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[Q] SetCPU governors and best frquencies

Hey guys, i just rooted my phone, flashed LBC Mod 0.5.1 and installed SetCPU. I'm completely new to this and i tried googling about the governors, but couldn't understand a word. Now my question is - what do they do? Also, what are the best frequencies?

Basically put, a governor determines how quickly your CPU speed changes between your minimum and maximum frequency settings.
For example, try setting it to conservative. This will make the changes quite slowly, and you'll notice quite a bit of lag between home-screen and when scrolling quickly through lists. It will take a few seconds to realise you are putting more demand on the device and adjust the CPU frequency accordingly.
I think conservative is the slowest, and really only useful for low battery profiles. At the other end of the scale is 'Performance' which simply keeps your CPU maxed out at your top setting all the time. I can't recommend this one. Only really good for intensive games, but I think the Desire S can cope fine with any out there at the minute. This one will drink battery and cause your phone to run hot.
The best balance of reacting quickly and not interfering with performance or draining battery is the 'smartass' one, although some people prefer the 'ondemand' one.
I haven't a Scooby-do what 'userspace' does. I think it is for when you have another program to control CPU speed that reacts to parameters other than demand. Can anyone else confirm?
Try 'smartass' and 'ondemand' and see which you prefer for performance v battery life.
Edit: The best speed is up to you. I would not recommend going over 1.5GHz even if the kernel supports it. Your phone will not live very long. Personally I am waiting until an application comes along that requires I up the speed to run it properly. Everything I have thrown at it so far has been dealt with well leaving the CPU at 1GHz.
If you feel the need, when changing CPU speeds, do so in small steps. Don't just max out the slider. Find what is best for you with small adjustments. Your phone will become unstable if pushed too far.
The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long.

@wnp_79
I hope that that lot goes into the new edition of your guide!

ben_pyett said:
@wnp_79
I hope that that lot goes into the new edition of your guide!
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I think it just may do! I am thinking about doing an entire section simply for S-Off & rooted users, but I'm waiting to see what happens with this AlphaRev business first. Then the safe S-Off procedure can be included in the guide which is aimed at newcomers. Then we get them flashing ROMs!
Would do a separate one for more advanced users, problem is I'm still learning this stuff myself too.

Personally I’ve come to realize that 1.2~1.3 is the best top CPU speed for my usage. I do not play games but use internet a lot and generally interact intensively with the phone within the day. Only other profiles I have set is for screen off and <16% battery. Scaling is set on-demand.

245 ... 1200 MHz
smartass govenour
- good performance
- excellent battery life
- snappy from the verry start (lock screen) thanks smartass
profiles for
- bat<30%
- temp>40°C

axelpix said:
245 ... 1200 MHz
smartass govenour
- good performance
- excellent battery life
- snappy from the verry start (lock screen) thanks smartass
profiles for
- bat<30%
- temp>40°C
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried the latest version of LBC ROM (v0.5.2) which has the new O/C Daemon? if yes, then what did you think when compared to setCPU.
I previously used settings through setCPU very similar to those you've written above (although I had a slightly lower top end) but, I didn't find it as snappy from the lock screen when compared to the new Daemon that comes within the Unity kernel, which I did have initial reservations about.....but can only see it getting better over time.

SetCPU with smartass feels faster to me. Absolutely no lag on lockscreen. You must not have a screen off profile. Or at least not one with a different governor.
Yes, the new OC daemon is a nice approach, but needs some interface to configure. Currently there's no way to have profiles for battery or temperature.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

I use ondemand and have the screen off profile set into the 400Mhz Max, to allow for house keeping and music playback, that's it!

axelpix said:
SetCPU with smartass feels faster to me. Absolutely no lag on lockscreen. You must not have a screen off profile. Or at least not one with a different governor.
Yes, the new OC daemon is a nice approach, but needs some interface to configure. Currently there's no way to have profiles for battery or temperature.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
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Your right when I used setCPU my screen off profile was conservative, although the author of the daemon has promised a set CPU like gui to come, so lets hope that s soon and comes with some profile options (just charging, battery and temp profiles would do)
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA Premium App

I have used SetCpu with only smartass governor for a few days, compared to both smartass governor and screen-off profile(all 245MHz with ondemand).
I found it is more battery saving on both smartass governor and screen-off profile(lowest freq.). The reason is that the lowest freq.(245MHz) have been selected much more times according to the cpu used freq. stastics in SetCpu info menu.
I guess the auto screen-off profile in smartass governor may not work well or stable. so if I explicitly setup a screen-off profile with the lowest freq., the lowest freq. will be selected restrictly when screen-off.
Sorry for my poor english and hope u all know what I said.

