Modern processors have several power saving modes called C-states. They reflect the capability of an idle processor to turn off unused components in order to save power. Whereas C-states have been available for laptops for some time, they are a rather recent trend in the server market (for example, with Intel* processors, C-modes are only available since Nehalem).

When a processor runs in the C0 state, it is executing instructions. A processor running in any other C-state is idle. The higher the C number, the deeper the CPU sleep mode: more components are shut down to save power. Deeper sleep states save more power, but the downside is that they have higher latency (the time the CPU needs to go back to C0).

Some states also have submodes with different power saving latency levels. Which C-states and submodes are supported depends on the respective processor. However, C1 is always available.

Table 11.1, “C-States” gives an overview of the most common C-states.

While a processor operates (in C0 state), it can be in one of several CPU performance states (P-states). Whereas C-states are idle states (all but C0), P-states are operational states that relate to CPU frequency and voltage.

The higher the P-state, the lower the frequency and voltage at which the processor runs. The number of P-states is processor-specific and the implementation differs across the various types. However, P0 is always the highest-performance state. Higher P-state numbers represent slower processor speeds and lower power consumption. For example, a processor in P3 state runs more slowly and uses less power than a processor running at P1 state. To operate at any P-state, the processor must be in the C0 state where the processor is working and not idling. The CPU P-states are also defined in the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) specification, see http://www.acpi.info/spec.htm.

C-states and P-states can vary independently of one another.

T-states refer to throttling the processor clock to lower frequencies in order to reduce thermal effects. This means that the CPU is forced to be idle a fixed percentage of its cycles per second. Throttling states range from T1 (the CPU has no forced idle cycles) to Tn, with the percentage of idle cycles increasing the greater n is.

This differs from changing the frequency (which makes the CPU have fewer cycles per second), and from running in a C-state other than C1. Note that throttling does not reduce voltage and since the CPU is forced to idle part of the time, processes will take longer to finish and will consume more power instead of saving any power.

T-states are a concept from the times when dynamic frequency scaling and C-states did not exist. With the implementation of the latter, T-states are only useful if reducing thermal effects is the primary goal. Since T-states can interfere with C-states (preventing the CPU from reaching higher C-states), they can even increase power consumption in a modern CPU capable of C-states.

You can think of the in-kernel governors as a sort of pre-configured power schemes for the CPU. The CPUfreq governors use P-states to change frequencies and lower power consumption. The dynamic governors can switch between CPU frequencies, based on CPU utilization to allow for power savings while not sacrificing performance. These governors also allow for some tuning so you can customize and change the frequency scaling.

The following governors are available with the CPUfreq subsystem:

If the CPUfreq subsystem in enabled on your system (which it is by default with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server), you can find the relevant files and directories under /sys/devices/system/cpu/. If you list the contents of this directory, you will find a cpu{0..x} subdirectory for each processor, and several other files and directories. You will find a cpufreq subdirectory in each processor directory, holding a number of files and directories that define the parameters for CPUfreq. Some of them are writable (for root), some of them are read-only. If your system currently uses the on-demand or conservative governor, you will see a separate subdirectory for those governors in cpufreq, containing the parameters for the governors.

	Different Processor Settings
The settings under the cpufreq directory can be different for each processor. If you want to use the same policies across all processors, you need to adjust the parameters for each processor.

The cpufreq-info command helps you to retrieve CPUfreq kernel information. Run without any options, it collects the information available for your system and shows an output similar to the following:

 


cpufrequtils 004: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006
Report errors and bugs to http://bugs.opensuse.org, please.    
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
  hardware limits: 2.80 GHz - 3.40 GHz
  available frequency steps: 3.40 GHz, 2.80 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative, userspace, powersave, ondemand, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 2.80 GHz and 3.40 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz.
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1
  hardware limits: 2.80 GHz - 3.40 GHz
  available frequency steps: 3.40 GHz, 2.80 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative, userspace, powersave, ondemand, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 2.80 GHz and 3.40 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 3.40 GHz.
    

Using the appropriate options, you can view the current CPU frequency, the minimum and maximum CPU frequency allowed, show the currently used CPUfreq policy, the available CPUfreq governors, or determine the CPUfreq kernel driver used. For more details and the available options, refer to the cpufreq-info man page or run cpufreq-info --help.

To modify CPUfreq settings, use the cpufreq-set command as root. It allows you set values for the minimum or maximum CPU frequency the governor may select or to create a new governor. With the -c option, you can also specify for which of the processors the settings should be modified. That makes it easy to use a consistent policy across all processors without adjusting the settings for each processor individually. For more details and the available options, refer to the cpufreq-set man page or run cpufreq-set --help.

You can switch to another governor at runtime with the -g option. For example, the following command will activate the on-demand governor:

cpufreq-set -g ondemand

If you want the change in the governor to persist after a reboot or shutdown, use the pm-profiler as described in Section 11.5, “Creating and Using Power Management Profiles”.

Apart from the governor settings that can be influenced with cpufreq-set (like minimum or maximum CPU frequency to be used), you can also tune further governor parameters manually, for example, Ignoring Nice Values in Processor Utilization.

Another parameter that significantly impacts the performance loss caused by dynamic frequency scaling is the sampling rate (rate at which the governor checks the current CPU load and adjusts the processor's frequency accordingly). Its default value depends on a BIOS value and it should be as low as possible. However, in modern systems, an appropriate sampling rate is set by default and does not need manual intervention.

When setting the ignore_nice_load value for cpu0, the same value is automatically used for all cores. In this case, you do not need to repeat the steps above for each of the processors where you want to modify this governor parameter.