acpi-cpufreq; Intel Johnstown (Atom N270)

Forest Bond
2009-08-13T17:31:46Z

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Hi,

I'm using an Intel Johnstown board with an Atom N270 processor. Performance
seems to improve dramatically with acpi-cpufreq loaded. This caught me by
surprise. I had assumed that without loading acpi-cpufreq the CPU would be
running at its maximum speed all the time.

I have a few questions:

* Is it normal for performance to improve with acpi-cpufreq loaded?
* /proc/cpuinfo always reports the CPU's maximum clock speed when acpi-cpufreq
is not loaded, which seems to be inconsistent with my performance
observations. Does that seem normal?
* Does acpi-cpufreq impact performance in any way besides controlling CPU
frequency?
* What governs CPU frequency when acpi-cpufreq is not loaded?

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Forest