[Solved] CPU max frequency

General system Kernel, boot, graphics & hardware
1

I just bought myself a new laptop. It’s this: https://psref.lenovo.com/Detail/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_Flex_5_14ARE05?M=81X2000PMX

If you look at the specs of this laptop you see it’s min/max cpu frequences are 2.7/3.7GHz. Inxi -Cy tells this:

[mardix@mardix-81x2 ~]$ inxi -Cy
CPU:
  Info: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 3 4300U with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 
  type: MCP L2 cache: 2 MiB 
  Speed: 1397 MHz min/max: 1400/2700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1397 2: 1397 
  3: 1397 4: 1396

What happened to that max cpu 3.7? Is it hidden somewhere and I have dig it out or is that Lenovo info wrong? I have to admit I’m little bit confused about all these specs things, especially if it’s about cpu frequences etc. I have googled and googled and so far I haven’t found a clue what’s really going on under the hood of my laptop. So could somebody explain this matter to me in simple words: can I get that 3.7 GHz out from my machine and if yes, how do I do it? I have already checked BIOs and there wasn’t way to enable turbo boost or any such thing.

2

Read the whole thread or just

TL;DR

:wave:t6:

3

lscpu | grep MHz should show the correct frequency. It does not show the turbo frequency though.

4

So that was your perception of “simple words”?.. :smile:
OK, fine. I guess I have to live with that 2.7 max speed.

5

Use a CPU widget to show the actual current frequency.
Or cpupower frequency-info.

6

No, this was (from TL;DR):
sudo inxi -Cay

Mine showed after using sudo:

Speed: 1397 MHz min/max: 1400/1800 MHz base/boost: 1800/4300 boost: enabled

:grinning:

7

Ok, here’s mine:

Speed: 1397 MHz min/max: 1400/2700 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 1397 2: 1397 3: 1397 4: 1397
8

Funny, it says that boost is enabled but doesn’t give the frequency for it. I don’t know…
Perhaps you could run s-tui and try the stress option to see if you get the right boost frequency

9

How long should I stress my cpu?

10

It should shoot up the frequency right away. 10-15 sec should be more than enough. Or just play 8k video on youtube as was suggested on the thread I linked to before. Btw, I have mine set up to boost only when on AC.

11

It gives only 1397.4
How do you set it up to boost when on AC?

12

I have the setting in BIOS. Perhaps you could do it with tlp (or tlpui for the GUI). I am not sure. Maybe other forumers could give some suggestions.

13

ryzen-4300u

In the BIOS for my Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 I’ve got three options under configuration tab:

Performance
Intelligent Cooling
Battery Save

I have it set to Battery Save so I can’t get the cpu boost when on battery. Plugin the machine to AC apparently overrides this setting and I get turbo boost.

14

This is my BIOS setting at the moment:
IMG_20210115_201152

I rarely use my laptop on battery so which setting do you suggest?

15

Just for the sake of trying I would set it to Extreme Performance to see if you will get the boost or not.

Btw, I do have the exact same settings in mine.

16

I tried cpupower-gui and put these settings. It seems at least one of the freqs was near 3 GHz and I saw it go over 3 for few seconds

Screenshot_20210115_210318

17

If you want to see max boost frequency you have to run the stress test on a single core. the max frequency is never reachable when there is workload on all cores.

Also the max frequency will be reached before the 15 seconds mark. Afterwards it could go down because of thermals.

1 Like
18

How do you run the stress test on a single core?

19

Remove the mark in Online from 3 of the cores

20

I tried that. It made no difference. Ok, I better go to bed. I have to go work tomorrow. I will continue playing with this later.