Develop Bugs

SetCPU saving power potential?

Heya,
I've heard of this SetCPU program, and figured it has some solid potential of saving battery power.
My question is - does it work? I've read several post claiming that SetCPU doesn't work on HTC phones.
If it does - will using the "Mix \ Max frequency" mode will save battery during stand by and normal usage, or just slow down the phone?
Using Rooted Desire, LeeDroid 2.2d.

Its primary use is to overclock the CPU, its secondary use is to create profiles and reduce the clock or change the governor. This will improve battery life slightly but also decrease responsiveness, depending on how far you go.
You'll need root if you want to use it.
To really increase battery life you have to use a custom ROM with an undervolted kernel.

So you're saying that the saving in battery life is insignificant considering the slowdown in performance?

yes, you use LeeDroid which is undervolted, thus perfect conditions.
It also uses a custom governor 'Smartass' which gives you best performance while using it and limits the max. clock while sleeping. That's the most common method to increase battery life with SetCPU while maintaining performance. So no, you don't need SetCPU, LeeDroid handles everything perfectly already.
However, the Desire has a very powerful CPU, compared with other Smartphones. So you can use SetCPU to limit the clock to maybe 700MHz or 800MHz. This will increase the battery life but also reduce the processing power. If you don't play games, don't do a lot of simultaneous things or browsing huge websites, don't use heavy loaded homescreens, it's possible that you don't notice the reduced processing power.

Thanks again
I guess there is no damage to the SnapDragon if I lower clock speeds a bit...
But, if I want to do some overclocking - how far is it safe to go?
When I OC'ed my Q6600 CPU I used the TheremalRight Extreme 120 with two Slip Stream fans to cool it off.. So, will heat damage be a constant threat to an overclocked Desire?
I currently live in Israel, and it's hot as hell even on stock speeds

CoreOxide said:
Thanks again
I guess there is no damage to the SnapDragon if I lower clock speeds a bit...
But, if I want to do some overclocking - how far is it safe to go?
When I OC'ed my Q6600 CPU I used the TheremalRight Extreme 120 with two Slip Stream fans to cool it off.. So, will heat damage be a constant threat to an overclocked Desire?
I currently live in Israel, and it's hot as hell even on stock speeds
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I for one has chosen to disable the default powersave in Auraxt sense, and then using SetCPU to control it, i get a day of power easily, and still goes to bed wit 50% power, that is with stock clocks on normal usage, but with minimum power (245) on screen off

Re overclocking:
To reach high clock speeds you also increase the voltage on your PC, else you can't increase the frequency that drastically.
Because you can't improve the cooling on the desire you have to keep stock voltages but also can't overclock that much.
The overclocking methods on the desire keep the voltage at stock values or even lower (defrost rom).
I don't know the voltage values for LeeDroid.
I it shouldn't get warmer. In the worst case it will crash and reboot until you reduce the clock speed.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

[Q] what exactly is undervolting

i have used the search and not found any solid info
what are the benefits of it if any

I haven't heard of people undervolting their fone, although i haven't looked to much.
This would mean though reducing the power that the CPU gets. I would imagine this increases battery life among other things.

Your right about what it is, but almost every custom rom/ kernel is undervolted in development section.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Undervolting means, the CPU (or hardware in the phone) gets lower voltages, thus saving more battery & not loosing performance.
Undervolting is a process which reduces the excess "voltage" given to the CPU using a software. This is widely used as a cooling solution and in my opinion more effective than any other cooling solution available (thermal paste, cooling pad, etc) at NO cost. Undervolting will NOT compromise performance at all. Underclocking and Overclocking (clock speeds) is whats responsible in regards to performance. Benchmarks will also prove that performance remains the same.
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Not excess voltage but fully, manufacturer guaranteed, stable Core voltage to lower guesswork voltages which may or may not work and may or may not cause data loss/corruption.
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- Sent via HTC Desire -

A cpu needs power for every 'clock cycle'. 1Ghz means there are a billion per second. IF you lower the voltage, there is less power used. But if you lower it too much, the cpu wo'nt be able to 'cycle its clock'...
So undervolting doesn't affect performance, since the cpu remains on 1Ghz. It decreases the power used, so you get better battery life.
Every single cpu is different, so HTC has chosen a default voltage that (shoud) work on all phones they sell. But your particular cpu could be able to work at a lower voltage. It's just a matter of trail and error. Decrease the voltage until the cpu stops working, then higher it a bit. That way you've undervolted your cpu so it uses the least power.

