Database Users

SetCPU vs. CMSettings Built-in CPU manager

For those of you on CM7 (preferably RC2 or later nightlies), are you using SetCPU or the built in CMSettings CPU manager? Which is giving you better performance/battery life?
I can't help but think that the built in CM Settings CPU tuner is going to be conflicting with my SetCPU profiles.
Been using nightlies since #30 or so, and I currently run SetCPU with a normal profile, a screen off profile, and a profile for <10% battery and haven't touched CMSettings' CPU manager.
I'm contemplating just uninstalling SetCPU for a day or two and seeing what a 1017max / 245min Ondemand or Powersave governor via CMSettings ends up doing to my battery life considering there will be no screen off profile.
Any thoughts?

I dumped setCPU after a lot of testing (and even bought it on market)
I'm finding I'm much happier using inbuilt CPU settings. I think battery life is the same but performance is better due to the fact that SetCPU would sometimes get stuck in my screen-off profile when turned on causing the phone to be really slow.
I recomend uninstalling setCPU, set your ONDEMAND governor with ~1Ghz and run it... You'll find your battery about the same but much less hassle.

I have yet to try that, I somewhat feel obligated to use SetCPU since I purchased it lol. But it probably won't be the last time I waste money at the market.

Neither. CPU tuner works best for me.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

Utorrent76 said:
Neither. CPU tuner works best for me.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its the same thing :facepalm:
Try the inbuilt one... I think its way easier

I've been wondering about this too. I don't quite understand how it works. Can I just set the frequency higher till a certain point without changing the voltage and get the same battery life?
What's the best way of doing this? Just change the clock speed or do I need to change something else or update the kernel?

Whatever you tell SetCPU to do, you'll see the same settings mirrored in the CM settings.

I say setCPU cuz as battery gets lower... I have my CPU speed lower also. Basically, 15% battery lasts me forever :] lol
Sent from my T-Mobile G2

DJAeroX26 said:
I say setCPU cuz as battery gets lower... I have my CPU speed lower also. Basically, 15% battery lasts me forever :] lol
Sent from my T-Mobile G2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely. This is the one thing I like about SetCPU is having the 10% and 5% profiles so that I can get the last few % to last forever if I need it. Although in normal day-to-day use I'm never pushing it below 20%.

ScooterG said:
Whatever you tell SetCPU to do, you'll see the same settings mirrored in the CM settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I see this, as far as the governor changing etc.. This is why I'm wondering if it would be easier on my phone to just run only the CM Settings one.
I notice that every 5th or so time I unlock the phone, there is an obvious lag switching from the screen off profile, and my unlock sliders jitter around and it takes 4-5 tries to unlock the phone. I think this is probably partially due to both settings switching over trying to change.
I think I might try backing up and uninstalling SetCPU for tomorrow to see how it goes.

colonelcack said:
I've been wondering about this too. I don't quite understand how it works. Can I just set the frequency higher till a certain point without changing the voltage and get the same battery life?
What's the best way of doing this? Just change the clock speed or do I need to change something else or update the kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read on here that overclocking the Vision's CPU up to 1 GHz requires no over-volting, and in theory should not affect battery life (but not sure exactly where that information originates from). But there has been lots of debate on these forums on whether the SetCPU app helps or hurts battery life depending on screen-off profiles (underclocking to save battery) or its constant polling of the CPU clock (possibly killing the battery faster).
A kernel that supports overclocking is already part of the CM ROM. If you are on CM, you can just adjust the clock speed under Settings>CM Settings>Performance>CPU settings. Or set the CPU clock using an app like SetCPU. Choosing one method over the other is what is being asked/debated here. If you are on the stock ROM, you need to be rooted, flash a custom kernel that supports overclocking, then install an app such as SetCPU or CPU Tuner to set the CPU clock to your liking.

redpoint73 said:
I've read on here that overclocking the Vision's CPU up to 1 GHz requires no over-volting, and in theory should not affect battery life (but not sure exactly where that information originates from). But there has been lots of debate on these forums on whether the SetCPU app helps or hurts battery life depending on screen-off profiles (underclocking to save battery) or its constant polling of the CPU clock (possibly killing the battery faster).
A kernel that supports overclocking is already part of the CM ROM. If you are on CM, you can just adjust the clock speed under Settings>CM Settings>Performance>CPU settings. Or set the CPU clock using an app like SetCPU. Choosing one method over the other is what is being asked/debated here. If you are on the stock ROM, you need to be rooted, flash a custom kernel that supports overclocking, then install an app such as SetCPU or CPU Tuner to set the CPU clock to your liking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure about CM's kernel with the over-volting but I do know that Pershoots kernel can be overclocked to 979mhz without over-volting (Pershoot told me himself).

