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Root CM7 governors...

OmensEdge

Member
Mar 6, 2011
56
8
What do I want to use and why? Based on the CPU speed settings, is one preferred over the other when it comes to performing certain tasks or gaming? I'm using 480/768 as this is what I've seen most recommended with Jerry's ROM. I've switched back and forth between smartass and performance and I didn't really see much of a difference.

So yeah, I'd like a brief breakdown on the difference between the available governors. And sorry if this has been discussed before. I did a search and couldn't really find any information regarding this.

Thanks.
 
I gave up after no one replied and started searching threads on Google. I'm actually finding myself doing this more often these days as a lot of my recent posts on here have been ignored.

Anyway, here is a good explanation of how each governor works and what it does. I'm not sure about smartass and interactiveX, though.

ondemand
Available in most kernels, and the default governor in most kernels. When the CPU load reaches a certain point (see "up threshold" in Advanced Settings), ondemand will rapidly scale the CPU up to meet demand, then gradually scale the CPU down when it isn't needed. - SetCPU website

conservative
Available in some kernels. It is similar to the ondemand governor, but will scale the CPU up more gradually to better fit demand. Conservative provides a less responsive experience than ondemand, but can save battery. - SetCPU website

performance
Available in most kernels. It will keep the CPU running at the "max" set value at all times. This is a bit more efficient than simply setting "max" and "min" to the same value and using ondemand because the system will not waste resources scanning for the CPU load. This governor is recommended for stable benchmarking. - SetCPU website

powersave
Available in some kernels. It will keep the CPU running at the "min" set value at all times. - SetCPU website

userspace
A method for controlling the CPU speed that isn't currently used by SetCPU. For best results, do not use the userspace governor. - SetCPU website

Interactive

The 'interactive' governor has a different approach. Instead of sampling the cpu
at a specified rate, the governor will scale the cpu frequency up when coming
out of idle. When the cpu comes out of idle, a timer is configured to fire
within 1-2 ticks. If the cpu is 100% busy from exiting idle to when the timer
fires then we assume the cpu is underpowered and ramp to MAX speed.

If the cpu was not 100% busy, then the governor evaluates the cpu load over the
last 'min_sample_rate' (default 50000 uS) to determine the cpu speed to ramp down
to.
 
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"smartass governor - is based on the concept of the interactive governor. I have always agreed that in theory the way interactive works - by taking over the idle loop - is very attractive. I have never managed to tweak it so it would behave decently in real life. Smartass is a complete rewrite of the code plus more. I think its a success. Performance is on par with the "old" minmax and I think smartass is a bit more responsive. Battery life is hard to quantify precisely but it does spend much more time at the lower frequencies. Smartass will also cap the max frequency when sleeping to 352Mhz (or if your min frequency is higher than 352 - why?! - it will cap it to your min frequency). Lets take for example the 528/176 kernel, it will sleep at 352/176. No need for sleep profiles any more!"
 
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