Does apps like SetCPU actually work? - Acer Iconia Tab A100

There's a lot of apps on the market for rooted devices that claim that they can alter your device CPU ( "SetCPU" for instance, not 'picking on' that one, just an example).
Does these apps actually work when it comes to altering your CPU performance and if so, is this equivalent to overclocking your device (which I thought required changes at the kernel level)? If not..what is the benefit/value in using CPU altering apps like these?
Thanks!

If the kernel supports it, yes.

Tx Redneck said:
If the kernel supports it, yes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, to clarify my question then.....running STOCK ICS on the A100 and being rooted - will apps like SetCPU actually overclock the device?
To quote the app description:
SetCPU is a tool for changing the CPU settings (capable of overclock and underclock) on a rooted Android phone, including the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, Motorola Droid, Nexus One, G1, G2, Samsung Galaxy S II, myTouch 4G, Motorola Xoom, or one of many other devices to improve performance or save battery.

The benefits aren't just over clocking, but underclocking and undervolting, also if the kernel supports it. Mostly just battery life stuff while screen off stuff like that. As far as I can tell, flex reaper using a tweaked Acer core doesn't support any of it. I use CPU master on all my devices and the Acer continually goes past my Max setting. No current kernel I know of for iconias will over clock, at least a100 kernels. Hopefully when source drops cm9 will include OC/UV/UC support, as well as other kernels by other devs.
Tapatalked from my A100 - Flex Reaper RF1.

It appears I've answered my own question: Stock ICS does not allow overclocking through apps like setCPU, etc. 1k remains the max it can be set to.
Oh well.

Related

overclocking dhd

I have recently rooted my dhd and currently running CM7. Using the cpu setting within the performance menu I am wondering what peoples thoughts are on a noticeable but safe increase of cpu speed. its set as 1017MHz which i believe is default. I am told I can run anything up to 1500 safely. can anyone confirm this and also tell me what kind of result (performance and battery life) i should expect.
thanks
Well, I use Android Revolution HD (a sense rom, meaning heavy UI!) and i overclock to about 1.3GHz. In terms of battery life when it's awake, it seems a drain a teeny bit more readily, but I've never had a freeze on sense (quite rare)
On stock it underclocks to let the processor max at around 400MHz when the screens off, so that helps to really save a lot of battery on standby. On CM, I'd expect it'd feel more or less the same in terms of performance after you hit 1.2/1.3GHz
hmohammed43 said:
Well, I use Android Revolution HD (a sense rom, meaning heavy UI!) and i overclock to about 1.3GHz. In terms of battery life when it's awake, it seems a drain a teeny bit more readily, but I've never had a freeze on sense (quite rare)
On stock it underclocks to let the processor max at around 400MHz when the screens off, so that helps to really save a lot of battery on standby. On CM, I'd expect it'd feel more or less the same in terms of performance after you hit 1.2/1.3GHz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply mate. going to try out revolution HD soon i think. have you overclocked using a third party app or is there one built into that rom?
also im a little confused by the governors. 'on demand' is the default governor. Does that mean it will only use the max selected cpu speed when necessary? would you recommend using a difference setting?
cheers
rhodri11 said:
thanks for the reply mate. going to try out revolution HD soon i think. have you overclocked using a third party app or is there one built into that rom?
also im a little confused by the governors. 'on demand' is the default governor. Does that mean it will only use the max selected cpu speed when necessary? would you recommend using a difference setting?
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The CPU is managed by the ROM itself. You can tweak it yourself by using setCPU (or similar), but I can advise you not to. Can't help you with the governors buddy, since I dunno what it is
Cheers
darude0306 said:
The CPU is managed by the ROM itself. You can tweak it yourself by using setCPU (or similar), but I can advise you not to. Can't help you with the governors buddy, since I dunno what it is
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nice one dude
I'm running cm7 and I'm overclocked to 1.5 ghz. It's been totally fine for months.
Sent from my Motorola Startac running Atari 2600 software!
rhodri11 said:
thanks for the reply mate. going to try out revolution HD soon i think. have you overclocked using a third party app or is there one built into that rom?
also im a little confused by the governors. 'on demand' is the default governor. Does that mean it will only use the max selected cpu speed when necessary? would you recommend using a difference setting?
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky you picked a linuxhead!
The system itself has a daemon (background process built into the system) that handles overclocking. It's all explained on the page and also on this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=14638641&postcount=34279
You can use another app (like SetCPU) but the daemon usually handles screen off's quicker. The governors basically determine how the processor frequency is changed. I'll explain the common ones:
Performance - Runs at highest speed, so if you have a range of 200 to 1.3G, it'll stay at 1.3G all the time, not usually the best
Ondemand - The universal default for phone overclocking, it only changes the speed up after a certain percentage of the CPU is used, and it switches on the fly, so if the CPU is used too much at 400MHz, it'll ramp it up to maybe 600 or 800, and if it's still overused, it'll put it up to maybe 1 or 1.2G
Conservative - This is like ondemand, except it makes the changes more gradual. It can give noticable lags in the foreground at times, so this is mainly used when the phone is asleep (screen off)
Smartass - This governor is like ondemand, except it'll less readily switch frequencies to higher values when it detects the screen off. This isn't really used because the overclocking daemons take into account the phone being awake or not
Basically, there isn't really a need to change governors, only really frequencies if anything. The thread, however, does tell you how to change governors.
Im using latest LeeDroid GB 3.2.1 and to be honest with the work he's done with the Kernal (3.1.8BFS) I have found that the ROM is a lot MORE responsive without me overclocking the CPU.
Im not really sure how it all works, but I guess doing this on different ROMS has its own different out comes.
overclocking has me confused too, is there really that much of a benefit in it? how much will i gain from it?
toby_lerone said:
overclocking has me confused too, is there really that much of a benefit in it? how much will i gain from it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a benefit when you use certain apps, or even sense itself. For example, I've never had sense ui freeze, or go slow. The under clocking helps to improve the rubbish battery life when your phone is asleep.
In terms of measuring the gain, I have no idea. Really, I'd think you could use a process heavy app, or benchmarking app and see.
There's also loads of guides on overclocking to help out! (that's how I got the hang of it! )
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
For the need on OC, it depends on the kind of apps u're using. If u're happy w a non OC DHD, its totally up to u.
But for the UC, it works as a terrific battery saver, mich better/effective than other battery saver soln on market
The safe range depends on the DHD as the manufacturing changed even though same part, i'm OC 1.5GHz "On Demand" profile and under clock 245MHz on screen off "Power Save" profile.
Getting approx a day usage on Lee 2.1.

