Does using CPU throttling programs extend battery life? - JASJAR, XDA Exec, MDA Pro General

I'm having quite a bit of problem with my Dopod 900 (HTC Universal). It's performance in terms of battery life is below my expectations (probably due to all the plugins/startups that I have).
I'm thinking of using CPU throttling programs, i.e. XCPUScalar OR Pocket Hack Master. Has anyone had experience using such programs before, and does it really extend battery life significantly?
Also, any comments on which program is better, more stable, etc.?

Related

Anyone used XScaleCtrl to overclock their XDA2

From this page you can download a freeware app called XScaleCtrl:
http://www.wibble-wobble.com/wince/xscalectrl/
Since the XDA2 uses this processor (I think?), presumably this app would work. Has anyone got any experience of it? Could push the XDA2 up to 500MHz!
well why bother ?
most limits of speed on pda's is not the cpu itself
but ram speed and lcd pixelresponse and bandwidth
by overclocking your cpu the only think i think
you'll gain is a much shorter batt time and possible heat realted issues
Oh. I didn't know that. I'm curious to know what effect this would have, hence my question.
Interesting point about battery life.
well there are tons of overclockers around any overclocker which works on ipaq should work on xda1/2 aswell since they use the same line of cpu's
http://www.pocketpccity.com/software/pocketpc/JS-Overclock-2001-1-12-ce-pocketpc.html
the batt thing is mentioned here

SetCPU...Beneficial for Battery Life?