At 1.8Ghz, I find the temp settings in SetCPU very useful.
Vision rooted, booted and scooted

Daughain said:
At 1.8Ghz, I find the temp settings in SetCPU very useful.
Vision rooted, booted and scooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well obviously.... But why the hell would you ever need to be running at 1.8ghz? The fact that you are always using a temp-specific profile method should show you that consistent 1.8ghz isn't good for the phone...

Okay so I uninstalled SetCPU last night and I'm going to run just the CM Settings CPU manager all day to see how it goes. Running like this:
ONDEMAND governor
Min CPU: 245 mhz
Max CPU: 1017 mhz
On nightly #19 also.
Okay so its midnight almost, and I'm at 13hrs unplugged and 52% battery still. Pretty general/light use, phone is just as snappy and the lack of a screen off profile doesn't seem to effect battery at all. Liking it so far! very interesting to see the screen off profile not mattering much.

SetCPU for me. I like to have a temperature and charging profile, to prevent the phone from overheating. Even at 1ghz the possibility exists, nice to have a backup incase.

I'm thinking set cpu conflicting with the cm built in caused my ****ty running problems. I have not used setcpu since and been good so far
Sent from prison

tackleberry said:
I'm thinking set cpu conflicting with the cm built in caused my ****ty running problems. I have not used setcpu since and been good so far
Sent from prison
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With multiple tries... If you change the settings on one, it cancels the settings on the other... Maybe it's because you had set on boot enabled on both?

im going to run the CM tuner and uninstall Setcpu and see how it runs. i never thought about this but i do get that lag when i turn my screen on sometimes. im gonna miss having the profiles but ill see how it runs over the coarse of a couple days.

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).

CPU

I don't know if it is normal for my CPU speed to be so low, I know that it lowers to save battery but it is always so low and I can see the effects it has. Anyone else get something like this. (quadrant standard edition)

yes it's underclocking to use lower battery when not needed ,it's perfectly normal.
don't worry , it'll fire full throttle (1400 MHZ) when you run a game or something demanding.

Use cpuspy with it you can check the times that CPU spends on each frequency.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks. I was a bit worried because on other devices I tested the processor was always at maximum.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

Did you at least readed it?
It says Minimum 200Mhz and Max 1400Mhz.
Its how note works. From 200Mhz to 1400Mhz. It scales the CPU speed from 200 to 1400Mhz when you need power.
It also can disable one of the two cores (CPU1 always) to save battery.

It also says that on the galaxy s 2 but that did not go below 1200MHz when i tested it so I was not sure.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

ZacDerbyshire said:
It also says that on the galaxy s 2 but that did not go below 1200MHz when i tested it so I was not sure.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something was wrong with your GS2.

It says 500MHz because that's the current frequency it used when you took that screenshot. If it had said 1400MHz, then it would mean that it used all the power to take a screenshot, which wouldn't be normal.
The CPU isn't working at 1.4GHz 24/7. If it had done that, your battery would have lasted for 1 hour. It uses as much as it needs to, and if an app doesn't require much power, it won't use much power. Simple.

LordManhattan said:
It says 500MHz because that's the current frequency it used when you took that screenshot. If it had said 1400MHz, then it would mean that it used all the power to take a screenshot, which wouldn't be normal.
The CPU isn't working at 1.4GHz 24/7. If it had done that, your battery would have lasted for 1 hour. It uses as much as it needs to, and if an app doesn't require much power, it won't use much power. Simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use the force choke on him

[Q] Questions about undervolting Nexus 4.

Hello!
I heard about the term "UnderVolting" and I heard it would give me better battery life.
I want to do it but I have few questions before.
1. Is undervolting affects the CPU , GPU or Battery?
2. Can It damage the device?
3. Can it decrease the device performance?
Thanks!

Wassupdog said:
Hello!
I heard about the term "UnderVolting" and I heard it would give me better battery life.
I want to do it but I have few questions before.
1. Is undervolting affects the CPU , GPU or Battery?
2. Can It damage the device?
3. Can it decrease the device performance?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. It effects the cpu. When you undervolt you are reducing the amount of power that is supplied to the cpu depending on what speed the cpu is running at.
2. It is unlikely to damage the device physically but if you undervolt too far the cpu can start failing actions resulting in corruption, but the most common symptom is that it will reboot itself if you go too low.
3. Undervolting can reduce performance but going down -100 mv across the board is usually stable for most.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Alex240188 said:
1. It effects the cpu. When you undervolt you are reducing the amount of power that is supplied to the cpu depending on what speed the cpu is running at.
2. It is unlikely to damage the device physically but if you undervolt too far the cpu can start failing actions resulting in corruption, but the most common symptom is that it will reboot itself if you go too low.
3. Undervolting can reduce performance but going down -100 mv across the board is usually stable for most.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
Is it recommended to undervolt?
I just want a better battery and around the same performance as it now.

