Command to check CPU speed

[Dark_Star]

Was thinking is there a command to see dynamic cpu speed ?

I know lshw and cat /proc/cpuinfo list speed with other details but I think its not the real deal.. Cause if AMD C'nQ is enable the speed should be lower than the exact/default one...

So if you use any command please do let know..

Also does AMD Cool N QUite work with Linux ? Is there a CPU Speed Scaling utility for KDE .. There is one gnome-scrip for gnome desktop but didn't came around anything similar for KDE4 !

Regards

[Zhick]

Also does AMD Cool N QUite work with Linux ? Is there a CPU Speed Scaling utility for KDE .. There is one gnome-scrip for gnome desktop but didn't came around anything similar for KDE4 !

There's a very nice power-management tool in kde's systemsettings (click on the advanced-tab and then there should be a button power-management), which among other things allows you to set your cpufreq-gouvernor (performance, on-demand, powersaving). That's of course if your setup supports this (hal with acpi-support, kernel with CnQ support, etc), but that should be the case with most end-user-targeted distros, like the *buntus and so on.

[Dark_Star]

That basically for laptops.. I already played with a lot..

Gnome CPU scaling lets me scale speed but that kde powerdevil doesn't allow to scale cpu speed at will..

Is there a command to see CPU speed ? which show dynamic changes ?

[krazy]

You can see more info in

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/

(on debian-based systems, not sure about others)
eg. here I get:

$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies
1733000 1333000 1067000 800000

You could have a look at cpudyn. More info here. It's in the current ubuntu repos.

However I'm not sure that this will result in actual longer battery life than dynamic scaling in practice.
I suspect that briefly speeding up the CPU for a task, then slowing it down again will consume less power than keeping it at a low frequency for the duration of a task, since other hardware power draw remains the same.

[Wyatt]

If you just want to see your current CPU speed? I use cpufreq-info. Looks like this.

wyatt@Tsubasa ~ $ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 002: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006
Report errors and bugs to linux@brodo.de, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.00 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.00 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.07 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, powersave, userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 1.33 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 800 MHz.

[Dark_Star]

[shashwat@localhost ~]$ cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 005: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
analyzing CPU 1:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
analyzing CPU 2:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU

How do I fix this ?

[krazy]

Use a kernel with cpufreq (should be any 2.6.xx). What disro are you on, or is it a custom kernel?

[Dark_Star]

Its kernel 2.6.29.3 and I am using Mandriva 2009.1,,,

Its not a custom kernel !

[Wingfeather]

I have this too! Have been looking for a solution.

I'm using a Core2Duo E4300 on a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3P, using 2.6.29-r5 (gentoo-sources).

I don't seem to be able to get any kind of freq/voltage throttling to work either.

[energyman]

watch -n1 cat /proc/cpuinfo since cpuinfo shows the current speed.