koenvbeek said:
A cpu needs power for every 'clock cycle'. 1Ghz means there are a billion per second. IF you lower the voltage, there is less power used. But if you lower it too much, the cpu wo'nt be able to 'cycle its clock'...
So undervolting doesn't affect performance, since the cpu remains on 1Ghz. It decreases the power used, so you get better battery life.
Every single cpu is different, so HTC has chosen a default voltage that (shoud) work on all phones they sell. But your particular cpu could be able to work at a lower voltage. It's just a matter of trail and error. Decrease the voltage until the cpu stops working, then higher it a bit. That way you've undervolted your cpu so it uses the least power.
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Very sensible answer..Thanks

koenvbeek said:
A cpu needs power for every 'clock cycle'. 1Ghz means there are a billion per second. IF you lower the voltage, there is less power used. But if you lower it too much, the cpu wo'nt be able to 'cycle its clock'...
So undervolting doesn't affect performance, since the cpu remains on 1Ghz. It decreases the power used, so you get better battery life.
Every single cpu is different, so HTC has chosen a default voltage that (shoud) work on all phones they sell. But your particular cpu could be able to work at a lower voltage. It's just a matter of trail and error. Decrease the voltage until the cpu stops working, then higher it a bit. That way you've undervolted your cpu so it uses the least power.
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How would one go about under volting .i have tried everything suggested to me and nothing really seems to make a difference
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Most kernels are undervolted and unless you can compile the kernel for yourself you are stuck with the values given by the creator. There are two exceptions for this, HAVS kernels which automaticly chose a voltage depending on temperature and some other stuff and SVS kernels with snq-'s volt selection interface (found in Leedroid and maybe some other kernels/roms).
So what exactly have you tried and what did you expect to see? Because the difference won't be that noticeable.

TheGhost1233 said:
Most kernels are undervolted and unless you can compile the kernel for yourself you are stuck with the values given by the creator. There are two exceptions for this, HAVS kernels which automaticly chose a voltage depending on temperature and some other stuff and SVS kernels with snq-'s volt selection interface (found in Leedroid and maybe some other kernels/roms).
So what exactly have you tried and what did you expect to see? Because the difference won't be that noticeable.
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I have tried battery calibration, using app watch dog to let me know which apps are using excessive CPU. Putting my brightness down to 10%, making sure not everything is synced, the only thing synced is beautiful widgets every 4 hours. And just about everything else that has been put forward to me. Here's another example I just taken my phone off charge at 100% and wrote this and I'm now at 73 %. And its only taken2 mins to write
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

adz63 said:
I have tried battery calibration, using app watch dog to let me know which apps are using excessive CPU. Putting my brightness down to 10%, making sure not everything is synced, the only thing synced is beautiful widgets every 4 hours. And just about everything else that has been put forward to me. Here's another example I just taken my phone off charge at 100% and wrote this and I'm now at 73 %.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
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So in short you havent tried any kernel with undervolting at all!

Well that all has nothing to do with undervolting, but (extra) undervolting will not fix the drain problem you have.
Do you use setCPU cause your sig says you run at 1113MHz, which cause higher consumption. Also did you set your wifi sleep policy to never(setting-wireless and network-wifi settings-press menu-advanced-wifi sleep police).

At the moment I have the havs kernel that comes with oxygen 2.0 rc6. I have posted another topic about is the kendal good for battery life etc and no1 has told that another kendal would make anything better
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

TheGhost1233 said:
Well that all has nothing to do with undervolting, but (extra) undervolting will not fix the drain problem you have.
Do you use setCPU cause your sig says you run at 1113MHz, which cause higher consumption. Also did you set your wifi sleep policy to never(setting-wireless and network-wifi settings-press menu-advanced-wifi sleep police).
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@TheGhost1233, how exactly does one decide which kernel suits us best..
Eg: I see two undervolted kernels (I think) at 875 and 925 mV. I have no idea how to decide. Trial and error?
Froyo Kernel [email protected] min
Froyo Kernel [email protected] min

@droidzone Yes trial and error. The mentioned voltage is the lowest the cpu will get at 245MHz. Not all devices are stable with 875mV (you will know if your phone freezes up) so then you move up to the 925mV min. Other than the voltage there is no difference between 875mV or 925mV.
With the HAVS kernels it can take a while before you notice the freezes cause the voltage is dynamic, so be careful if you need your phone as a alarm clock.