[Q] SetCPU - Extra Info?

Hi there, thinking about getting SetCPU - I have some questions before I do because I hear it can be dangerous?
- I've heard it can brick your phone?
- What if you set it too high?
- Do you personally have to monitor it?
- What are the benefits?
- Use alot of battery?
- Is it really worth using?
- Is it optimized for different phones - example the One X?
Thanks guys!
JDBurnie said:
Hi there, thinking about getting SetCPU - I have some questions before I do because I hear it can be dangerous?
- I've heard it can brick your phone?
- What if you set it too high?
- Do you personally have to monitor it?
- What are the benefits?
- Use alot of battery?
- Is it really worth using?
- Is it optimized for different phones - example the One X?
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, i have read that SetCPU cannot view all the cores i have read alot saying that System Tuner works fine you might want to try that.
I used to use SetCPU on my sensation and never hand any issues with it i did not monitor the app at all
Benefits allows overclocking if available in kernel
it can be overclocked and cause some issues such as overheating but if set correctly will be fine doesnt use much battery if any
and no i dont think you can brick your phone
if you set it too high i believe i had to reflash rom nothing major
BTW this is based on my own knowledge and usage
Hope this helps
Thanks man
JDBurnie said:
Thanks man
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How much battery life can you save using setCPU?
lamenramen said:
How much battery life can you save using setCPU?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None in theory, if the CPU is slower it takes longer to go from
idle - process - idle
Faster speeds allow it to get it over and done with faster and get back to idle.
Of course it will at times stop the CPU going higher than it needs too which could save battery.
Under volting will save more batter then underclocking ever will.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
SetCPU can not see Tegra 3 yet
Use System Tuner and its free
hamdir said:
SetCPU can not see Tegra 3 yet
Use System Tuner and its free
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I have system tuner, but what do I need to do in order to improve battery life?
I have set the governor to powersave. Is there anything else? How would I undervolt using this app?
lamenramen said:
Thanks. I have system tuner, but what do I need to do in order to improve battery life?
I have set the governor to powersave. Is there anything else? How would I undervolt using this app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
undervolting requires your phones kernel to support it, currently on these forums there is only one that does but i haven't tested it, sticking firm to the "stock kernel is best" and will do untill the kernels have more time to mature.
you could limit your max speed to 1 GHz, if you are rooted you can use Core control to turn off cores and run your phone as a dual core.
treebill said:
undervolting requires your phones kernel to support it, currently on these forums there is only one that does but i haven't tested it, sticking firm to the "stock kernel is best" and will do untill the kernels have more time to mature.
you could limit your max speed to 1 GHz, if you are rooted you can use Core control to turn off cores and run your phone as a dual core.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to be lazy, but would running the phone as dual core and limiting it to 1 ghz result in a perceptible battery savings? I'm trying to get a feel for how much I should expect custom ROMs to make my One X perform up to par. Thus far, I've installed two custom ROMs and felt like the improvements were all safely in the minor category.
I did install cyanogenmod 7 on a phone last year wow, that resulted in major benefits.
lamenramen said:
Not to be lazy, but would running the phone as dual core and limiting it to 1 ghz result in a perceptible battery savings? I'm trying to get a feel for how much I should expect custom ROMs to make my One X perform up to par. Thus far, I've installed two custom ROMs and felt like the improvements were all safely in the minor category.
I did install cyanogenmod 7 on a phone last year wow, that resulted in major benefits.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running on 2 cores stops the phone from using and 2 cores uses less power then 4, playing games and using all cores is over kill 2 cores will run the game without lag use less power and make less heat.
You'll maybe get 10% from doing that but I haven't tested.
Really the only time any of this saves battery is during demanding programs, tegrea has a super low power companion core, for all your power saving needs.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
I tried conservative governor while downloading sd files for Nova3 gave execllent results
I strongly advice not to undervolt tegra3
t3 is not like any other chip and UV or OC should not be attempted
OC because the chip is already at the max of its thermals
UV for the same reason n might end up with problems like flicker
changing governors and UC should be enough

