Guide: X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep (CPU Power Management)

[jbauman5]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

Hi Shiloh,

I appreciate the response. Probably a noob question, but how would i know if i had a CPU ssdt and dsdt? I believe I chose the DSDT Free option in Multibeast, but that was over a year ago so I'm not sure. There a way I could check?


Thanks,

jb

 

[shilohh]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

When you said fully working, I assumed you already had speedstep going. I'm not sure if it's still true, but I was under the impression that the gigabyte x79 boards all had a locked msr e2 (see requirement 1 in op). That is the reason I titled this post "Asus" speedstep. Before possibly wasting time, make sure you meet requirement 1.

If you use the chimera or chameleon bootloader, the dsdt/ssdts will be located in the /extra folder. If you have the clover bootloader they will be in the hidden EFI partition of the drive that you installed clover to at EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched.

 

[jbauman5]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

Hi Shiloh,

I do have SpeedStep working. I believe that is when the CPU scales up and down to frequencies as needed, correct? Mine does that. I do remember installing AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext very early on and that actually broke my speed stepping. But as I stand now it's fully functioning, verified by istat. Maybe these relate to that?

<key>GenerateCStates</key><string>Yes</string>
<key>GeneratePStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>



I use Chimera and I don't believe I see anything related to the CPU's dsdt/ssdt in the Extra's folder. I just have 2 x plist, neither of which appear to have any information relating to a CPU dsdt/ssdt, a themes folder, and a modules folder - which has 2 dylib files, a keyboard layout and an HDEnabler.


jb

 

[jbauman5]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

I apologize Shiloh, i see you say not to use these in your OP.

<key>GenerateCStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GeneratePStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>

So this could be problematic going to the 2680V2?

 

[shilohh]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

The bios can provide a emulated speedstep which is based on CPU load. It should give you c1e (12) and max turbo. Xcpm speedstep outlined in this guide is controlled by OS x. It will give you 4-6 power states for x79. Unless chimera has made massive changes in the last year or so, you probably don't have xcpm functioning. The best way to see how many and what states your system is getting, is to use pikeralpha's tool.

 

[shilohh]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

I apologize Shiloh, i see you say not to use these in your OP.

<key>GenerateCStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GeneratePStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>

So this could be problematic going to the 2680V2?

If chimera has improved for x79 and you do actually have OS x controlled speedstep, then no. You should continue to use your current config but I can't give any guaranties for hardware that I haven't tested.

 

[jbauman5]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

I appreciate your patience and information from your experience.

I could not get the RunAICPUPMI app to run because I don't have the nullCpumanagement kext installed. But I did a very unscientific test and simply watched the Istat sensor and it showed I have a multiplier scaling from 12,34,35,36,37,38,39 and 40. I am overclocked at 4Ghz. In your opinion this appears ok for speedstepping? And is this something that can be affected by a different CPU? And if so and I have a problem with the 2680V2, I assuming, in your opinion, this would be something for me to look into changing my current setup to what you've outlined in this thread? Also, I'm assuming, the issue that may reveal itself with the 2680 V2 might be that it's not speedstepping. But there's no reason to think it wouldn't boot as long as the bios are setup correctly? It's going to be things like speedstepping that can cause the snag?

Again I truly appreciate your insight. Just trying to cover my bases before pulling the the trigger and it's been VERY difficult to find information on this, especially from someone as knowledgable as you.

jb

 

[shilohh]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

Runaicpupmi is not dependent on nullcpupm. As a matter of fact, you shouldn't run aicpupmi if nullcpu is running becaus you are polling for info about cpupm and nullcpupm causes cpupm not to function.

I would not trust istat for this info. Based on the fact that it shows no states between 12 and 34, I'd say your OS is not controlling speedstep. I'd guess that istat is guessing what power state you are in based on voltage and it is not receiving any dynamic info about os x's actual power state.

Lets get get down to basics. You currently have 12 threads running at 4ghz. 12x4=48. If you raise your overclocke to 4.5ghz, you get 54 with your current $600 CPU. AFAIK, switching to Xeon will prohibit over clocking unless you can somehow use strap or base clock with xeons (I don't know for sure). The 10 core you mention has 20 threads (hyper threaded) at 2.8ghz. 20x2.8=56. The $2,000 upgrade doesn't sound worth it all to me unless you have apps that would somehow perform better with more cores at lower frequencies (not likely). Most cases I've seen show that power apps will perform better with less cores at higher clocks but it depends on how the app is engineered. If I were you, I'd invest some time into my over clock and not $2k in a new CPU. Even if you leave it at 4ghz, paying 2k to raise 48 to 56 doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

[jbauman5]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

Hi Shiloh,

I bet you're right about the speedstepping. Glad I found your thread and I'll do some more investigating on this.

I've done exhaustive research on the 4930k vs 2980V2 and, in my line of work, the 2980 V2 will actually be quite an improvement. My other thought was to throw 3-4k on a x99 build, but then I've got to build it from the ground up and it still seems like X99 is a bit of PITA and I've got this rig running fairly trouble free for the past year. I know there will be tasks where the xeon will actually perform worse but where I need it, it will shine. And yes you can bclk the Xeon, possibly up to 110x28 = 3080 with a turbo at 110x36 = 3960. At those speeds it could outperform the 12 core 2697V2, which I know crushes the 4930k. Unfortunately, I found that there are major limitations in overclocking the x79-up4. I've done exhaustive research and spent many many many hours on this. Some beta bios floating around the web could help but I don't really want to get into that at this point. Just FYI, the 2680V2 actually beats out the 5960x on some multi thread benchmarks. Stock speeds of course. And the 5960x crushes the 4930k across the board.

Again I appreciate your advice and knowledge. I see your name all over this site and appreciate your time.

jb

 

[shilohh]

Guide: Asus X79 OS X Controlled SpeedStep

Oops. I didn't factor the turbo of 36 and that does change things a bit. Do bear in mind that turbo will only raise the freq of some of the cores to 36. I've never researched over clocking with Xeon as my goal has always been to first crush the price of a Mac Pro and then achieve better function (for my use) and similar (or better if possible, in my bang for the buck criteria) performance . Nice to know that you can at least do blck. I've observed that with my k series CPUs overclocked using the multiplier, I get all cores to my chosen max turbo.

As far as speedstep goes, the bios's 2 states are better than none. You get most of your power use reduction dropping to 12 at idle. I wouldn't call it a deal breaker if you can't get maximum efficiency at medium loads. Last I checked, it was near impossible to use xcpm with gigabyte boards. I know you can get the asus R4 black edition boards pretty cheap now. That's why I updated from my R4E. If you are planning on spending $1.5-2k on a CPU, you might want to look at another $300-350 for a R4BE. I'm very happy with mine.

Sounds like you've done your homework well. If the 10core outperforms the 4930k OCed to 4.5ghz (pretty easily achieved on most samples) in the apps you'll be using most, then it should be a good value for you.