6 core CPU speed

abourke · 05-15-2011, 04:29 PM

Hi,

I recently bought a new acer desktop. The machine came with an AMD Phenom II X6 1035T (hex core) processor. It was advertised as having a clock speed of 2.6Ghz. But when I ran the "df -H" command it stated each core as having only 800Mhz each!!!

Is this correct? Why is it giving such a low speed?

Regards
Aubrey.

sycamorex · 05-15-2011, 04:36 PM

The df command reports disk space usage. It has nothing to do with cpu speed. What's the output of:

Code:

less /proc/cpuinfo | grep "cpu MHz"

abourke · 05-15-2011, 04:53 PM

Yes, sorry. I meant to say that. Not the "df -H" command.
less /proc/cpuinfo | grep "cpu MHz"

basically say:
core 0 800
core 1 800
core 2 800
core 3 800
core 4 800
core 5 800

I went to the AMD site, and found the page for my processor model:
http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskto...f10=&f11=&f12=

CPU Clock speed is listed as 2.6Ghz

sycamorex · 05-15-2011, 04:57 PM

See what the BIOS says. Normally you can adjust the frequency there, but be careful.

TobiSGD · 05-15-2011, 05:08 PM

This is totally normal. If the CPU is idling it clocks down itself to 800 MHz to lower the production of heat. If the CPU gets loaded it will clock with the normal speed of 2,6 GHz, if 3 of the cores are going into sleep state the other three cores are even able to clock up to I think 3 GHz (I don't know for sure for the 1035T, my 1055T goes up to 3.2 GHz).
So you don't have to worry about that, nothing is wrong, this is normal and desired behavior.

RockDoctor · 05-15-2011, 05:12 PM

Looks like all cores are currently running @ 800 MHz. They should speed up on demand.

sycamorex · 05-15-2011, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

This is totally normal. If the CPU is idling it clocks down itself to 800 MHz to lower the production of heat. If the CPU gets loaded it will clock with the normal speed of 2,6 GHz, if 3 of the cores are going into sleep state the other three cores are even able to clock up to I think 3 GHz (I don't know for sure for the 1035T, my 1055T goes up to 3.2 GHz).
So you don't have to worry about that, nothing is wrong, this is normal and desired behavior.

I didn't know that. On my system with Intel i7 it shows:

Code:

cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997

...regardless of the fact whether I run only terminal or open a few programs and start compiling something.

jefro · 05-15-2011, 05:17 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool%27n%27Quiet

abourke · 05-15-2011, 05:18 PM

OK Cool, thanks!

The bios does read 2.6 Ghz, but i see no option to change it.
I heard it is possible to overclock this processor. Does anyone know how? and how much is safe/dangerous?

TobiSGD · 05-15-2011, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycamorex

I didn't know that. On my system with Intel i7 it shows:

Code:

cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997
cpu MHz		: 2659.997

...regardless of the fact whether I run only terminal or open a few programs and start compiling something.

Have you cpufreq installed and are running the ondemand governor? I would highly recommend that.
Edit: Also check your BIOS if EIST is enabled.

TobiSGD · 05-15-2011, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abourke

OK Cool, thanks!

The bios does read 2.6 Ghz, but i see no option to change it.
I heard it is possible to overclock this processor. Does anyone know how? and how much is safe/dangerous?

If you have to ask if it is possible and if it is dangerous you obviously lack the knowledge for successful and somewhat save overclocking, so please don't do that before getting more knowledge about your specific hardware.

Besides that, your CPU is able to overclock itself dynamically if 3 of the cores go to sleep. This will at least speed up single-threaded software.

sycamorex · 05-15-2011, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

Have you cpufreq installed and are running the ondemand governor? I would highly recommend that.
Edit: Also check your BIOS if EIST is enabled.

cpufrequtils are installed, but the modules are not loaded in the kernel. I guess I'll need to research it. First I'll check BIOS settings.

sycamorex · 05-15-2011, 06:57 PM

In order not to hijack this thread I created a separate one:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...30#post4357330

cascade9 · 05-15-2011, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

If the CPU gets loaded it will clock with the normal speed of 2,6 GHz, if 3 of the cores are going into sleep state the other three cores are even able to clock up to I think 3 GHz (I don't know for sure for the 1035T, my 1055T goes up to 3.2 GHz).

1035T is 3.1GHz turbo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abourke

The bios does read 2.6 Ghz, but i see no option to change it.
I heard it is possible to overclock this processor. Does anyone know how? and how much is safe/dangerous?

If you know what you are doing, dont try to push things hard, and have a quality motherboard with decent cooling its fairly safe.

With an acer desktop, the motherboard will not be that high quality, the cooling might be sub-standard, and may be missing any overclocking options.