and the policy->cpuinfo.max_freq = 3400000 (without turbo). Thus, the CPU
starts to scale up at a load above 47.
On quad core 1500MHz Krait the policy->cpuinfo.min_freq = 384000
and the policy->cpuinfo.max_freq = 1512000. Thus, the CPU starts to scale
at load above 25.
Change the calculation of target frequency to eliminate the above effect using
the formula:
Target frequency = A + B * load
where A = policy->cpuinfo.min_freq and
B = (policy->cpuinfo.max_freq - policy->cpuinfo->min_freq) / 100
This will map load values 0 to 100 linearly to cpuinfo.min_freq to
cpuinfo.max_freq.
Also, use the CPUFREQ_RELATION_C in __cpufreq_driver_target to select the
closest frequency in frequency_table. This is necessary to avoid selection
of minimum frequency only when load equals to 0. It will also help for selection
of frequencies using a more 'fair' criterion.
Tables below show the difference in selected frequency for specific values
of load without and with this patch. On Intel i7-3770 @ 3.40GHz:
Without With
Load Target Selected Target Selected
0 0 1600000 1600000 1600000
5 170050 1600000 1690050 1700000
10 340100 1600000 1780100 1700000
15 510150 1600000 1870150 1900000
20 680200 1600000 1960200 2000000
25 850250 1600000 2050250 2100000
30 1020300 1600000 2140300 2100000
35 1190350 1600000 2230350 2200000
40 1360400 1600000 2320400 2400000
45 1530450 1600000 2410450 2400000
50 1700500 1900000 2500500 2500000
55 1870550 1900000 2590550 2600000
60 2040600 2100000 2680600 2600000
65 2210650 2400000 2770650 2800000
70 2380700 2400000 2860700 2800000
75 2550750 2600000 2950750 3000000
80 2720800 2800000 3040800 3000000
85 2890850 2900000 3130850 3100000
90 3060900 3100000 3220900 3300000
95 3230950 3300000 3310950 3300000
100 3401000 3401000 3401000 3401000
On ARM quad core 1500MHz Krait:
Without With
Load Target Selected Target Selected
0 0 384000 384000 384000
5 75600 384000 440400 486000
10 151200 384000 496800 486000
15 226800 384000 553200 594000
20 302400 384000 609600 594000
25 378000 384000 666000 702000
30 453600 486000 722400 702000
35 529200 594000 778800 810000
40 604800 702000 835200 810000
45 680400 702000 891600 918000
50 756000 810000 948000 918000
55 831600 918000 1004400 1026000
60 907200 918000 1060800 1026000
65 982800 1026000 1117200 1134000
70 1058400 1134000 1173600 1134000
75 1134000 1134000 1230000 1242000
80 1209600 1242000 1286400 1242000
85 1285200 1350000 1342800 1350000
90 1360800 1458000 1399200 1350000
95 1436400 1458000 1455600 1458000
100 1512000 1512000 1512000 1512000
Tested on Intel i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz and on ARM quad core 1500MHz Krait
(Android smartphone).
Benchmarks on Intel i7 shows a performance improvement on low and medium
work loads with lower power consumption. Specifics:
Phoronix Linux Kernel Compilation 3.1:
Time: -0.40%, energy: -0.07%
Phoronix Apache:
Time: -4.98%, energy: -2.35%
Phoronix FFMPEG:
Time: -6.29%, energy: -4.02%
Also, running mp3 decoding (very low load) shows no differences with and
without this patch.
Signed-off-by: Stratos Karafotis <stratosk@semaphore.gr>
Signed-off-by: Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael.j.wysocki@intel.com>
6393d6a102