http://sites.google.com/site/k10stat/


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What exactly does k10stat do?

... you can set multiplier and vcore for each p-state

thus it's possible to undervolt/clock in idle state(s)
and, at the same time, overclock/volt
as soon as the cpu gets load...

to achieve this k10stat simply modifies the parameter
cool'n quiet is reading/using
so k10stat doesn't need to be running all the time.
You simply have to start it ONCE at system start

heres an ugly screenshot and a useful thread:
http://www.modders-inc.com/modules.php? ... ic&p=36453

CAUTION:
the default profile/setting
You choose to be loaded at system-/auto-start
should be secure/stable
otherwise You get into trouble ...


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Dumb Question: What is a P-state?

In a nutshell, K10stat is an user-configurable AMD Cool&Quiet program.

As for your question, there's Intel's nice explanation with regard to P-state.
http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2 ... tate-pt-1/

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2 ... 562,00.asp

phenom I has 2 p-states,
phenom II has 4

under full load the cpu gets into the lowest p-state (=p0)
when idle to highest pstate (p3 for phenom II, p1 for phenom I)

cool n' quiet sets different multipliers
and vcore values for each p-state

k10stat lets You modify these settings...

imho very handy
i basically use 4 profiles
a) default: stable
b) dynamic: undervolted/clocked for p3 and overvolted/clocked for p0
c) eco: undervolted and min multiplier for all p-states
d) performance: max multiplier for all p-states


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Phenom MSR Tweaker is an alternative, however, I don't know which one is best. Some differences are described in the link.

Looks like Phenom MSR tweaker is better at doing per core multiplier settings for maximum overclock or maximum undervolt situations.

K10stat has the advantage of being around longer and maybe a little more testing on a wider range of hardware.

I like the look and attitude of the msr tweaker but they are probably both solid programs. A little ahead of me though as I only have K8 cpus at home right now. I'll have to get a K10 this year.

You're not, I'm running a 90 nm K8. As long as I don't buy a new graphics card there's no need for a newer CPU.

Anyway, this is almost a double post!!!!

K10Stat is a utility that lets you change voltage settings at different P-states. The Turion II M500 has five of them, and is more undervolt-able than previous, mobile dual-core K8 processors. K10Stat works great at changing voltages, and I've confirmed with CPU-Z that it does work. Haven't done temperature or battery life comparisons yet. Plan to though.

I can't get the "lock p-state" to work. It only changes temporarily to that p-state, but will not lock at it. Clock Control is enabled.

But I made an hackish work around that is working well, but I would rather not use it:



At the right side, the profile that I normaly use, and in the left the profile I use when I left the pc unnatended for long periods of time, only downloading/uploading or making other non-processor intensive activity. Then I use the menu on the trayicon to change the profile, and that works.

these are my lowest p-states tested and actually default in my rig:


I'm not shure if there is any advantage to manage two or more different profiles in k10stat (low and hig)

If I leave my computer idle, it ocasionaly jumps to high p-states and goes back. This is not desirable.

The thing is, if something like firefox goes crazy at night and starts eating 100% cpu, it would not draw much energy if the voltage is set to 0.8v. Now I'm using flashblock, that is unbelivealy cool, and I have yet to see this problem again, but it can happen. That besides the eventual spikes in processing, like hashing torrents, or other things, that as I'm away I have no hurry for it be done, so it can stay in lowest p-state.

And if you want max performance w/o C&Q having any chance to get in your way (for gaming, or movie waching), locking to the max p-state might be a good idea.

Of course, it is more work... So I just have an set-and-forget good default profile, that I mostly trust. But I like to have the option for those situations above.

K10stat just got an update of Ver 1.50. Hope to add support of A8/A6/A4 Llano.

http://sites.google.com/site/k10stat/

Thanks for the bump. I got ver 1.51 and now I can overclock and unverolt without fiddling with rebooting and changing BIOS settings. Still not perfect but it's definitely saving me a few watts.

Heh, and it's up to ver 1.52 already.

From what I've seen it appears lock p-state only stays if cool n quiet is disabled (easiest way to do this in Windows XP is to change windows power settings to "Home/Office Desk")

FWIW I edit my pstates with K10stat but I don't "enable clock control" windows seems to do an OK job switching to whatever I put in K10stat and leaving it that way gives me the fail safe of having cool n quiet default settings on reboot. In fact I saved the default Pstates as a K10 profile just in case I want to switch back to them for any reason.

