The Swapper Intel Patch
Abele Beardsley
Try to get your board schematic and see if there is an ME override strap. Stuff can be done with OEM utilities or efi variables, look around. Barring that you have to examine how the bios update flashes the bios and me region. It could be as simple as replacing the payload as you said.
Also there are 2 things.
Me region - Has ME firmware
Bios Module - talks to the above, MEbx menus, etc.
Get the intel tools for your ME version, find out what kind of flash chip you have and what the locks say. Figure out what kind of bios you have.
ie, there is asus stuff here: [PROBLEM] How to mod an Intel mainboard BIOS? (9) but no clue what you have, ami, insyde, etc.
At the time of this writing htop shows two cores at about 50% each in kernel threads (red bars). From previous boots I know, that this will increase to 3 and even 4 cores at 50% each over time. No thread that htop shows has any cpu usage above 1%. This is kind of strange isn't it?
update: Under load the behaviour is a bit different. (note first, that I am now at three cores at 50% each and perf will report 27% inside intel_idle)I put my cpu under stress with sysbench --test=cpu --num-threads=8 --max-requests=1000000 run and checked htop and perf again. Htop reported 3 cores at 100% in kernel (the same cores that show at 50% during idle) and 5 at 100% userland. Perf reported that sysbench occupied 85% of my cpu and does not explain the remaining 15%... I am not sure what this means. Is my cpu effectively reduced to 85% performance?
I think derobert's explanation about power management is what's going on. Power management is a compromise between power consumption and performance. When the processor isn't being used at 100% of its peak performance, it's beneficial to reduce its frequency, which makes it slower but cooler.
Linux varies the CPU frequency over time. How it does so is controlled by policies called governors. The general idea is that when the system hasn't used the CPU at its full performance for a while, it reduces the CPU frequency. Conversely, if the CPU is continuously busy for a while, the kernel increases the frequency.
It's perfectly normal to see intel_idle when you aren't fully utilizing all your cores. This saves a lot of power (both for the processor itself and for cooling devices) compared with having the CPU at full speed all the time. The only reason you might have to disable this mechanism is if you need very low latency. If you run a CPU-intensive application, you'll see less and less intel_idle. Making use the CPU idle mode doesn't cost performance except during the transition period where the kernel hasn't fully decided yet that the system needs a lot of CPU power.
regards to alienware x51. With the new bios version A06, will i be able to run an intel 3rd gen i7-3770"k" (unlocked version)? Also at the moment, my alienware x51 is running the intel 2nd gen i5-2320 i believe. i dont think the turbo boost is working correctly. when i go into "control panel, systems" it says "intel core i5-2320 3.0, -3.0". shouldnt it say "intel core i5-2320 3.0 up to 3.3"? ive also installed the turbo boost monitor and stressed out the processor and it only seemsto hit 3.1 . do i need to install a new driver for the processor? maybe the processor is defective? I did buy the x51 from the outlet department. maybe they installed a intel core i5-2320 model thats limited to 3.1, i dont know why, but i love this computer even though it has/had so many problems.
If you want to change the CPU so you can overclock then don't do it. The BIOS will not allow you to overclock it and you will still have the limited turbo values that you are seeing. There is nothing wrong with your system, Dell made it that way.
so if i upgrade my processor to a 3rd gen intel core i7-3770k (unlocked version) it'll run find with my x51's bios version A06? because i just want to future proof my purchase just in case i decide to build a full tower sli build comp later.
Dell locked the turbo values on the X51 so they only go up 1 notch. So if you have a CPU that has a stock speed of say 3.0ghz then turbo will only go to 3.1ghz. Do a forum search here or over at the Alienware Arena site and you will see other threads about this. I think that is why Dell never ever listed the Turbo Values on the x51 page. The CPU can not be overclocked, not even with Turbo.
Notice that each speed listed by Alienware as " up to " is the stock speed of each CPU? Of course if you do the forum search like I suggested you will find others that found out the same after they bought the system. Dell is limiting them to only one bump up in speed, my guess is so they can say they have the turbo enabled but it's only one single bump from stock speed and not the full turbo value. I think they did this because of heat and maybe the limited power supple of the X51. Dell used to have Turbo 2.0 next to the CPU models but without the values and they don't even list that anymore.
Keep in mind that the x51 is a Mini-ATX system that comes with some compromises just like the Aurora which is a Micro-ATX system. These are not full size desktops and as such do have some limits. The main one being heat dispersion.
i think i might have been mistaken on the "up to 3.3 turbo boost". dell is currently offering 3rd gen i5's not the 2nd gen. i have no way of finding out now if dell ever advertised it. ugh, i coulve sworn, up to 3.3 was advertised.
i think i might of been confused when i was reading about the cpu at the intel's website which said the i5 2320 have up to 3.3ghz w/ turbo boost technology. 3.0 to 3.1 w/ turbo w/ boost "wow". thats some awesome turbo boost technology there dell. still love the micro atx system.
Not trying to be smart or anything but isnt turbo boost just a gimmick? I mean boost only kicks in with a single threaded app, no game is single threaded anymore and 'most' apps like photoshop etc use multiple cores/threads.
I wouldn't go with a K, save the money since you can't OC. Can I ask why you want to change the CPU? To be honest I wouldn't upgrade the CPU at all. You get a much bigger bang from the GPU ( if you're a gamer ) and it is cheaper. Do the SSD and GPU and leave the rest alone. That's my two cents.
i want to upgrade to the 3rd gen intel core i7 3770 because, i guess it uses less watt than my current 2nd gen intel core i5 2320. i guess swapping out the hdd to an ssd will also save some watt. hopefully i can run the gtx 670 without any problems. though the 660ti is coming out soon, i rather choose the gtx 670 with 256bit interface than the 660ti's 192 bit interface. in the future i would like to build a full tower sli build. using the intel core i7 3770k, ssd, 2x gtx 670 (maybe even a 3 way sli). the x51 is nice and all and i hear alot of people upgrading this and that for a slight improvement. i want that slight improvement for now but in like 5-10 years, i rather have full tower comp that can hold 2-3 even 4 video cards because i believe that future games like battlefield 4 will require that much in order to run at ultimate settings. by the way have you read maximum pc september issue. the "dream machine 2012". too bad i cant afford that.
well prolly little late but i have the 2320 on a media center and actually does hit 3.3 on single core (intel board) .... @ 3.1 its running all 4 which in reality is 400MHZ across all 4 vs 300mhz on 1 core so in reality it should be a slightly faster.. just saying .... just did some cpu benching to see how it reacted.....
2. i though something was wrong with my 2nd gen intel core i5-2320's turbo boost because its not reaching 3.3ghz. its only boosting up to 3.1 from 3.0ghz. even stressing out on single core and stressing out on all four cores.
Yup, after years on Linux and OpenWRT this (edit: not just presence, but also active maintenance/contribution/participation from the vendor) is the predictor of success. So, planning on using the Mediatek adapter on my batch 5.
I get much better performance from the mt7921(2) devices than the AX200(10) based devices I have in my network for reference. So am actually a big fan of it. It supports AP and MON modes the AX200 does not and has a relatively complete OpenSource implementation vs the Blobby intel.
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