You are confusing undervolt with underclock. UC is a proven way to increase battery, but it directly makes the CPU run slower. UV will make the CPU/GPU/RAM receive less milivolts, and it will only increase battery, and not decrease performance. The thing with UV is that if the CPU at any given time does not get enough power, it can't perform a given task, and your phone will reboot.
Sent from my LG-P760 using xda app-developers app

In a nutshell UV will not destroy your phone and is it recommended? If you are in xda then you know the risks or at least should read up on the risks. I would say 90% of the custom kernels are undervolted out the box and yes its a great help. I have been UV, UC and sometimes even OC for years now with no negative effects. Give it a shot and if you are worried start slow like -25.
Try mathkids kernel(JSS roms only) which is undervolted -100 and if you read the thread its never been an issue for anyone. I have heard that UV may cause some issues with Maps locking fast

Dr.Molestratus said:
You are confusing undervolt with underclock. UC is a proven way to increase battery, but it directly makes the CPU run slower. UV will make the CPU/GPU/RAM receive less milivolts, and it will only increase battery, and not decrease performance. The thing with UV is that if the CPU at any given time does not get enough power, it can't perform a given task, and your phone will reboot.
Sent from my LG-P760 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not Confusing undervolt with underclock.
Undervolting can and does reduce performance if you go too far. (Not far enough to cause reboots)
Underclocking is not a proven way to increase battery, in fact it's quite controversial.
It's called race to idle.
Pretty much all processors have great power savings at idle speeds.
By lowering the clock speed common tasks and background processes take longer to perform. Thus keeping the cpu at a higher clock rate (using more mv) for longer and overall using more battery than what it would have done at a higher speed.
From my own tests -150 mv undervolt resulted in slower and sometimes even laggy performance. -100 is great
Underclocking to 1ghz shortened my average daily battery life by nearly 2 hrs compared to running at stock 1.5
Say what you like about stats but these are the results I found from actual usage
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

UV will reduce how hot your phone gets.. and if your phone gets too hot thermal throttling will reduce the cpu speed.. and thus if u UV it will reduce thermal throttling and will increase performance..

Thanks to everyone !

is there any rom or kernel to under volt?

just bought a Le Pro 3 and couldn't find any kernel or rom that could under volt. is there any rom or kernel to under volt?. Thx

To undervolt you mean to make the cpu frequencies lower? I am doing that with a program called Kernel Tuner. You can set the CPU and GPU speed and set the CPU governor from there.
The phone it has to be rooted.

motanel_pufos said:
To undervolt you mean to make the cpu frequencies lower? I am doing that with a program called Kernel Tuner. You can set the CPU and GPU speed and set the CPU governor from there.
The phone it has to be rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what i mean is to lower the CPU or GPU voltage.

I don't know how to do that. As I said, I use Kernel Tuner to set the maximum cpu/gpu speed the phone can go. It's not the same thing. But is better than nothing. The phone works really good even with lower frequencies and I don't need top speed except some greedy games. Now I can reach a sot of over 6 hours with 4-5 hours of heavy gaming.
If you can find a way do undervolt please post it.

Claire2001 said:
what i mean is to lower the CPU or GPU voltage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No kernels offer access to the voltage table yet. UV isn't available and I don't think it'll come.

Ace42 said:
No kernels offer access to the voltage table yet. UV isn't available and I don't think it'll come.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for confirming, time to return the pro 3 or sell it at a loss. was just hoping that out there somewhere there would be a kernel that has the feature to undervolt.

I still don't see the point of undervolting the CPU/GPU on a phone. As long as it works fine and the battery last long enough (and honestly this phone have plenty of battery, I recharge every 2 or 3 days), why?

ZeblodS said:
I still don't see the point of undervolting the CPU/GPU on a phone. As long as it works fine and the battery last long enough (and honestly this phone have plenty of battery, I recharge every 2 or 3 days), why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because he used to do that on older device, and thinks this is some kind of a must function lol. I also have no clue why on earth you would need to underclock pro 3, it doesnt overheat, and it has probably best battery life of all snapdragon 821 devices. Undervolting this device would gain you absolutely nothing, nonsense.