Gigabyte 970A-UD3P and hwpstate problem

[Mario Lobo]

On Wed, 05 Aug 2015 08:39:11 -0700
John Baldwin <jhb at freebsd.org> wrote:
> On Wednesday, August 05, 2015 10:04:01 AM Mario Lobo wrote:
> > On Tue, 04 Aug 2015 13:18:21 -0700
> > John Baldwin <jhb at freebsd.org> wrote:
> >   
> > > On Sunday, July 12, 2015 03:23:21 PM Mario Lobo wrote:  
> > > > On Sat, 11 Jul 2015 15:50:06 +0200
> > > > "Herbert J. Skuhra" <herbert at oslo.ath.cx> wrote:
> > > >   
> > > > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 09:37:52PM -0300, Mario Lobo wrote:  
> > > > > > Hi;
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I just installed a Gigabyte 970A-UD3P mobo and updated BIOS
> > > > > > to the latest version but the problem also showed with the
> > > > > > previous version.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Here is my amd64 10-STABLE setup:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > FreeBSD 10.2-PRERELEASE #0 r285207M: Tue Jul  7 00:11:01 BRT
> > > > > > 2015 amd64
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > CPU: AMD FX-8320E Eight-Core Processor (3214.93-MHz K8-class
> > > > > > CPU) Origin="AuthenticAMD"  Id=0x600f20  Family=0x15
> > > > > > Model=0x2 Stepping=0  

John;

First of all, thanks for looking into this.

> > > Can you run 'kgdb' as root and get the output of 'p amd_pminfo'?  
> > 
> > (kgdb) p amd_pminfo
> > $1 = 2009  
> 
> Ok, AMDPM_HW_PSTATE is set.

Yes!

> 
> > > Hmm, do you have an acpi_perf0 device?  If not, then your CPU
> > > isn't supported without BIOS help.  
> > 
> > No acpi_perf0 device present  
> 
> Ok, in that case the hwpstate driver doesn't know how to handle your
> CPU. It only has a manual fall back for older CPUs:
> 
> static int
> hwpstate_get_info_from_msr(device_t dev)
> {
> 	...
>                 switch(family) {
>                 case 0x11:
>                         /* fid/did to frequency */
>                         hwpstate_set[i].freq = 100 * (fid + 0x08) /
> (1 << did); break;
>                 case 0x10:
>                         /* fid/did to frequency */
>                         hwpstate_set[i].freq = 100 * (fid + 0x10) /
> (1 << did); break;
>                 default:
>                         HWPSTATE_DEBUG(dev, "get_info_from_msr: AMD
> family %d CPU's are not implemented yet. sorry.\n", family); return
> (ENXIO); break;
>                 }
> 	...
> }
> 
> (Your CPU is family 0x15 as you can see from dmesg.)
>

Yeah :(. Ok.

> > > First check to see if there are any BIOS
> > > options to control CPU throttling that are currently disabled.  
> > 
> > The only BIOS option that deals with throttling is Cool'n'Quiet,
> > which is enabled.  
> 
> You might try checking if C1E is enabled.  Also, if you have done any
> overclocking you might try disabling that.

C1E is enable and so is C6. But, good news!

[~]>dmesg -a | grep
hwpstate hwpstate0: <Cool`n'Quiet 2.0> on cpu0 

dev.hwpstate.0.freq_settings: 3200/10235 2800/8393 2300/6221 1800/4471
1400/3135 dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 3200/10235 2800/8393 2300/6221
1800/4471 1400/3135

There was an option in the BIOS called HPC, which stands for High Power
Ccomputing (whatever that means) that, as soon as I disabled it,
hwpstate showed up. I disabled acpi_throttle and the frequencies are
still being throttled. 

I must point out that the lowest frequency with acpi_throttle enabled
was 875 and now is 1400. But you were right! With hwpstate, I can see
that the temperature of the CPU is much lower, despite the fact that
the lowest frequency is higher that before, which means that hwpstate
is really more efficient.

I don't know if the list will allow it but I'm attaching a BIOS
picture. 

> 
> It might also be that your BIOS is not telling us about Cool N Quiet
> for some other reason.  Can you get an ACPI dump?

Also attaching a zipped output of acpidump. I'll send both attachments
privately just in case the list dumps them.

> 
> > I get this though:
> >   
> > [~]>dmesg -a | grep acpi_      
> > acpi_timer0: <32-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x808-0x80b on acpi0
> > acpi_button0: <Power Button> on acpi0
> > acpi_throttle0: <ACPI CPU Throttling> on cpu0  
> 
> As I mentioned previously, acpi_throttle is useless for you.  Yes, it
> does slow your CPU down, but it doesn't save you very much power (if
> any).
> 

Indeed !!

Again, thanks for helping !


-- 
Mario Lobo
http://www.mallavoodoo.com.br
FreeBSD since 2.2.8 [not Pro-Audio.... YET!!]
 
"UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, 
because that would also stop you from doing clever things."