Some n00b questions regarding Overclocking/Kernals

Hi guys,
I've got a Galaxy S3 via Rogers, rooted, running the rom Triune II, I haven't messed around with custom Kernals (tbh haven't figured that out really), I recently installed SetCPU to overclock my S3 for running graphic intensive/slow loading games like Asphalt 7, etc.
So far for that purpose it's been amazing, the games literally open twice as fast. I've setup SetCPU for a variety of CPU changes, ie. higher speeds for graphic intensive games, lower speed for screen off while charging (ie. overnight) and it seems to be working great.
My questions are:
Can "overclocking" damange my device? Ie. I know that obviously overclocking shreds through battery life, but is playing a game at the top speed available on SetCPU (1512 Mhz) bad over a prolonged period?
Also, am I not reaping the full benefits of over/underclocking having a custom kernal installed?
Also...nother totally n00b one, if the S3 is capable of reaching the "overclocked" max speed, why doesn't it in the stock ROM? I just don't quite get that....is it because the battery life would be terrible and people would blame Samsung for it?
Never had a issue overclocking. And I've overclocked every phone I've owned beside the iPhone.
As far as how much better it will make your phone it depends. Depends on the rom too. I've noticed better benchmark results yet not always better real world results.
I use it more for the ability to underclock, and overclock when necessary.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
a little off but do you know of a way to measure the temperature of the phone (when you overclock/or even normally) ?
My phone does heat up sometimes
For over/underclocking there must be support for it built in kernel ! So if stock kernel doesn't support it you cannot probably change frequencies without changing kernel on stock Rom !
Also read the kernel's documentation - stable frequencies will be listed there - jumping back and forth these frequencies won't cause any troubles apart from the obvious battery drainage depending on your settings
Sianspheric said:
Hi guys,
I've got a Galaxy S3 via Rogers, rooted, running the rom Triune II, I haven't messed around with custom Kernals (tbh haven't figured that out really), I recently installed SetCPU to overclock my S3 for running graphic intensive/slow loading games like Asphalt 7, etc.
So far for that purpose it's been amazing, the games literally open twice as fast. I've setup SetCPU for a variety of CPU changes, ie. higher speeds for graphic intensive games, lower speed for screen off while charging (ie. overnight) and it seems to be working great.
My questions are:
Can "overclocking" damange my device? Ie. I know that obviously overclocking shreds through battery life, but is playing a game at the top speed available on SetCPU (1512 Mhz) bad over a prolonged period?
Also, am I not reaping the full benefits of over/underclocking having a custom kernal installed?
Also...nother totally n00b one, if the S3 is capable of reaching the "overclocked" max speed, why doesn't it in the stock ROM? I just don't quite get that....is it because the battery life would be terrible and people would blame Samsung for it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes overclocking can damage your cpu from overheating, some even believe it may reduce the lifespan of you cpu.
If you are running 1512 max you are running stock mhz, that isn't overclocked. You cannot run a stock Sammy kernel and overclock it unless it's been recompile..to be overclocked.
I recommend ktoonsez kernel it can be overclocked to 2106mhz and underclocked to 96mhz. As well as undervolting support which is pretty much essential for overclocking because an undervolt will make your phone produce less heat by lowering the voltage your phone requires when running.
To answer your second question, yes you are not reaping any benefits without a custom kernel, this is evident.
To answer the last. The stock kernel is maxed at 1512 because that is the best mhz for the STOCK Sammy kernel performance and battery wise. Also its possible that overheating happened when they set the max at higher mhz during their tests.
Some good general knowledge if you decide to overclock, would be learning how to and what undervolting does for your phone. You can read up on that here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=33282284
Ktoonsez kernel thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28399829
Make sure you download the right one for your rom!
If after reading about undervolting and installing kernel and would like some safe undervolting and gov/scheduler settings let me know! You can also find many other settings here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=31539830
AT&T SGS3 Marble White
Team AoCP The Collective ROM
KT747 10/31 OC'ed & UV'ed
Medical MJ Supporter
Sorry that kernal thread is a bit confusing.
Does that Kernal only exist for the stock carrier ROM and CM?
I'm using Triune II, if the kernal doesn't exist for that ROM then I take it I have to change ROM's?
Sianspheric said:
Sorry that kernal thread is a bit confusing.
Does that Kernal only exist for the stock carrier ROM and CM?
I'm using Triune II, if the kernal doesn't exist for that ROM then I take it I have to change ROM's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Triune is a TW based ROM. Therefore, you need to download KToonsez TW kernel. Keep in mind there is a ICS TW kernel, and then there is a JB TW kernel.
There are other kernels out there. Faux123 has a good one. It is capable of OC to 1.8Ghz, I believe.
Sianspheric said:
Sorry that kernal thread is a bit confusing.
Does that Kernal only exist for the stock carrier ROM and CM?
I'm using Triune II, if the kernal doesn't exist for that ROM then I take it I have to change ROM's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the one titled touchwiz and whatever version you are running be it ice cream sandwich touchwiz, or jellybean touchwiz.
AT&T SGS3 Marble White
Task & Ktoonsez AoKP ROM
Ktoonsez 11/13 Kernel OC'ed
Medical MJ Supporter

