PhenomMsrTweaker: Cool and Quiet customized

[kink]

Hi guys,

I've just developed a small tool to fully customize Cool & Quiet: PhenomMsrTweaker.



Download: SourceForge
Webpage: http://phenommsrtweake.sourceforge.net/

Requirements:

• AMD K10 CPU
• Windows XP+ 32/64 bit, .NET Framework v2.0+

Some undocumented features:

• The '-minimize' switch can be used to start the GUI minimized (tray icon) in case you frequently switch between power schemes.
• In case your mainboard features an IT87xxF SuperIO controller (detectable via SpeedFan etc.), you may let the service manage up to 3 fans via PWM. You'll need to dive into the registry (regedit.exe), navigate to HKLM\Software\PhenomMsrTweaker and add string values (names: 'Fan1', 'Fan2', 'Fan3'). Each string consists in an arbitrary number of control points separated by '|'. Each control point is defined by an integer specifying the CPU temperature (in °C) + ':' + fan speed in percent (another integer). Linear interpolation is used to connect the control points.
  For example: 'Fan1' = '30:50|40:75': The first fan (most likely the CPU fan) runs at 50% speed at temperatures <= 30°C, at 62.5% at 35°C and at 75% at temperatures >= 40°C.
  If at least one such string is found and a supported IT87xx controller is detected, fan management is enabled. If a fan's string is missing, it is run at 100%.
  An optional DWORD value named 'PwmRamp' may be used to transition slowly to other speeds. Its value specifies the maximum jump of each fan speed (again in percent) from one interval to the next (500 ms).

[charged3800z24]

I'll give it a try when I get home. I cannot get AOD to wotk on my AM3 setup to save my life. Thanks for the post

[mattkosem]

Is there some trick to getting the powersaving state working with CnQ disabled? It doesn't ever kick into the lower profile on my system with CnQ disabled on my system.

--Matt

[kink]

Actually, there is a possibility to enforce a enabled P-state (and P1 is enabled, even if Cool and Quiet is not). This is why the tool is able to apply changings to a currently active P-state: it temporarily switches to the other state, saves the modified settings for the target P-state and switches back, applying the new settings.
But is there a good reason for having Cool and Quiet disabled? Is there no such BIOS option or do you use an OS with a crappy driver? You could enforce P1 by using CrystalCPUID's MSR Editor and setting the register 0xc0010062 to 0x1 (eax, edx: 0x0). If there is a popular demand for enforcing P-states, I could add this functionality to the tool.

[Jaivan]

Cool program thanks a lot

[mattkosem]

Actually, there is a possibility to enforce a enabled P-state (and P1 is enabled, even if Cool and Quiet is not). This is why the tool is able to apply changings to a currently enabled P-state: it temporarily switches to the other state, saves the modified settings for the target P-state and switches back, applying the new settings.
But is there a good reason for having Cool and Quiet disabled? Is there no such BIOS option or do you use an OS with a crappy driver? You could enforce P1 by using CrystalCPUID's MSR Editor and setting the register 0xc0010062 to 0x1 (eax, edx: 0x0). If there is a popular demand for enforcing P-states, I could add this functionality to the tool.

On my board, and presumably others, having CnQ enabled with a NB frequency over 2600mhz causes Vista x64 to be unable to boot. The symptom of the issue is a BSOD during the Vista loading screen. Given that issue, I'd love to be able to enable a lower power state with it disabled.

--Matt

[largon]

Downloaded!
Thanks!

[kink]

Alright, I understand. This is probably due to a switch to a state other than P0 while loading the OS, for which the BIOS does not allow to specify higher NB voltages. If Windows loaded the CPU driver after PhenomMsrTweaker had applied its settings, Cool and Quiet would be usable.

The feature is implemented in v1.0.2. Grab it while it's hot.

/edit: "the feature" = manual switching between both P-states, even if Cool and Quiet is disabled

[XRogerX]

hmm , dont really understand it but i will give it a shot

[mattkosem]

I freeze immediately at the desktop upon selecting activate on the P-state 1 area or selecting the apply button. This happens even if the multis and voltages in the powersaving box match those up top, or if I attempt to apply the settings to an inactive power profile(eg. high performance when balanced is enabled).

--Matt

[kink]

Crap,

I assumed it'd work as it works on my machine. Maybe your BIOS' behaves differently from mine or Phenom II CPUs are differently initialized (P1 seems to be disabled in the registers). I'll add a check for this in the next version (but I'm going to bed right now, gotta wait). I'm afraid you're most likely unable to activate higher P-states manually. Do the few hundred MHz on the NB rationally justify wasting lots of energy (I assume your CPU idles as much as mine)?

As I think about it: there'd still be a way for manual switching. This involves applying temporary settings (like AMD OverDrive), but I've got to perform some tests on my machine first. Stay tuned.

[mattkosem]

Crap,

I assumed it'd work as it works on my machine. Maybe your BIOS' behaves differently from mine or Phenom II CPUs are differently initialized (P1 seems to be disabled in the registers). I'll add a check for this in the next version (but I'm going to bed right now, gotta wait). I'm afraid you're most likely unable to activate higher P-states manually. Do the few hundred MHz on the NB rationally justify wasting lots of energy (I assume your CPU idles as much as mine)?

As I think about it: there'd still be a way for manual switching. This involves applying temporary settings (like AMD OverDrive), but I've got to perform some tests on my machine first. Stay tuned.

The few hundred mhz on the NB really do make a substantial difference. The difference between 2600mhz and 2800mhz on read speed is about 400MB/sec! Not enough to make me run that 24/7 though :-) I'm a environmentalist first and an overclocker second! I'll stay tuned!