I've seen a few different posts in some of the kernel threads debating whether SetCPU is helping or hurting battery life. SO, I'm just kind of curious to see what results are on a larger scale? Based on your own experiences, do you have SetCPU installed and if so, does it help or hurt battery life generally? Also, if you do have it installed, do you use profiles? What are the most beneficial settings to use?
1. Not in right section
2. SetCPU not intended for battery life
3. It only adjusts CPU clockspeed
4. This thread is mostly meaningless
5. It's been discussed ad nauseam.
charnsingh_online said:
1. Not in right section
2. SetCPU not intended for battery life
3. It only adjusts CPU clockspeed
4. This thread is mostly meaningless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SetCPU is not intended for battery life? Go to the Market and look at the description. If I posted this in the wrong section I apoligize. But, I think you are mistaken with your comment about SetCPU not being intended to increase battery life or increase performance...
THATTON said:
SetCPU is not intended for battery life? Go to the Market and look at the description. If I posted this in the wrong section I apoligize. But, I think you are mistaken with your comment about SetCPU not being intended to increase battery life or increase performance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SetCPU only sets clock speeds and governors already in the kernel. If you just install SetCPU and adjust no settings your battery life will not change. Thus, "does SetCPU help battery life?" is utterly and completely meaningless.
Discussion of different governors and clock speeds has occurred (and is still occurring) ad nauseum and is really more suited for the General forum.
Thread moved as it does not pertain to N1 development.
I see very little gains from setcpu but I use it because I purchased it from the market and why not use it if you bought it right?
This method does not apply to drug addiction LOL
-Charlie
bri3d said:
SetCPU only sets clock speeds and governors already in the kernel. If you just install SetCPU and adjust no settings your battery life will not change. Thus, "does SetCPU help battery life?" is utterly and completely meaningless.
Discussion of different governors and clock speeds has occurred (and is still occurring) ad nauseum and is really more suited for the General forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol Why would you download an application, not use it, and expect results?
If you throttle your CPU down you WILL get better battery life. My phone is set to never go over 600mhz and I get bettter life with it than if I turn off setcpu altogether.
charnsingh_online said:
1. Not in right section
2. SetCPU not intended for battery life
3. It only adjusts CPU clockspeed
4. This thread is mostly meaningless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a lot of knowledge, this is obvious but you're unnecessarily harsh (mean).
It's boring but's it's a legitimate question because people still make inaccurate conclusions about CPU and battery life. Those of us with some knowledge can really help those that are trying to understand.
#2 above is correct. But the question remains, does a forced lower clock speed ceiling have an effect on battery life? It could do, of course it could, but without a baseline and a control environment it's impossible to prove either way. I suspect the OP is simply looking for subjective opinions.
And on this basis I offer:
The CPU only has a material effect on battery drain when it's being utilised.
When the Nexus CPU is not required to work it idles using the lowest power possible
The radio (network) interface is the second most demanding element of on your battery over time (next to the display). Although the CPU peak demand is higher than the radio.
SetCPU does not impact radio battery use.
SetCPU can not have a positive effect on battery usage if it's using more power to run it's clock cycles.
SetCPU can force the processor to use less power (wind down speed).
Slowing the processor means some tasks will take longer to perform.
If those tasks require a high-drain elements (display, radio, WiFi or BT for example) then it's counter-productive (battery wise) to slow them down.
However, because CPU power consumption does not have a liner relationship to clock speed, then some tasks that don't use high-drain elements will consume less power to complete.
So, whilst it's unlikely that your battery life will benefit from the use of SetCPU alone there is a chance that it will.
SetCPU is a fantastic app designed for overclocking, the profiles are niche facilities that may offer battery benefit to a narrow range of users.
Hey djmcnz thanks for the indept look at this app but more importantly thanks for showing respect to those of us who are just learning. We all have to learn information at some point and there are people that forget that at one point some one had to tell them.
Thank you for the clarification on that! Djmcnz-that was exactly what I was looking for in terms of an answer. I really appreciate you taking the time out to explain everything for me and anyone else that may have been curious.
charnsingh_online said:
1. Not in right section
2. SetCPU not intended for battery life
3. It only adjusts CPU clockspeed
4. This thread is mostly meaningless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know why you're so pissed off by a thread...
1. Not a very big issue. We have mods here to take care of this.
2. I don't know if SetCPU affects battery life or not but similar thing on a PSP device does increase the battery life. I have tried it on my PSP and setting the clock speed to the lowest acceptable level (depending upon what you're doing) does help maximizing the battery life.
3. You're absolutely right here.
4. Don't know what to say man.. but being a little humble doesn't hurt....