[Q] setvsel cpu damage

hey guys, just wondering will using a lower vsel damage my cpu and/or battery?
i have previously beein using milestone overclock on 1ghz and 60 vsel and am adding setvsel into the mix, also any ideas on starter settings? thanks
also could someone just give me a heads up on what vsel actually IS

I don't believe there are any studies that show effects of long term use of lowering the voltage, which is what you are doing with vsel in order to save battery juice...or you could increase the voltage but that defeats the purpose and also heats up the battery which leads to shorter life span. Many use it without reporting any damage to battery or cpu, I believe it's safe (however, if you are overheating you might fry the battery or cpu, so you'll need to moniter and play with settings to get the desired effect without any overheating issues).
With regards to setvsel, there are reported issues from users with different roms...from what I've read (and you can do your own research to see if this is what you are seeing...this is the conclusion that I've come to by reading a lot of threads), it is better to use milestone to overclock and setcpu to lower the vsel.
With that being said, I've used them all and like setvsel so keep going back to it...but I've been having some issues lately so I've removed setvsel to see if that is what is causing some problems (too early to tell).
Oh, and as for settings...pop on the overclocking/undervolting thread in the development section to see a lot of different settings and remember that what works for one user might not work for you...you'll have to experiment a bit to find your ideal setting.

oh okay i think i might go back to my old settings with milestone overclock and setcpu and just lower the vsel! i was under the impression for some reason that lowering the vsel would heat the battery. Thanks!

I'm no expert to be honest, I'm more of a research kinda person. From what I've researched, undervolting can help keep temps down, and may particularly help when you overclock (as overclocking is stressing the cpu to go beyond it's normal operating design hence it may heat up...supplying it with less power, or voltage, is what helps keep the temps down.
Of course, this is given you find the optimal setting for your phone, and as it seems from reading through these forums, many users have experienced completely different results using the same settings (i.e., one user will have a stable setting without any problems while another user on the same rom using the same settings will have crashes and/or issues like overheating). Doesn't seem right, but it is what it is

yeah ive read through most of that stuff too, i went down to 1ghz at 51 vsel, seeming stable, but i decided to go with 54 anyway

1.1 GHz @ Stock vsel for over a month without any issues...I hope it lasts.
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App

Hi,
I've also read a lot regarding the underclocking 'dangers' but couldn't find anything to prove that there is such an issue. I think that it is an urban myth spread everywhere by people asking if there is a danger with low vsel [but that are never getting a positive answer on it].
The only thing I found using setvSel is that I had to first install Milestone Overclock and load its module prior to start setvsel. There is a way around it, but requires you to copy files in the system folders and change their permissions. I find that my way is much easier.
As far as over-heating goes, it's an overclocking thing; not underclocking.
My Defy is set at 900Mhz and really, I don't see the point of going much higher: everything runs smooth and lag free already.
vsel: 21/300; 32/600; 43/900 - 90% up_threshold
Been like that for about a month now and never experienced any problem at all.
The underclocking is great for saving battery; no exact numbers to give here but it feels like my battery now last 2 times longer. I can easily get 4 days between charges with low/moderate usage and would get to 6+ days "IF" I could stay away from games and having the screen ON for long sessions of browsing/video watching.
I tried SetCpu before but I didn't like the interface; the simplicity of SetvSel is really nice.

i use setcpu for scaling and profiles, and run 18/300, 36/600, 50/1000 stable and smooth as

