Via C7 Processor (CPU) - cpufreq and make.conf support

Hi all, I have a few questions about my Via C7 processor. In
 
examples/make.conf there is an option for the CPUTYPE. It
indicates that  
only the C3 and the C3-2 chips are supported. Does the C7
chip have  
support that I don't know of? If not, will it? Otherwise,
will specifying  
the chipset as C3 help or hinder my environment?

My second question is in regards to the CPU frequency
control. I've seen  
that the C7 gets support for cpufreq in 7 current, but I'm
running 6.  
Without support in cpufreq, what speed would my processor be
running at?  
I've always thought my performance has been lackluster so I
suspect it's  
running at the lower clock speed.

Thanks for any help any of you can give me,

Ross

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Ross Penner wrote:
 > Hi all, I have a few questions about my Via C7
processor. In
 > examples/make.conf there is an option for the CPUTYPE.
It indicates
 > that only the C3 and the C3-2 chips are supported.
Does the C7 chip
 > have support that I don't know of? If not, will it?
Otherwise, will
 > specifying the chipset as C3 help or hinder my
environment?

I know this is not an answer, but why not just upgrade to
7.0 if you
need the C7 support?

 > My second question is in regards to the CPU frequency
control. I've
 > seen that the C7 gets support for cpufreq in 7
current, but I'm
 > running 6. Without support in cpufreq, what speed
would my processor
 > be running at? I've always thought my performance has
been lackluster
 > so I suspect it's running at the lower clock speed.

If cpufreq/powerd is not active, your processor is running
full-speed.
You can check this with "sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq" if
it's available on
your system.

Erik

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On 10/24/07, Erik Cederstrand <erikcederstrand.dk> wrote:
>
> Ross Penner wrote:
> > Hi all, I have a few questions about my Via C7
processor. In
> > examples/make.conf there is an option for the
CPUTYPE. It indicates
> > that only the C3 and the C3-2 chips are supported.
Does the C7 chip
> > have support that I don't know of? If not, will
it? Otherwise, will
> > specifying the chipset as C3 help or hinder my
environment?
>
> I know this is not an answer, but why not just upgrade
to 7.0 if you
> need the C7 support?

 I probably will. I just thought I'd try and see if I could
stay on stable
first.

> My second question is in regards to the CPU frequency
control. I've
> > seen that the C7 gets support for cpufreq in 7
current, but I'm
> > running 6. Without support in cpufreq, what speed
would my processor
> > be running at? I've always thought my performance
has been lackluster
> > so I suspect it's running at the lower clock
speed.
>
> If cpufreq/powerd is not active, your processor is
running full-speed.
> You can check this with "sysctl
dev.cpu.0.freq" if it's available on
> your system.

sounds reasonable. unfortunetly, 'sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq'
doesn't seem to
work on my system. heh, it'd probably work if I upgrade to
7.0

Erik
>
>
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Ross Penner wrote:
> On 10/24/07, Erik Cederstrand <erikcederstrand.dk> wrote:
>> Ross Penner wrote:
>>> Hi all, I have a few questions about my Via C7
processor. In
>>> examples/make.conf there is an option for the
CPUTYPE. It indicates
>>> that only the C3 and the C3-2 chips are
supported. Does the C7 chip
>>> have support that I don't know of? If not, will
it? Otherwise, will
>>> specifying the chipset as C3 help or hinder my
environment?
>> I know this is not an answer, but why not just
upgrade to 7.0 if you
>> need the C7 support?
> 
>  I probably will. I just thought I'd try and see if I
could stay on stable
> first.

AFAIK 7.0 will be stable while 6.3 will be legacy.