--Matt

[XRogerX]

ok now i understand lol DUH not so hard after all, when not gaming pwersav mode , when gaming performance mode , i have my PC @2.5 on P-1

and stock @3.0 on P-0

and no pc lock ups or crashes

this is great can change it on the fly, changes in CPU-Z and Everest

[ZoLKoRn]

Thanks for nice utilities

[LowRun]

Thanks for bringing us that cool tool

[Raiderman]

Nice, I will give it a try this morning.

[charged3800z24]

Now all we need is away to change the NB. By the way, the tool seems to be working great over here.

[kink]

Thanks for the feedback. Version 1.1 is online, including some improvements:

• Applying the settings should be more stable now (@mattkosem: please let me know if it works now).
• If the allowed P-states cannot be restricted to P0 and optionally P1, the tool does not crash anymore, but displays a message box instead.

The NB clock is not really customizable on the fly. Changing its FID (frequency ID) requires a reboot, while its DID (divisor ID) is actually customizable, but it needs to be a power of 2, so the only useful option would be to halve the NB clock in P1, but that may interfere with your RAM settings (the NB needs to operate at min. 2x memory clock). So you'd better give up dreaming about on-the-fly NB clock adjustment , the only option is to set it in the BIOS menu.

[soundood]

kink i wanted to say thanks for this tool, i prefer the simplicity compared to K10 stat, but one thing that has been mentioned before,

this would be a great even super app, if it had the ability to change the settings on auto, you know under load, crank up to 'high performance' and so on.

some of us like the idea of 'C n Q' but for various reasons cant use it, i know you said you can set it up with CPUID, or crystal CPU, but i think this ;ittle app would be great with that ability built into the code.

for newbies it would an invaluable tool, maybe even donate paypal good, if you know what i mean?

[kink]

I think there is a little confusion about the power schemes.

The power schemes combo box is only there to be able to switch Vista's/Win7's power schemes on the fly in case you do not use a mobile computer, where you cannot display the power options icon in the systray (at least on Vista, I haven't tried Win7 yet).
The P-state settings are NOT applied to the currently selected power scheme, they are two separate things:

• The P-state settings are saved to specific registers in each CPU core.
• The power schemes control Cool and Quiet (or more precisely, the CPU driver's behavior in switching between the available P-states), among other power-saving settings. If you disable Cool and Quiet in the BIOS menu, switching between the power schemes does not affect the CPU because P0 is the only allowed P-state.

PhenomMsrTweaker however allows you to switch manually to P1 and back to P0, overriding the CPU driver and not touching the active power scheme in any way. It would be possible to completely customize "Cool and Quiet" by disabling it in the BIOS and coding a Windows service/driver which switches manually between the P-states, based on the CPU load (possibly keeping all cores' P-state synchronized). I might do that next time I'm bored.

/edit: A user on another forum got rid of the BSOD during Windows loading when CnQ is enabled. He disabled C1E in the BIOS menu and is now able to use CnQ with rather extreme settings: Phenom II X4 940, HT-reference clock @200 MHz, NB @2.8 GHz and 1.4V, these PhenomMsrTweaker settings
So if mattkosem gets his system to work too with C1E disabled, there's not much point in coding a alternative CnQ service/driver.

[mattkosem]

No go with CnQ enabled and C1E disabled. It's a bit different than with it enabled though. Instead of getting a BSOD and a reboot, it just locks up on the loading screen. I'll pull down the new version of the tool and give it a shot though!

--Matt

Edit: The tool still causes an instant lockup with C1E and CnQ disabled, but allows for the power states to be manually applied if I enable C1E and leave CnQ disabled! I'll play with it some more tonight. This looks more promising though, since I couldn't get this far with the version that was posted last night! Thanks a lot! Manual power management is at least better than none!

Edit2: I cannot find any combination of power management settings that allow windows to boot with CnQ enabled. That setting seems to be the only one that breaks it :-/

Edit3: These settings seem to be working well with a ref clock of 225mhz. There's no automatic switching, but I can at least do it by hand. If there is some sort of alternate driver that could be made to make it automatic, that would be FANTASTIC!

[charged3800z24]

Thanks for the feedback. Version 1.1 is online, including some improvements:

• Applying the settings should be more stable now (@mattkosem: please let me know if it works now).
• If the allowed P-states cannot be restricted to P0 and optionally P1, the tool does not crash anymore, but displays a message box instead.

The NB clock is not really customizable on the fly. Changing its FID (frequency ID) requires a reboot, while its DID (divisor ID) is actually customizable, but it needs to be a power of 2, so the only useful option would be to halve the NB clock in P1, but that may interfere with your RAM settings (the NB needs to operate at min. 2x memory clock). So you'd better give up dreaming about on-the-fly NB clock adjustment , the only option is to set it in the BIOS menu.

Thanks for the update...I know, The NB is just a pain to get set on my system, Plus I cannot get above 215 HT ref or my RAM settings reset. Just waiting on a better bois.

[Ken168]

I have C & Q enabled on Bios, but I have never seen it working (running at o/ced 3.5ghz at all time). Just tried your program and it works like a charm. (Confirmed with CPUID).

Thanks for the cool tool.

[charged3800z24]

I have C & Q enabled on Bios, but I have never seen it working (running at o/ced 3.5ghz at all time). Just tried your program and it works like a charm. (Confirmed with CPUID).

Thanks for the cool tool.

Don't forget to set the power profile in windows to activate C&Q.

[pmc650]

Thanks Kink. Nice program. I looked at the source and was able to modify my version of the CNQ driver (which can be found here) to optionally read and load a pState configuration file before it starts running (auto CNQ with OC). I need to give it some more testing. If there's any interest at all, I'll clean it up a little and post it...