Undervolting is not a bad thing at all. It means less Watts consumed for running (Watts = Voltage x Amperage), less of your battery consumed.
Ussually companies test a large batch of components and how they react on different voltages and freqvencies, and then they decide for a voltage that works with all components and that is safe for all cases. Eg. when they have different CPU speeds and thus different options for CPU's this is one way to decide which one work at 3GHz and which one at 2.7 GHz (the other one is demand for components).
Phisically you will not have any problems and you can't damage your phone by undervolting, so no problem here, only possible software problems if you go too low.
Advantages :
+ Lower processor temperature
+ Lower phone temperature
+ Longer battery time
+ Longer components life
Disadvantages
- Stability issues (freeze, artefacts, slowness)

maxi2mc said:
Disadvantages
- Stability issues (freeze, artefacts, slowness)
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You know, I was recording a video and when playing back noticed that there were squiggly lines that went through the video a couple of times (in a two minute clip). This was the first time I saw this...and have recently lowered vsel by 2 on vsel3...could that be the artifacts that you are mentioning?
I just figured it perhaps I was too bouncy with the phone while recording making it glitch...but now that I see this post I'm thinking maybe I undervolted too much...what do you think?
My settings: 54/1000 44/700 28/300

I know what people mean by same settings don't work for every phone even if it's the exact same model. My Defy won't underclock as much as others. I'm using SetVesel, and I've been able to drop 5 points from each, and that's about it before it reboots itself. I only tested undervolting, but I mainly overclock to get as much speed as I can, and give it enough juice to run super fast. I'm current running [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Threshold at 75%. The highest the temp ever got was 112F, and that was after playing a game for about an hour. Usually it stays below 90F for normal use. I get around 17-20 hours out of it with screen on time at about 3 hours @ 50% brightness. I've been running these settings about a month, and have not had any issues.

If you put something like 100vsel will the phone accept and then burn? Is there any protection? Does anyone know what's the highest acceptable vsel?
Just for curiosity...

im pretty sure 80 is the highest you should EVER use and that'll significantly increase the chances of your phone burning out. @bobbyphoenix you should be able to lower your vsels a fair bit or your really unlucky! i run a lower vsel for 1ghz than u do for 700mhz smooth and stable

stewi21 said:
im pretty sure 80 is the highest you should EVER use and that'll significantly increase the chances of your phone burning out. @bobbyphoenix you should be able to lower your vsels a fair bit or your really unlucky! i run a lower vsel for 1ghz than u do for 700mhz smooth and stable
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CM7, rather non-technical person here. I seem to have a very happy phone at setvsel settings of [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], 86%. Been running this for the month or so since I rooted and the phone feels like it was made for this config. I've never seen the temp above ~32c. My 2¢.

Setcpu Profiles

Hey guys, I'm just wondering what settings do you have on your setcpu for the best performance and battery life? I'm totally new to this lol
Sanks

kazemagic said:
Hey guys, I'm just wondering what settings do you have on your setcpu for the best performance and battery life? I'm totally new to this lol
Sanks
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i i think that ondemand is the best for daily using... i'm using cm10 rom and i have some music problem so i'm using interactive and it's ok. if you don't use games or heavy apps, you can underclock it to 1ghz or even less and put on powersave.. but you have to try and find the best for you

My setup is a little complicated. I use the ondemand governor, then for the profiles I make it use powersave and under 760mhz between 1am and 8:30am which seems to really help during the night. Also set it to use 760mhz max when the screen is off.
When charging or above 40% battery I allow it to run full speed, but only when the screen is on, therefore helping charge times. On charge or above 80% I set the governor to performance.
In call I set the clock to max 1000mhz and conservative to try and allow calls on low-battery to work properly without lag but also without killing the battery.
I have a couple of other options set for very low battery ( < 12% ) too, but those are only to extend the battery if it's dying.
I wouldn't say all this is necessary... but I need my phone to keep working at all times as I use it for receiving business calls.
It's just a matter of playing around really... depends what you use the phone for. For the most part tell it to use lower clock speeds when you don't need them so much (when phone is off, during the night, during call etc) but you will really notice the speed difference if it's underclocked while you use it, so I tend to allow it to use full whack when screen is on, unless the battery is low.
I also set up profiles to make things like Bloons TD4 run in performance mode and min of 1000mhz, to keep them smooth . Drains the battery though!

lol setcpu does a really good job at battery saving. When using ondemand, my phone can last more than 2 days (if it's on standby)
Have you guys tried under-vaulting? What does it rlly do?

