CPU Speed

Soldato
Joined
14 Dec 2005
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12,488
Location
Bath
Linux n00b ahoy!

In Windows it sometimes displays the CPU speed wrong as you've changed the multiplier but its just calculating the CPU speed based on the stock multiplier from the CPUID x current FSB (or if you've changed both the multiplier and the FSB it'll show a clock speed that's neither the real one or the stock one!). If you use CPU-Z it gets the actual clock speed as it polls for the current multiplier as-well as the current FSB.

The two Linux commands I know of are /proc/cpuinfo and lscpu.

If the CPU is running overclocked or underclocked, will /proc/cpuinfo and lscpu be reading out the actual current clock speed? Or will they be reading out the stock clock speed based on the CPUID?

I want to read out the actual current clock speed whether it's stock/underclocked/overclocked (so SpeedStep/Cool 'n' quiet features might have turned it down etc).
 
Soldato
Joined
4 Aug 2009
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5,310
Location
London
/proc/cpuinfo prints info about the CPU such as the make and model number etc. So I doubt very much indeed that it will change if you over lock your CPU.

I've also never noticed it giving a reduced value when a processor is idle. (so speedstep is likely on).
 
Associate
Joined
24 Oct 2002
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2,417
Location
Cork, Ireland
What distro are you on?

I know pre-unity ubuntu had a very handy taskbar applet which showed the current frequency and let you get it to any of the speedstep speeds.

..once they moved to gnome3 i think these sort of applets stopped working.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Dec 2009
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Lancashire
If cpufrequtils is available in the repos, you could install that and run cpufreq-info. That should give you the CPU frequency, if I remember rightly. I'm not sure how else you would do it if not using one of the methods already mentioned, though.
 
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