ben_pyett said:
Your right when I used setCPU my screen off profile was conservative, although the author of the daemon has promised a set CPU like gui to come, so lets hope that s soon and comes with some profile options (just charging, battery and temp profiles would do)
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA Premium App
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Ditto. I too want a GUI for easy use of the daemon. Until that comes, I'm using SetCPU.

allen oddest said:
I have used SetCpu with only smartass governor for a few days, compared to both smartass governor and screen-off profile(all 245MHz with ondemand).
I found it is more battery saving on both smartass governor and screen-off profile(lowest freq.). The reason is that the lowest freq.(245MHz) have been selected much more times according to the cpu used freq. stastics in SetCpu info menu.
I guess the auto screen-off profile in smartass governor may not work well or stable. so if I explicitly setup a screen-off profile with the lowest freq., the lowest freq. will be selected restrictly when screen-off.
Sorry for my poor english and hope u all know what I said.
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Hm, on my device smartass always puts back to 245MHz in ScreenOff mode.

axelpix said:
Hm, on my device smartass always puts back to 245MHz in ScreenOff mode.
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Remember that the phone needs to run @ a certain frequency to keep itself running even when the screen is off. Although Set CPU resetting itself is a new one on me. Have you ticked "run at boot"?

[INFO] CPU Governors

Well, a few friends of mine with Sensations asked me "What are all these SetCPU options for?" So, here's some explanations.
CPU Scaling Governors
CPU governors control exactly how the CPU scales between your “max” and “min” set frequencies.
Ondemand- 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.
Interactive- The interactive governor is functionally similar to the ondemand governor with an even greater focus on responsiveness.
Conservative- 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.
Performance- 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 CPU load.
Powersave- Keeps the CPU running at the “min” set value at all times. userspace –A method for controlling the CPU speed that isn't currently used by SetCPU. For best results, do not use the userspace governor.
Smartass- 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 192Mhz (or if your min frequency is higher than 192 - why?! - it will cap it to your min frequency). No need for sleep profiles any more!
CREDIT: http://setcpu.com/#7 & http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=9277771&postcount=2

NikolaiT said:
Well, a few friends of mine with Sensations asked me "What are all these SetCPU options for?" So, here's some explanations.
CPU Scaling Governors
CPU governors control exactly how the CPU scales between your “max” and “min” set frequencies.
Ondemand- 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.
Interactive- The interactive governor is functionally similar to the ondemand governor with an even greater focus on responsiveness.
Conservative- 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.
Performance- 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 CPU load.
Powersave- Keeps the CPU running at the “min” set value at all times. userspace –A method for controlling the CPU speed that isn't currently used by SetCPU. For best results, do not use the userspace governor.
Smartass- 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 192Mhz (or if your min frequency is higher than 192 - why?! - it will cap it to your min frequency). No need for sleep profiles any more!
CREDIT: http://setcpu.com/#7 & http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=9277771&postcount=2
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The s
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA Premium App

So which one would you recommend?

thebigham said:
So which one would you recommend?
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Smartass, its the best governor, but it hasn't been implemented in any Sensation kernels yet, hopefully Lee or maybe Mike1986 can implement it into their kernels in the future.
Interactive for a good balance of responsiveness and battery life.
Conservative if you're looking for better battery at the expense of responsiveness.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App

what's different between these "lazy" "ondeman" "smartass" ...etc

what's different between these "lazy" "ondeman" "smartass" ...etc
i google it and find something , but looks like it is incomplete
...
could someone please explain what's different about them ?
thanks in advance

from www.setcpu.com/#7
CPU Scaling Governors-CPU governors control exactly how the CPU scales between your “max” and “min” set frequencies. Most kernels have “ondemand” and “performance.” The availability
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.
interactive –Available in newer kernels, and becoming the default scaling option in some official Android kernels. The interactive governor is functionally similar to the ondemand governor with an even greater focus on responsiveness.
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.
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 CPU load.
powersave –Available in some kernels. It will keep the CPU running at the “min” set value at all times.
userspace –A method for controlling the CPU speed that isn't currently used by SetCPU. For best results, do not use the userspace governor.
smartass –Included in some custom kernels. The smartass governor effectively gives the phone an automatic Screen Off profile, keeping speeds at a minimum when the phone is idle.
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that's what i was saying incomplete...
no explaination of lazy and smartass V2?

qtwrk said:
that's what i was saying incomplete...
no explaination of lazy and smartass V2?
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because they were just developed. you can find out all about lazy in the nexus s development forums here on xda, since it was developed here on xda for the nexus s(thanks to ezekeel) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1276092&highlight=lazy+governor
i'll let you search for smartassV2 on your own

Which one is better??
lazy or ondemand??

al_madd said:
Which one is better??
lazy or ondemand??
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Lazy is newer and meant to be an "improved" ondemand. Comes down to personal preference really.

