Not detecting correct CPU Max frequency and ignoring config file

[LDrawe]

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Have you tried?

• Searching through existing/closed issues to see if your bug has already been already submitted? Yes
• If installation failed with auto-cpufreq-installer,have you tried installing auto-cpufreq using Snap package? N/A
• Have you tried configuring auto-cpufreq? Yes
• Have you tried suggestions in troubleshooting section? Yes

Error output:

Add/paste error output in case of failed installation or other failing component

---

System information:

Add/paste output of:

auto-cpufreq --debug

------------------------------ Current CPU stats ------------------------------

CPU max frequency: 3400 MHz
CPU min frequency: 400 MHz

Core    Usage   Temperature     Frequency
CPU0      1.0%        54 °C      3400 MHz
CPU1      1.0%        55 °C      3400 MHz
CPU2      4.0%        58 °C      3400 MHz
CPU3      3.0%        53 °C      3400 MHz
CPU4      3.1%        54 °C      3400 MHz
CPU5      6.1%        55 °C      3400 MHz
CPU6      2.0%        58 °C      3400 MHz
CPU7      2.0%        53 °C      3400 MHz

auto-cpufreq version: 2.3.0 (git: 432883a)

Python: 3.12.4
psutil package: 5.9.8
platform package: 1.0.8
click package: 8.1.7
distro package: 1.9.0

Computer type: Notebook
Battery is: charging

auto-cpufreq system resource consumption:
cpu usage: 0.0 %
memory use: 0.42 %

Total CPU usage: 3.5 %
Total system load: 0.85
Average temp. of all cores: 55.00 °C 

Currently using: performance governor
Currently turbo boost is: on

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also please be descriptive about the issue you're reporting, i.e: what you tried & what's the expected behaviour.

The output of auto-cpufreq --debug reports that the max CPU frequency is 3400Mhz, but the output of auto-cpufreq --stats says that it's 1600Mhz( The max frequency without turbo boost). If scaling_max_freq or scaling_min_freq value in the config file is greater than the CPU max frequency of auto-cpufreq --stats , the config file is ignored, and the GUI App only shows "Battery is: Charging".

Expected Behaviour

It should use the real CPU Max frequency(3400Mhz) as the limit and not the max without turbo

Proof

auto-cpufreq --stats

Linux distro: Arch Linux  
Linux kernel: 6.9.9-arch1-1
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
Cores: 8
Architecture: x86_64
Driver: intel_pstate

------------------------------ Current CPU stats ------------------------------

CPU max frequency: 1600 MHz
CPU min frequency: 400 MHz

Core    Usage   Temperature     Frequency
CPU0      0.0%        47 °C      1600 MHz
CPU1      4.0%        47 °C       400 MHz
CPU2     20.6%        49 °C      1600 MHz
CPU3      2.0%        46 °C      1599 MHz
CPU4      0.0%        47 °C      1601 MHz
CPU5      0.0%        47 °C      1600 MHz
CPU6      1.0%        49 °C      1598 MHz
CPU7      0.0%        46 °C      1600 MHz

---------------------------- CPU frequency scaling ----------------------------

Battery is: charging

Setting to use: "performance" governor
Setting to use: "performance" EPP
Given value for 'scaling_max_freq' is not within the allowed frequencies 400000-1600000 kHz

auto-cpufreq.conf

# settings for when connected to a power source
[charger]
# see available governors by running: cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors
# preferred governor.
governor = performance

# EPP: see available preferences by running: cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/energy_performance_available_preferences
energy_performance_preference = performance

# minimum cpu frequency (in kHz)
# example: for 800 MHz = 800000 kHz --> scaling_min_freq = 800000
# see conversion info: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/frequency/mhz-to-hz.html
# to use this feature, uncomment the following line and set the value accordingly
scaling_min_freq = 1800000

# maximum cpu frequency (in kHz)
# example: for 1GHz = 1000 MHz = 1000000 kHz -> scaling_max_freq = 1000000
# see conversion info: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/frequency/mhz-to-hz.html
# to use this feature, uncomment the following line and set the value accordingly
scaling_max_freq = 2600000

# turbo boost setting. possible values: always, auto, never
turbo = always

# settings for when using battery power
[battery]
# see available governors by running: cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors
# preferred governor
governor = powersave

# EPP: see available preferences by running: cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/energy_performance_available_preferences
energy_performance_preference = power

# minimum cpu frequency (in kHz)
# example: for 800 MHz = 800000 kHz --> scaling_min_freq = 800000
# see conversion info: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/frequency/mhz-to-hz.html
# to use this feature, uncomment the following line and set the value accordingly
scaling_min_freq = 1800000

# maximum cpu frequency (in kHz)
# see conversion info: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/frequency/mhz-to-hz.html
# example: for 1GHz = 1000 MHz = 1000000 kHz -> scaling_max_freq = 1000000
# to use this feature, uncomment the following line and set the value accordingly
scaling_max_freq = 2600000

# turbo boost setting. possible values: always, auto, never
turbo = always

# experimental 

# Add battery charging threshold (currently only available to Lenovo)
# checkout README.md for more info

# enable thresholds true or false
#enable_thresholds = true
#
# start threshold (0 is off ) can be 0-99
#start_threshold = 0
#
# stop threshold (100 is off) can be 1-100
#stop_threshold = 100

Additional Information

Output of cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq: 1600000

Output of cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq: 3400000

I'm using msr-tools to edit the CPU registers to enable turbo boost, since the option is not present in my Bios. Without it the turbo would be permanently disabled, and if I use the acpi-cpufreq driver the turbo works, but it doesn't expose the real max frequency of the CPU, and therefore I can't limit it.
Also I'm using a notebook, but I removed the battery since it died

[LDrawe]

I've made a fork and edited cpufreqctl.sh. Instead of getting the CPU Max Frequency from /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq, it gets from /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq. As mentioned above, scaling_max_freq gets the actual max frequency. By doing so it works correctly:

[AdnanHodzic]

If scaling_max_freq or scaling_min_freq value in the config file is greater than the CPU max frequency of auto-cpufreq --stats , the config file is ignored, and the GUI App only shows "Battery is: Charging".