[Q] Add more maximum CPU frequency options to CyanogenMod?

I'm new to the android modding process, but I'm fairly experienced in linux
I'm guessing I need a custom kernel with the underclock options I want right? The options given are 1200 and 920, I want something like 1066 for a nice middle ground to set my maximum clock speed to, as 920 is too slow for most applications to perform smoothly, but 1200 is way too much heat generated with my apparently defective toroplus
Just flash another kernel which has more CPU freq steps
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
If you're fairly experienced in GNU/Linux, you should be able to build and cherry pick commits for a arm kernel.
Edit: this means look at a cm10 compatible kernel source that has oc implemented.
a maguro wrote this.
I was worried I would have to craft and compile my own kernel like back in my gentoo days but I picked up franco kernel and it had exactly what I was looking for. While the phone can still get hot its much slower than it used to be and my battery life seems to have doubled while watching streaming video over wifi
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Will there eventually be kernels available?

I have the tab pro 8.4, are kernels currently in development? What are you guys using to overclock?
Not now.
Crpalmer is working on a kernel and if he releases that then I think we could expect one for custom roms.
And this tablet doesn't need overclock. Nor will it handle it. The only thing that would be helpful is voltage control. it gets hot enough as it is.
If you really want a performance boost root it and change the cpu governer to performance. It locks the cpu at 2. 3 ghz. (the tablet will get insanely hot though)
Hamza Murad said:
Not now.
Crpalmer is working on a kernel and if he releases that then I think we could expect one for custom roms.
And this tablet doesn't need overclock. Nor will it handle it. The only thing that would be helpful is voltage control. it gets hot enough as it is.
If you really want a performance boost root it and change the cpu governer to performance. It locks the cpu at 2. 3 ghz. (the tablet will get insanely hot though)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not working on a custom kernel. I am working on a new kernel to be the CM kernel but it will still be stock voltages and speeds...

Categories

Resources