I never meant to be rude. I always get pissed off when people post in wrong sections Seriously. If people post in right section it just frees up moderator time. And about CPU nexus CPU has same voltage for many frequencies like 998,960 have same voltage. Going so down doesn't mostly benefit. So setcpu is only good for overclocking IMO. Display uses most of the power along with radio n CPU is one of those in middle of usage maybe 3rd or 4th. So underclocking will give a big battery boost is just a placebo. Atmost 10 minutes more is what underclocking can provide. N its not worth sacrificing the performance. Go for something underpowered if u want to underclock IMO. So setcpu serves more purpose of power than battery
I use it for the cool widget and standby/idle profile. B-)
you know what?youre allright.i follow your threads and you explain things well for someone like me learning all this ****.i got no time for keyboard commandos.thanks for the explanation.
djmcnz said:
You have a lot of knowledge, this is obvious but you're unnecessarily harsh (mean).
It's boring but's it's a legitimate question because people still make inaccurate conclusions about CPU and battery life. Those of us with some knowledge can really help those that are trying to understand.
#2 above is correct. But the question remains, does a forced lower clock speed ceiling have an effect on battery life? It could do, of course it could, but without a baseline and a control environment it's impossible to prove either way. I suspect the OP is simply looking for subjective opinions.
And on this basis I offer:
The CPU only has a material effect on battery drain when it's being utilised.
When the Nexus CPU is not required to work it idles using the lowest power possible
The radio (network) interface is the second most demanding element of on your battery over time (next to the display). Although the CPU peak demand is higher than the radio.
SetCPU does not impact radio battery use.
SetCPU can not have a positive effect on battery usage if it's using more power to run it's clock cycles.
SetCPU can force the processor to use less power (wind down speed).
Slowing the processor means some tasks will take longer to perform.
If those tasks require a high-drain elements (display, radio, WiFi or BT for example) then it's counter-productive (battery wise) to slow them down.
However, because CPU power consumption does not have a liner relationship to clock speed, then some tasks that don't use high-drain elements will consume less power to complete.
So, whilst it's unlikely that your battery life will benefit from the use of SetCPU alone there is a chance that it will.
SetCPU is a fantastic app designed for overclocking, the profiles are niche facilities that may offer battery benefit to a narrow range of users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
djmcnz said:
You have a lot of knowledge, this is obvious but you're unnecessarily harsh (mean).
It's boring but's it's a legitimate question because people still make inaccurate conclusions about CPU and battery life. Those of us with some knowledge can really help those that are trying to understand.
#2 above is correct. But the question remains, does a forced lower clock speed ceiling have an effect on battery life? It could do, of course it could, but without a baseline and a control environment it's impossible to prove either way. I suspect the OP is simply looking for subjective opinions.
And on this basis I offer:
The CPU only has a material effect on battery drain when it's being utilised.
When the Nexus CPU is not required to work it idles using the lowest power possible
The radio (network) interface is the second most demanding element of on your battery over time (next to the display). Although the CPU peak demand is higher than the radio.
SetCPU does not impact radio battery use.
SetCPU can not have a positive effect on battery usage if it's using more power to run it's clock cycles.
SetCPU can force the processor to use less power (wind down speed).
Slowing the processor means some tasks will take longer to perform.
If those tasks require a high-drain elements (display, radio, WiFi or BT for example) then it's counter-productive (battery wise) to slow them down.
However, because CPU power consumption does not have a liner relationship to clock speed, then some tasks that don't use high-drain elements will consume less power to complete.
So, whilst it's unlikely that your battery life will benefit from the use of SetCPU alone there is a chance that it will.
SetCPU is a fantastic app designed for overclocking, the profiles are niche facilities that may offer battery benefit to a narrow range of users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HUH English Please
Kidding
mikey1022 said:
huh english please :d
kidding
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
34567890
Personaly done many tests and the result was:
Test config: WiFi tethering all the way, screen 100% Playing video all the time 2G only
4:10 @ 245Mhz hard
3:30 @ 998Mhz hard
No use actually - using N1 on 245Mhz is impossible - too sluggish.
SetCpu is ussefull:
1) If u have OC kernel to set OC mode for games like Asphalt
2)For letting android vary frequence ondemand instead of 998 all the time
3)For downclocking while in sleep mode (why use full power when u dont use it?)
4)For using Failsafe profile, to prevent battery and hardware damage.
That's all.
No use trying saving battery setting profiles like 100% - 998, 50% - 576, 20% - 499. This is useless.
On UV kernels the same thing +\-30 minutes battery life. And UV kernels themselfs dont give segnificant battery life increase, only lags and unstability ti system.
Dont believe me try yourself - Create yourself some actions fo testing and repeat them 2 time (Min cpu and Max cpu) on any kernel. Results will be very close.
SeriousX said:
3)For downclocking while in sleep mode (why use full power when u dont use it?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The CPU steps down to it's minimum speed by itself. It never uses more juice than it needs to.
As far as i know, it is always at maximum, but maybe im wrong and you are right - then theres even less sence in this app.

