Here are some figures (I used your pmstats): The machine is a Pentium M 2.00 GHz, supporting C0-C4 processor power states. The machine run at 2.00 GHz all the time. A lot of modules (pcmcia, usb, ...) where loaded, services that could produce load where stopped -> processor is mostly idle. _____________________________________________________________________________________ *Running with 1000Hz:* _No processor module:_ Average current the last 100 seconds: *2289mA* (cmp. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/dyn_tick_c_states/measures_C4_machine/1000_HZ_No_module_loaded) _passing bm_history=0xFFFFFFFF (default) to processor module:_ Average current the last 470 seconds: *1986mA* (also measured better values ~1800, does battery level play a role?!?) (cmp. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/dyn_tick_c_states/measures_C4_machine/1000_HZ_bm_history_FFFFFFFF) _passing bm_history=0xFF to processor module:_ Average current the last 190 seconds: *1757mA* (cmp. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/dyn_tick_c_states/measures_C4_machine/1000_HZ_bm_history_FF) (Usage count could be bogus, as some invokations could not succeed if bm has currently been active). _____________________________________________________________________________________ *Running with CONFIG_NO_IDLE_HZ:* Patched with http://www.muru.com/linux/dyntick/patches/patch-dynamic-tick-2.6.12-rc2-050408-1.gz (With the c-state patch attached applied) _No processor module:_ Average current the last 80 seconds: *2262mA* (cmp. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/dyn_tick_c_states/measures_C4_machine/tony_dyn_tick_No_module_loaded) idle_ms == 40, bm_promote_bs == 30 Average current the last 160 seconds: *1507mA* (cmp. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/dyn_tick_c_states/measures_C4_machine/tony_dyn_tick_processor_idle_40_bm_30) idle_ms == 100, bm_promote_bs == 30 Average current the last 80 seconds: *1466mA* (cmp. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/dyn_tick_c_states/measures_C4_machine/tony_dyn_tick_processor_idle_100_bm_30) idle_ms == 40, bm_promote_bs == 50 Average current the last 150 seconds: *1481mA* (cmp. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/dyn_tick_c_states/measures_C4_machine/tony_dyn_tick_processor_idle_40_bm_30) idle_ms == 40, bm_promote_bs == 10 Average current the last 330 seconds: *1474mA* (cmp. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/dyn_tick_c_states/measures_C4_machine/tony_dyn_tick_processor_idle_40_bm_10) Hmm, parameters do not influence at all ... (idle_ms should only comes in when switching between idle/not idle). _____________________________________________________________________________________ The measures are based on the /proc/acpi/battery/*/* info and are not very accurate, but could give an overall picture. Thomas P.S.: Not tested, because I have no x86_64 C3 machine, but the patch should also work reliable with Andi's dyn_tick patch for x86_64 machines. Tony: I modified your pmstats to produce an average current value: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/dyn_tick_c_states/pmstats