063_XOBX said:
Lazy is newer and meant to be an "improved" ondemand. Comes down to personal preference really.
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I read again lazy thread from ezekeel..He made correction over calculation comparing governor comsumptiom power..
mathkid recomended ondemand on his kernel
morfic tweak conservative governor on his kernel
fransico recomended lazy or smartassv2
iceandfire recomended lazy
there is too many debate on this...wondering if lazy governor really works???

al_madd said:
I read again lazy thread from ezekeel..He made correction over calculation comparing governor comsumptiom power..
mathkid recomended ondemand on his kernel
morfic tweak conservative governor on his kernel
fransico recomended lazy or smartassv2
iceandfire recomended lazy
there is too many debate on this...wondering if lazy governor really works???
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ondemand or lazy. ondemand has a little more of a kick while lazy is a little better on battery.

simms22 said:
because they were just developed. you can find out all about lazy in the nexus s development forums here on xda, since it was developed here on xda for the nexus s(thanks to ezekeel) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1276092&highlight=lazy+governor
i'll let you search for smartassV2 on your own
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Click to collapse
thanks man , this is what i found
SmartassV2 (informal description and comparison with the first smartass)
SmartassV2 is a governor (controls the frequency of the CPU at each give moment) which like the first smartass is generally based on the implementation of interactive with some major changes and the addition of a built in sleep profile (behaves a bit differently when screen is off vs. on).
The smartassV2 improves the very naive scheme which the first smartass had: The first smartass (with the values I set for the hero), would cap the max frequency at 352Mhz for sleep and when screen is on, would do the opposite and keep the frequency at 518Mhz or above. For sleep this was very effective but a bit crude and unclean, and there could be some cases where you would need processing power even when screen is off (something is updating and music is playing and etc.). For screen on, smartass1 was too quick to jump to the max available frequency and again would never go below the 518Mhz, so in a nutshell its was using "too high" frequencies.
SmartassV2, introduce (internally) an "ideal" frequency which is the frequency we are "aiming" for, in some sense. The way I see it is that the "ideal" frequency is a hint to the governor what is a good balance between performance and battery life. Now when screen is on, I set (on the hero) the ideal frequency to 518Mhz which will ensure nice responsiveness but limit unnecessary use of higher frequencies when they are not needed. When screen is off, I set the ideal frequency to 352Mhz (0 will disable the screen state tracking all together). From my testing this will "convince" the governor to spend most of the its time during sleep at the lowest available frequencies. Note, that both during sleep and when awake the entire frequency range (as defined by the "user" - i.e. selected with SetCPU) is used by smartassV2. For example, when the CPU is loaded heavily, the highest available frequency will be used regardless if screen is on or off.
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from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=730471, posted by erasmux

Although I can't really tell a difference in real life, I benchmark lower on lazy vs. ondemand.
It probably has something to do with a forced time within each state for the lazy, which prevents it from switching frequencies too many times.

[Q] SmartAssV2 vs SavagedZen governor

I want to know which one is better for an old phone like LGE510.
I'm using CM7.2 and different profiles in setCPU.
If no governor is better than each other can someone explain me the differences?

oliverm91 said:
I want to know which one is better for an old phone like LGE510.
I'm using CM7.2 and different profiles in setCPU.
If no governor is better than each other can someone explain me the differences?
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Click to collapse
SmartassV2:
Version 2 of the original smartass governor from
Erasmux. Another favorite for many a people.
The governor aim for an "ideal frequency", and
ramp up more aggressively towards this freq and
less aggressive after. It uses different ideal
frequencies for screen on and screen off, namely
awake_ideal_freq and sleep_ideal_freq. This
governor scales down CPU very fast (to hit
sleep_ideal_freq soon) while screen is off and
scales up rapidly to awake_ideal_freq (500 mhz
for GS2 by default) when screen is on. There's
no upper limit for frequency while screen is off
(unlike Smartass). So the entire frequency range
is available for the governor to use during
screen-on and screen-off state. The motto of this
governor is a balance between performance and
battery.
SavagedZen:
Another smartassV2 based governor. Achieves
good balance between performance & battery as
compared to brazilianwax.
its basically quite the same really, im using SmartAssV2 on my LGE510 currently and it does what it says.

CPU governor variables

Could anyone tell me what each of the variables are for the Interactive CPU governor?
I've found plenty of guides to say what each governor does and what they good for, but nothing for tweaking the variables.
I just want the governor to wait a little longer before ramping up the frequency, it seem to jump very high when there's only a 20% load and theres not need really, I could be saving that bit of battery there.

Yes you are rite. But you see the issue is only with hotplug and performence governer.
But if you apply powersaver or userspace governer then actually you do not face any fluctuations until performence is really neeeded
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