Does cpu frequency affects battery life?

The question is simple, the higer the freq. the more battery consumption? i am asking because i cannot see any difference from 1.4GHZ to 1.0GHZ, the battery consumption is the same under oxygen and francos kernels. i would be grateful if the experts would give us some advise or their opionion. I know it is subjective but i would like a second opinion.
Thanks alot guys
If you look with any cpu spy app, you cab see on what clock the processor is used. I mainly have it the lowest and sometimes higher. When you change the max, it should still automatically choose what clock is used, so battery should last as much as before, if not used in high clock.
Sent from my Huawei u8800 using XDA App
Invicta said:
The question is simple, the higer the freq. the more battery consumption? i am asking because i cannot see any difference from 1.4GHZ to 1.0GHZ, the battery consumption is the same under oxygen and francos kernels. i would be grateful if the experts would give us some advise or their opionion. I know it is subjective but i would like a second opinion.
Thanks alot guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably not much difference, when you overclock, think the cpu voltage remains the same as it is on 800mhz... And the highest cpu freq is rarely even at use...
Invicta said:
The question is simple, the higer the freq. the more battery consumption? i am asking because i cannot see any difference from 1.4GHZ to 1.0GHZ, the battery consumption is the same under oxygen and francos kernels. i would be grateful if the experts would give us some advise or their opionion. I know it is subjective but i would like a second opinion.
Thanks alot guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, thanks to most devoted users of U8800, we have somewhat better speed+battery life than stock also. To answer your question, yes depending on your activity the frequency have some impact, but overall shouldn't be huge in change, for example from .800 to 1.0GHz will not affect so much in daily use. However from .800 to 1.5GHz would make a somewhat huge gap difference. This doesn't mean it will drain faster if you do same activity as with .800 to 1.0GHz, for example check the watch, answer sms or few "entertainment" breaks. Only when using the phone over a longer period of time that's when you will notice the change of battery life with different frequency. Hope it clears up most hums and huhs for you. I am pretty sure some expert within this field will give a better explanation than me.
Bye~
higher freqs uses more energy, but lower uses less energy but do things slower (so energy consumption is longer). ALSO imo - if you set cpu to 1Ghz the lowest value so it always is 1ghz - it will not consume the same amount of energy if it's in idle mode - it's like your laptop - if cpu is working only in 4-7% of it's power - then the power consumption is lower no matter what freq - how do we know that? - because of heat - the more heat you get - the more energy was used. and when cpu is idle - it will not be hot.
So the answer is - if it saves then in VERY minimal amounts. But even so - i use min freq - 360mhz. it's good for me i do not get any lag so i use it.
I use the "Root System Tool Free", option CPU and I see the graphics of all clocks.
For ex. now at 245 mhz ->46%, at 368 ->10%, at 768 mhz ->18% .... and at 1612 mhz -> 1,8%, at 1804 mhz ->4,9%. Not very mutch use at 1804.
Oxygen-test-140911 + Franco.Kernel1709#1. Clock at 1804 Mhz by Menu-settings-cpu ... and smartassV2 (no profils).
The battery, I charge it all 24 hours. But I like my work... and testing things. When then will dead...I see...
ValenteL said:
I use the "Root System Tool Free", option CPU and I see the graphics of all clocks.
For ex. now at 245 mhz ->46%, at 368 ->10%, at 768 mhz ->18% .... and at 1612 mhz -> 1,8%, at 1804 mhz ->4,9%. Not very mutch use at 1804.
Oxygen-test-140911 + Franco.Kernel1709#1. Clock at 1804 Mhz by Menu-settings-cpu ... and smartassV2 (no profils).
The battery, I charge it all 24 hours. But I like my work... and testing things. When then will dead...I see...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cpu spy is more pretty, anyway all those apps just reads text file of cpu stat and that's it
Tommixoft said:
cpu spy is more pretty, anyway all those apps just reads text file of cpu stat and that's it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
But I like more the Root System Tool, because has also a Linux Console. I use it when I want make some cmd's Linux in #. I don't like the Terminal Emulator.
Well, there is a "catch" somewhere in there. The frequency does indeed affects the power consumption of the CPU and greatly at that too! But the thing is, your CPU is not the worst enemy of your battery life. Even though CPU consumes more power in higher frequencies, it still can not compete with what your screen LEDs or your GSM module or your GPS chip consumes leisurely. So, if you're looking at the overall picture -meaning if you're wondering if it will affect how long you'll be able to use your battery in your phone- the answer is, "yes but not so much". Especially if you're switching the CPU frequency based on the demand (like using smartass or on-demand governors)
Here are the thing that sucks your batteries life juice like a vampire :
Your Screen (especially background LEDs)
GSM module (talking, using GPRS/Edge/3G network communication)
GPS chip
Wireless module (this also includes Bluetooth, even though it does not consume as much as Wireless network access but everything is relative -think about playing music through A2DP headphones compared to having your wireless network active but not using it much-)
(oh yes, I love to use lots of parenthesis -and even this hyphenation thingy- )
Correct me if I'm wrong about anything by the way ..
Regards ..
I did some experiments with a msm8250 a while back and there's a graph here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=14324649&postcount=3786
msm7x30 should be fairly similar though the graph is probably shallower since it's a smaller process size.
The CPU uses no power when it's not in use, even with the display on, the CPU is powered down completely when idle (power collapse).