Cheers, Erik

-- 
Erik Nørgaard
Ph: +34.666334818                           http://www.locolomo.org
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On 10/24/07, Ross Penner <ross.pennergmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/24/07, Erik Cederstrand <erikcederstrand.dk> wrote:
> >
> > Ross Penner wrote:
> > > Hi all, I have a few questions about my Via
C7 processor. In
> > > examples/make.conf there is an option for the
CPUTYPE. It indicates
> > > that only the C3 and the C3-2 chips are
supported. Does the C7 chip
> > > have support that I don't know of? If not,
will it? Otherwise, will
> > > specifying the chipset as C3 help or hinder
my environment?
> >
> > I know this is not an answer, but why not just
upgrade to 7.0 if you
> > need the C7 support?
> 
>  I probably will. I just thought I'd try and see if I
could stay on stable
> first.
> 
> > My second question is in regards to the CPU
frequency control. I've
> > > seen that the C7 gets support for cpufreq in
7 current, but I'm
> > > running 6. Without support in cpufreq, what
speed would my processor
> > > be running at? I've always thought my
performance has been lackluster
> > > so I suspect it's running at the lower clock
speed.
> >
> > If cpufreq/powerd is not active, your processor is
running full-speed.
> > You can check this with "sysctl
dev.cpu.0.freq" if it's available on
> > your system.
> 
> sounds reasonable. unfortunetly, 'sysctl
dev.cpu.0.freq' doesn't seem to
> work on my system. heh, it'd probably work if I upgrade
to 7.0

Apparently I'm an idiot. the sysctl command does work. when
the system is mostly idle, It outputs '198' and when I put a
high cpu load on it, it outputs '397'. I'm not exactly sure
what this means as I'm hoping it doesn't refer to the MHz.
It's a 1.2GHz processor. Can somebody help me interpret this
result?
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On Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 01:25:51PM -0600, Ross Penner
wrote:
> > sounds reasonable. unfortunetly, 'sysctl
dev.cpu.0.freq' doesn't seem to
> > work on my system. heh, it'd probably work if I
upgrade to 7.0
> 
> Apparently I'm an idiot. the sysctl command does work.
when the system
> is mostly idle, It outputs '198' and when I put a high
cpu load on it,
> it outputs '397'. I'm not exactly sure what this means
as I'm hoping
> it doesn't refer to the MHz. 

I'm afraid it does;

$ sysctl -d dev.cpu.0.freq
dev.cpu.0.freq: Current CPU frequency

When I see a CPU speed of 1 GHz in conky, I get:

$ sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq
dev.cpu.0.freq: 1000

(on my athlon64)

What does 'sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq_levels' report? It should
list the
available CPU frequencies.

Roland
-- 
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On 10/24/07, Rolannessto <rsmithxs4all.nl> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 01:25:51PM -0600, Ross Penner
wrote:
> > > sounds reasonable. unfortunetly, 'sysctl
dev.cpu.0.freq' doesn't seem to
> > > work on my system. heh, it'd probably work if
I upgrade to 7.0
> >
> > Apparently I'm an idiot. the sysctl command does
work. when the system
> > is mostly idle, It outputs '198' and when I put a
high cpu load on it,
> > it outputs '397'. I'm not exactly sure what this
means as I'm hoping
> > it doesn't refer to the MHz.
>
> I'm afraid it does;
>
> $ sysctl -d dev.cpu.0.freq
> dev.cpu.0.freq: Current CPU frequency
>
> When I see a CPU speed of 1 GHz in conky, I get:
>
> $ sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq
> dev.cpu.0.freq: 1000
>
> (on my athlon64)
>
> What does 'sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq_levels' report? It
should list the
> available CPU frequencies.
>
I get:
dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 397/-1 198/-1

Is this something I should be reporting to stable? It's not
explicitly
mentioned in the hardware notes so I'm not sure if my
processor is
actually supported in 6.2. Is it possible that I've been
shipped the
wrong processor? If so, how would I be able to tell short of
ripping
off the giant heatsink and looking?
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On Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 02:25:11PM -0600, Ross Penner
wrote:
> > What does 'sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq_levels' report?
It should list the
> > available CPU frequencies.
> >
> I get:
> dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 397/-1 198/-1
> 
> Is this something I should be reporting to stable? It's
not explicitly
> mentioned in the hardware notes so I'm not sure if my
processor is
> actually supported in 6.2. Is it possible that I've
been shipped the
> wrong processor? If so, how would I be able to tell
short of ripping
> off the giant heatsink and looking?

