Question

11

Ubuntu and processor speed detection

rated 0 times [ 11] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 10235 / 3 Years ago, mon, june 7, 2021, 3:24:48

I've got an older laptop that I use as a media center on my TV and I'm usually installing/reinstalling/uninstalling different OS' and Apps to get it to run as smoothly as possible.

One thing I noticed was very strange. My laptop is a HP Pavilion G62 which has a triple core AMD processor running at 1800mhz. When I launch XBMC from in Windows 7 and look at the processor speeds, it clearly says 1800mhz. However, when I launch it from Ubuntu either from the launcher or as a session, it says the processor is only 800mhz.

I wanted to investigate further so I loaded up DXDIAG in Windows to see what the speed was. Sure enough, it indicates that it's 1800mhz. However, when launching HardInfo in Ubuntu, it tells me that the speed of each core is as follows: 1500mhz, 1500mhz, and 800mhz.

Does this mean that both the advertised processor speed and the speed detected by Windows are lying or rounded off? Or is there a problem with Ubuntu detecting my processor speeds and my system isn't running as optimally as it should? I'd be inclined to say the latter... mainly because it appears that Windows runs far smoother than Ubuntu does.

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

olltea

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 238

Total Questions: 115

Total Answers: 107

Location: Moldova

Member since Tue, Feb 7, 2023

1 Year ago

answered 3 Years ago algicuade · Accepted Answer

By default Ubuntu uses the ondemand frequency governor. To check/switch governors, install the cpufrequtils package like this:

sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils

To check the current speed/governors of each core run:

cpufreq-info

You can set all cores to performance like this:

sudo cpufreq-set -r -g performance

You can confirm that all cores are now running at their max frequency like this:

grep MHz /proc/cpuinfo

Note: this change is temporary. Once you reboot, it'll be back to ondemand.