Battery Saving Apps (4.0.4 Aurora ICS)

Hi there many of you have thought about battery saving apps.
Do they really work?
Are there some apps that instead of saving battery just drain your battery even more?
Do you know any methods that really save battery?
Just post your oppinions about this subject.
nikeradsn said:
Hi there many of you have thought about battery saving apps.
Do they really work?
Are there some apps that instead of saving battery just drain your battery even more?
Do you know any methods that really save battery?
Just post your oppinions about this subject.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery saver apps are useless. just turn of data, sync,WiFi, Bluetooth when not in use. decrease screen brightness and screen timeout to 30 seconds. Use 245-806 with ondemand goveror for better battery.
mittalmailbox said:
Battery saver apps are useless. just turn of data, sync,WiFi, Bluetooth when not in use. decrease screen brightness and screen timeout to 30 seconds. Use 245-806 with ondemand goveror for better battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read many people saying that using the ondemand governor wouldnt save that much battery because of the continuous search for cpu activity, actually i'm using performance at 1024 and i also have another profile with 806 performance aswell.
I have to test it better in order to see which governor saves more battery.
I think a good set may useful
nikeradsn said:
I've read many people saying that using the ondemand governor wouldnt save that much battery because of the continuous search for cpu activity, actually i'm using performance at 1024 and i also have another profile with 806 performance aswell.
I have to test it better in order to see which governor saves more battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to use 806 on demand, 1024 ondemand and 1200 ondemand... now I'm using 1024 performance, and I dont see any battery difference.. damn thing still drains.
The battery lasts 4/5 days on idle, what more do you want? It's par for the course.
why do you need the phone to stay on idle? for that you could buy a 10$ one =S
nikeradsn said:
why do you need the phone to stay on idle? for that you could buy a 10$ one =S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because it's an indicator of battery performance and proves there's nothing wrong with battery life on Aurora, despite what many believe. Having ~1 day of battery life with heavy usage and 4-5 days (or even more) on idle is on par with the battery specs.
faekplastik3s said:
Because it's an indicator of battery performance and proves there's nothing wrong with battery life on Aurora, despite what many believe. Having ~1 day of battery life with heavy usage and 4-5 days (or even more) on idle is on par with the battery specs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually we all know that the battery life in aurora its not full optimized. what i mean is what can we do in order to get the best performance without having to spend so much battery life. maybe its not possible but who knows
Fact: ICS produces more traffic than GB. A lot of apps (like browser) use more memory, so background processes die more quickly. You cannot except to get the same kind of battery performance out of an ICS rom and that's the end of it. This has nothing to do with Aurora.
When I dont need to use the phone I put the governor in powersave with a low Mhz and the battery is more safe with little use.
Phone become a little more slow but work.
When I really need to use the phone I change the governor to Smartessv2

Does undervolt really affect battery life?

I jus t wondering does undervolt really affect our battery life? How does it work?
When choose to undervolt it affect on performance, isn't it? Slower or stuttering when switch apps? With less energy less performance, does it wrong?
If it is, then how underbolt can improve peeformance better? :confuse
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Judging from my experience UV experimentation doesn't affect battery life, and if it does it's definitely by an inappreciable margin. It does substantially reduce heating issues though especially during high-intensity usage (Spotify, GNow, gaming etc). Just don't overdo it or you wind up rebooting repeatedly--"safe" threshold varies by kernel
It also has no effect on performance, it's completely separate from clock speed.
I UV to lower temperature The N4 is very heat sensitive so you'd be wise to UV if possible, the throttle can kick in very quickly on stock, because of the default CPU behavior(mpdecision+ondemand seem to ramp in a ridiculous manner). I am seeing temps in the mid-low 30s thanks to UV and I'm running turbo mode on Faux's kernel.

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