Have a look at the dmesg output with 'dmesg |head -n 24'.
There should
be some info about the CPU in there. Post those lines here.

And have a look at the bios. It could have some settings to
regulate the
CPU speed.

Roland
-- 
R.F.Smith                                   http://www.xs4all.nl/~r
smith/
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On 10/24/07, Rolannessto <rsmithxs4all.nl> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 02:25:11PM -0600, Ross Penner
wrote:
> > > What does 'sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq_levels'
report? It should list the
> > > available CPU frequencies.
> > >
> > I get:
> > dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 397/-1 198/-1
> >
> > Is this something I should be reporting to stable?
It's not explicitly
> > mentioned in the hardware notes so I'm not sure if
my processor is
> > actually supported in 6.2. Is it possible that
I've been shipped the
> > wrong processor? If so, how would I be able to
tell short of ripping
> > off the giant heatsink and looking?
>
> Have a look at the dmesg output with 'dmesg |head -n
24'. There should
> be some info about the CPU in there. Post those lines
here.

Lines from dmesg:

 Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality
0
CPU: VIA C7 Esther+RNG+AES+AES-CTR+SHA1+SHA256+RSA
(399.40-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "CentaurHauls"  Id = 0x6a9  Stepping =
9
 
Features=0xa7c9bbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,AP
IC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,CMOV,PAT,CLFLUSH,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,TM,P
BE>
  Features2=0x181<SSE3,EST,TM2>

It clearly indicates that it's a 400MHz processor, but the
timecounter
makes me think it' the 1.2 GHz it's supposed to be.

> And have a look at the bios. It could have some
settings to regulate the
> CPU speed.

The BIOS didn't seem to have anything to adjust the CPU
speed, but
while booting I did notice that it declared itself as a via
C7 400MHz
processor.
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On Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 03:02:21PM -0600, Ross Penner
wrote:
> On 10/24/07, Rolannessto <rsmithxs4all.nl> wrote:
> > On Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 02:25:11PM -0600, Ross
Penner wrote:
> > > > What does 'sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq_levels'
report? It should list the
> > > > available CPU frequencies.
> > > >
> > > I get:
> > > dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 397/-1 198/-1
> > >
> > > Is this something I should be reporting to
stable? It's not explicitly
> > > mentioned in the hardware notes so I'm not
sure if my processor is
> > > actually supported in 6.2. Is it possible
that I've been shipped the
> > > wrong processor? If so, how would I be able
to tell short of ripping
> > > off the giant heatsink and looking?
> >
> > Have a look at the dmesg output with 'dmesg |head
-n 24'. There should
> > be some info about the CPU in there. Post those
lines here.
> 
> Lines from dmesg:
> 
>  Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz
quality 0
> CPU: VIA C7 Esther+RNG+AES+AES-CTR+SHA1+SHA256+RSA
(399.40-MHz 686-class CPU)
>   Origin = "CentaurHauls"  Id = 0x6a9 
Stepping = 9
>  
Features=0xa7c9bbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,AP
IC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,CMOV,PAT,CLFLUSH,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,TM,P
BE>
>   Features2=0x181<SSE3,EST,TM2>
> 
> It clearly indicates that it's a 400MHz processor, but
the timecounter
> makes me think it' the 1.2 GHz it's supposed to be.

The 'i8254' timecounter is completely independent of the
CPU, and the 'Hz'
value associated with it has nothing to do with the clock
frequency of the CPU.


> 
> > And have a look at the bios. It could have some
settings to regulate the
> > CPU speed.
> 
> The BIOS didn't seem to have anything to adjust the CPU
speed, but
> while booting I did notice that it declared itself as a
via C7 400MHz
> processor.

It sounds like the CPU actually is running at 400MHz then. 

Either that or both the BIOS and FreeBSD misidentifes the
CPU speed.

It could be that the BIOS do not set up the processor
correctly.
Are you sure there are no BIOS settings related to the CPU
speed?
Have you tried updating the BIOS?




-- 
<Insert your favourite quote here.>
Erik Trulsson
ertr1013student.uu.se
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