Re: [PATCH v2] cpufreq: intel_pstate: Change the calculation of next pstate

[Dirk Brandewie <dirk.brandewie@gmail.com>]

On 05/01/2014 04:18 PM, Rafael J. Wysocki wrote:
> On Thursday, May 01, 2014 02:30:42 PM Dirk Brandewie wrote:
>> On 05/01/2014 02:00 PM, Stratos Karafotis wrote:
>>> Currently the driver calculates the next pstate proportional to
>>> core_busy factor, scaled by the ratio max_pstate / current_pstate.
>>>
>>> Using the scaled load (core_busy) to calculate the next pstate
>>> is not always correct, because there are cases that the load is
>>> independent from current pstate. For example, a tight 'for' loop
>>> through many sampling intervals will cause a load of 100% in
>>> every pstate.
>>>
>>> So, change the above method and calculate the next pstate with
>>> the assumption that the next pstate should not depend on the
>>> current pstate. The next pstate should only be directly
>>> proportional to measured load.
>>>
>>> Tested on Intel i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz.
>>> Phoronix benchmark of Linux Kernel Compilation 3.1 test shows an
>>> increase ~1.5% in performance. Below the test results using turbostat
>>> (5 iterations):
>>>
>>> Without patch:
>>>
>>> Ph. avg Time	Total time	PkgWatt		Total Energy
>>> 	79.63	266.416		57.74		15382.85984
>>> 	79.63	265.609		57.87		15370.79283
>>> 	79.57	266.994		57.54		15362.83476
>>> 	79.53	265.304		57.83		15342.53032
>>> 	79.71	265.977		57.76		15362.83152
>>> avg	79.61	266.06		57.74		15364.36985
>>>
>>> With patch:
>>>
>>> Ph. avg Time	Total time	PkgWatt		Total Energy
>>> 	78.23	258.826		59.14		15306.96964
>>> 	78.41	259.110		59.15		15326.35650
>>> 	78.40	258.530		59.26		15320.48780
>>> 	78.46	258.673		59.20		15313.44160
>>> 	78.19	259.075		59.16		15326.87700
>>> avg	78.34	258.842		59.18		15318.82650
>>>
>>> The total test time reduced by ~2.6%, while the total energy
>>> consumption during a test iteration reduced by ~0.35%
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Stratos Karafotis <stratosk@semaphore.gr>
>>> ---
>>>
>>> Changes v1 -> v2
>>> 	- Enhance change log as Rafael and Viresh suggested
>>>
>>>
>>>    drivers/cpufreq/intel_pstate.c | 15 +++++++--------
>>>    1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
>>>
>>> diff --git a/drivers/cpufreq/intel_pstate.c b/drivers/cpufreq/intel_pstate.c
>>> index 0999673..8e309db 100644
>>> --- a/drivers/cpufreq/intel_pstate.c
>>> +++ b/drivers/cpufreq/intel_pstate.c
>>> @@ -608,28 +608,27 @@ static inline void intel_pstate_set_sample_time(struct cpudata *cpu)
>>>    	mod_timer_pinned(&cpu->timer, jiffies + delay);
>>>    }
>>>
>>> -static inline int32_t intel_pstate_get_scaled_busy(struct cpudata *cpu)
>>> +static inline int32_t intel_pstate_get_busy(struct cpudata *cpu)
>>>    {
>>> -	int32_t core_busy, max_pstate, current_pstate;
>>> +	int32_t core_busy, max_pstate;
>>>
>>>    	core_busy = cpu->sample.core_pct_busy;
>>>    	max_pstate = int_tofp(cpu->pstate.max_pstate);
>>> -	current_pstate = int_tofp(cpu->pstate.current_pstate);
>>> -	core_busy = mul_fp(core_busy, div_fp(max_pstate, current_pstate));
>>> +	core_busy = mul_fp(core_busy, max_pstate);
>>
>> NAK,  The goal of this code is to find out how busy the core is at the current
>> P state. This change will return a value WAY too high.
>>
>> Assume core_busy is 100 and the max non-turbo P state is 34 (3.4GHz) this code
>> would return a busy value of 3400. The PID  is trying to keep the busy value
>> at the setpoint any value of ~3% will drive the P state to the highest turbo
>> P state in this example.
>
> Well, the problem is that the numbers above indicate an improvement in energy
> efficiency as a result of this patch and we need to explain that result.
>
The performance governor is the best option for this workload.

This change will give you the highest trubo for all but very idle work loads.

Lets say you have a processor with max P state of 3.4GHz  The current P state
is 1.6 GHz so if the processor was 100% in C0 the core_busy values would be
47% This number scaled would be 100%.  With the change above the PID would be
reacting to a load of 1598%.  APERF/MPERF give you the percent of entire
core scaling it lets you find out how busy your are within the cureent P state.

--Dirk