kazemagic said:
lol setcpu does a really good job at battery saving. When using ondemand, my phone can last more than 2 days (if it's on standby)
Have you guys tried under-vaulting? What does it rlly do?
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If you mean decreasing the voltage on the CPU, no I haven't. From my experience in desktop PCs however, if the CPU voltage is too low it can lead to hardware issues and instability.
If something needs a certain amount of power, and you give it less, it will either try and draw more amps which increases heat and can fry components, or won't work properly. You could probably "under-volt" the CPU at the same time as reducing the clock speed however, but your performance will suffer. When the processor is set to be ondemand it underclocks itself when not in use anyway
The biggest battery drain is screen and radios, concentrate on using them less. Underclocking the CPU will make the phone last longer when in use, but usability will suffer and turn your super fast smart phone into a sluggish one. I only make mine stay underclocked when the screen is off, during a call, or on low battery. During general use I let it do its thing .

UV(Under volt) is actually not to bad. Don't ever set those values at boot, else when they are too low, it will cause BOOTLOOPS. It just reduces the amount of power allowed for the cpu to use, thus it won't use more than required. You can't really ask a person for his/her uv values, as no 2 chips are created equal.
People stating that they UC(underclock) their device is not quite right. We don't have much control over our cpu's to be honest. If you run tegra stats whilst using you're phone, you'll see what I mean. It will sometimes(happens quite often) just bump up to higher frequencies to which you UC them. Also as soon as the screen is locked and unlocked the max cpu frequency set by the governor will just return(for example: say stock is 1500mhz, and you set it to 1400mhz, it will return to 1500mhz after an unlock). Ondemand is very very good for battery and performance. But remember you have to tweak those values individually in order to optain the best possible performace for the given task you want. Whether it is for battery or performance.
It's actually also a lot better to just tweak those values as to TRY and uc. Uv will stick, UC not!
Here is a small example as to battery saving and performance values for ondemand governor:
sampling rate:---------60 000 ----- 30 000
up threshold:--------------95 ----- 60
sampling down factor:-------2 ----- 8
powersave bios: ------------3 ----- 0
ignore nice load:------------0 ----- 0
io is busy:------------------0 ----- 0

[Q] Has anyone ever underclocked One X?

So I tried to underclock my One X to around 640 MHz and it was running VERY smoothly and stable with only 2 cores active. I was using the ViperX 2.2.1 ROM and the Kernel was the no OC NCX 0.99a. The battery life wasn't bad, but has anyone tried underclocking to 1 GHz or lower? If so, how is the battery life and what kernel and ROM did you use?

With SetCPU you can change the max. CPU, but why should you? When the phone doesn't need much processor power, it just scales down by itself.
So, it already has the best underclocker there is.
Mayby you could try undervolting to save even more battery, but that means the CPU can be somewhat less steady.

im trying to get my head around UVing / UCing my HOX. is there any guide around? im trying to search through the forum but still no luck.

ricopoetra said:
im trying to get my head around UVing / UCing my HOX. is there any guide around? im trying to search through the forum but still no luck.
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underclocking means the CPU runs slower so should use less battery but slower CPU speeds also means to takes longer to preform tasks which could use more battery, check on google most places say its not worth it as that battery saved is tiny and not worth the drop in CPU performance.
undervolting however lowers the voltage that CPU uses while working this does save power and also lowers heat (less voltage less heat) but if you lower it to much then the CPU becomes unstable due to lack of power and well crashes and restarts the phone in most cases.
to get the best out of undervolting you need to lock the max CPU speed to each step (CPU speed, 300mhz, 600mhz and so on) and slower the voltage and then run a bench mark (like antutu) and see if its stable, if it is you lower the voltage again and repeat until it crashes at which point you have found the lowest voltage that the clock speed can handle so you jump up a voltage then more on to the next speed.
it takes along time but that would get you the best undervolt your phone and hardware could handle.
or you can just use the global to lower the voltage for every speed, this is much faster and much less time consuming but you don't get the most out of it.
for this you basically drop the voltage then use your phone for different things; browsing, games, benchmark and see if it crashes if not lower again till it does then go back up a step.

thanks for explaining. I'm getting some of the points that I missed Awhile ago. I guess I'm going to try the longer way of doing it.
Sent from my White HOX JB PA 2.10