This is unfortunately true, and something I was aware of. As like you I would prefer to have I'd like to have scaling_min_freq = 1800000 (1800Mhz), but instead I'll might see a message like i.e with --stats:

Given value for 'scaling_min_freq' is not within the allowed frequencies 400000-4600000 kHz

So I'd have to set it to 400000 instead, but I also found a way I can make this message dissapear even with 1800000 if I restart auto-cpufreq daemon after making changes to auto-cpufreq.conf

systemctl stop auto-cpufreq 
systemctl start auto-cpufreq 

But even then I might see them go to 800Mhz instead when 1800 should be the scaling_min_freq. If I leave turbo = auto instead of turbo = always where indeed then it never goes under 1800.

I never had the problem you had, as my max frequencies were always reached. I will even get same values for both:

Output of cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq: 1600000
Output of cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq: 3400000

Where in my case these values are the same:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
4600000
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
4600000

But I also see you're limiting the scaling_max_freq, why are you doing this?

scaling_max_freq = 2600000

I've made a fork and edited cpufreqctl.sh

I would encourage you to contribute to the project and you will be credited for your work as part of future release, as if it fixes an issue it's def worth having.

But can you share are you values before and after the changes? Because for me they are all the same between max & min:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
400000
400000
400000
400000
400000
400000
400000
400000
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq 
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
4600000
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
400000
400000
400000
400000
400000
400000
400000
400000

And finally just wanted to add that both my min & max frequency are correctly identified in both --stats and --debug, i.e:

Linux distro: Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat
Linux kernel: 6.8.0-38-generic
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8565U CPU @ 1.80GHz
Cores: 8
Architecture: x86_64
Driver: intel_pstate

------------------------------ Current CPU stats ------------------------------

CPU max frequency: 4600 MHz
CPU min frequency: 1800 MHz

Core	Usage	Temperature	Frequency
CPU0      2.0%        64 °C      4210 MHz
CPU1      4.0%        63 °C      1800 MHz
CPU2      9.0%        61 °C      4515 MHz
CPU3      6.0%        63 °C      4111 MHz
CPU4      4.0%        64 °C      1800 MHz
CPU5      5.1%        63 °C      4583 MHz
CPU6      3.0%        61 °C      4433 MHz
CPU7      3.9%        63 °C      1800 MHz

CPU fan speed: 3412 RPM

---------------------------- CPU frequency scaling ----------------------------

Battery is: charging

Setting to use: "performance" governor
Setting to use: "performance" EPP

Total CPU usage: 4.7 %
Total system load: 1.08
Average temp. of all cores: 62.75 °C 

Configuration file enforces turbo boost
setting turbo boost: on

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[AdnanHodzic]

Also some potentially related EPP changes to this issue were merged with #738

[LDrawe]

But even then I might see them go to 800Mhz instead when 1800 should be the scaling_min_freq. If I leave turbo = auto instead of turbo = always where indeed then it never goes under 1800.

Interesting. Maybe when the CPU enter turbo state it's exposing these frequencies to the system? That would explain why setting to "always" it would never go down 1800, as this frequency is always available. I will try this and report back.

But I also see you're limiting the scaling_max_freq, why are you doing this?

Mainly because of temps and fan noise. When gaming it would almost always reach 3.4GHz and increase the temperature to the thermal limit of 100°, to then throttle down to 400mhz because of these high temps, even tough I'm not playing heavy or CPU intensive games. . Even on desktop it reaches 85° on normal use, along with the noisy fans. I found that between 2.1 - 2.7Ghz is the sweet spot, where I can get stable FPS, frametime and good temps.

I would encourage you to contribute to the project and you will be credited for your work as part of future release, as if it fixes an issue it's def worth having.

That would be super cool! I can make a PR with these changes I've made if you want, as it should get a ""more accurate"" info.From what I've seen shouldn't be a problem as for most systems these values are the same, and it would now cover these weird cases(like mine) where they aren't.

But can you share are you values before and after the changes? Because for me they are all the same between max & min

Sure, here you go:
Before

# I will keep only 1 value in each command, as they're all the same, to keep this shorter
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
400000

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq 
3400000

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
1600000

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
400000

After

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq
1800000

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq 
2600000

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
1600000

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
400000

[LDrawe]

I'm no expert with GUI's,but I can try giving it a look into this problem when the value(s) is not within the allowed frequencies, maybe auto-setting the max and/or min to default in the script when they surpass the limits. But I would need to see why the GUI refuses to show anything else in these cases.

[AdnanHodzic]

That would be great, @shadeyg56 is the one who originally introduced GUI, so if you have some questions he might be able to help. We're also all hanging around in auto-cpufreq Discord community.