Geek Boy's blog
Friday, May 15, 2009
Confused about EIST/SpeedStep
Intel SpeedStep is a technology that allows the processor to be underclocked when it's not busy. AMD has a similar concept called cool'n'quiet. The idea is that if the processor is slowed, it'll run cooler and use less power. If it's emitting less heat, then the building needs less air conditioning, and everyone is happy.
We've got a bunch of Dell OptiPlex 745, 755, and 760 computers at work. These machines all have Core 2 Duo or Pentium D processors that support Intel SpeedStep, and we're mostly running Windows XP SP3, which has support for speedstep in the OS. We also have a lot of users who like to use Remote Desktop from home (over the VPN), and so they leave their computers on all the time. This isn't necessarily a good use of electricity, so I wanted to be as conservative with power usage as possible. SpeedStep seems to be exactly what you'd want in this sort of situation.
We've enabled speedstep in the BIOS, we've set the power settings to 'minimal power management' which is supposed to turn on speedstep support in the OS. I've been able to verify that speedstep is running by checking the reported clock speed in the properties panel for "My Computer". But is it really doing anything?
So - one of the best ways to measure actual power utilization is with a Kill a Watt power meter, which measures how much power the machine is drawing from the wall. If you let stuff run over time, it'll also measure kilowatt-hours.
I fired up a OptiPlex 755 with all the power management stuff turned on, and let it run over a weekend. The power utilization was around 55 watt-hours as measures over a 70-hour period. I then turned off speedstep in the bios by setting it to 'home/office desktop', which is supposed to not underclock when on AC power. I verified that the CPU was running at full speed in the "My Computer" properties display. I let the machine run for a couple days and measured power consumption of... wait for it... 55 watt-hours.
What's up? Is speedstep a joke? Alternatively, is something along the lines of speedstep running all the time? The machine was idle under both scenarios. If anyone has any insight into this, please comment!
We've got a bunch of Dell OptiPlex 745, 755, and 760 computers at work. These machines all have Core 2 Duo or Pentium D processors that support Intel SpeedStep, and we're mostly running Windows XP SP3, which has support for speedstep in the OS. We also have a lot of users who like to use Remote Desktop from home (over the VPN), and so they leave their computers on all the time. This isn't necessarily a good use of electricity, so I wanted to be as conservative with power usage as possible. SpeedStep seems to be exactly what you'd want in this sort of situation.
We've enabled speedstep in the BIOS, we've set the power settings to 'minimal power management' which is supposed to turn on speedstep support in the OS. I've been able to verify that speedstep is running by checking the reported clock speed in the properties panel for "My Computer". But is it really doing anything?
So - one of the best ways to measure actual power utilization is with a Kill a Watt power meter, which measures how much power the machine is drawing from the wall. If you let stuff run over time, it'll also measure kilowatt-hours.
I fired up a OptiPlex 755 with all the power management stuff turned on, and let it run over a weekend. The power utilization was around 55 watt-hours as measures over a 70-hour period. I then turned off speedstep in the bios by setting it to 'home/office desktop', which is supposed to not underclock when on AC power. I verified that the CPU was running at full speed in the "My Computer" properties display. I let the machine run for a couple days and measured power consumption of... wait for it... 55 watt-hours.
What's up? Is speedstep a joke? Alternatively, is something along the lines of speedstep running all the time? The machine was idle under both scenarios. If anyone has any insight into this, please comment!
Labels: speedstep dell optiplex
¶ 2:55 PM 1 Comments Links to this post
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
From the mouths of babes...
A couple of days ago, Bea was annoyed that Laurel wasn't respecting her request for Laurel to keep her hands to herself. Bea complained to her mom "sometimes I think Laurel doesn't know what listening means".
¶ 3:25 PM 0 Comments
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