Also the user interface of K10stat seems to assume that what ever profile you are editing is what you want to run. I wish the editing of profiles and activating profiles were separate but once you know you are playing with a loaded weapon it is possible to work with that in mind.

If I had a wish list to add a feature I'd have the k10stat profiles associated with a specific power scheme in windows. When I want to stability test a single pstate I have to manually go to the power settings and set them to "Home/Office Desk" run all my stress tests then switch it back to "minimal power management", "portable/laptop", or "max battery" to enable cool n quiet again for normal long term use. It'd be nice to have a check box or drop down that allowed for enabling/disabling cool n quiet from within k10stat. Even better would be a new tab in k10stat for putting in a single pstate and let you temporarily apply it (disabling cool n quiet, and all the current profile pstates) without it changing any of the pstates in the 5 profiles and without having to change all the necessary settings to force a single pstate. That would make stability testing easier.

Your clock speeds in those pstates match the default clock speeds on the X3-720. I don't know if you changed any of the speeds while you were changing power levels.

Myself I changed clock speeds as well.

Stock pstates for X3-720 BE


A modified profile for saving power but the P1 and P3 states include a higher clock speed in the mix as well.


My thinking was that I should increase the clock speeds on lower power states to reduce the need to switch to higher power states. And since I could do it and still use lower voltages I figured that is a win-win.

I tested lower voltages and my rule of thumb was to pick pstates 2 voltage choices higher than the last one that gave me an error. I only did about 15 minutes of testing with each pstate but I found some of them would error out within seconds or minutes. I don't think I caught any errors between the 5 and 15 minute mark.

I also set up a few overclocking profiles in case I get into a very demanding game or transcode a lot of video and want the extra speed but even in those profiles I used lower voltages for most or all of the pstates. I'm not sure when I'll use them as the undervolting profile is doing me quite well at this point. I did have fun testing the limits though.

Oh and for anyone that notices that my NB voltage and CPU voltage match. I'm using an older motherboard that doesn't support split power planes so I don't get to run the NB at lower voltages. It costs me a few watts and that makes undervolting with K10stat that much more important.

I'd be curious to see the stock NB values for a X3 720 so I would have a better idea of how close I am to the idle power I'd get on a split power plane capable motherboard.

I'm thinking if I have any steady background tasks that keep me bouncing out of the 1600 clock speed there is no sense in having it and a 1200 or 800 at the bottom of the list so I can split the difference on 1600 and 800 and do

2800 1.250
2400 1.150
2000 1.100
1200 1.000

and still come out ahead vs the stock pstates with the same top clock speed at lower voltages and an overclock of the other 3 pstates with lower voltages.

I have to assume the 800mhz pstate was AMD trying to save every last watt at idle while still keeping the voltage high for stability / manufacturing variance. Over time though 800mhz seems less and less sufficient to me when I see the ability to fine tune the higher voltage pstates being wasted on P3 and P2 sharing the same voltage(s).

Honestly, I don't understand how to stress test the lowest P-state.

With P1 and P2 I just give P0 the same settings I want for these lower states and start P95,
but P3 goes all the way down to 800 MHz, which I can't reach with this method.
I realize there must be an easier way.

I used this program for the first time today, so I don't know much about it yet.

There are several ways to stress the lowest P state.

My method was to change the power settings in Windows XP is to change windows power settings to "Home/Office Desk" to disable Cool N Quiet. Once it is disabled any mode you select in K10STAT will stay indefinitely. See lock Pstate for how to do it the K10Stat way.

Another method would be to create a test profile with all 4 pstates set to a single frequency power combination and then it won't matter that it's switching PStates.

There are other varitaions on how to do the first method but I think those two examples should cover the gist of the different methods.


Oh, and you make it sound like you can't figure out how to program 800 mhz in the pstates. Set FID = 0 and DID = 1 and it should be 800 Mhz. Higher DID = lower Mhz.

0,4 = 100
0,3 = 200
0,2 = 400
0,1 = 800
0,0 = 1600

1,4 = 106
1,3 = 212
1,2 = 425
1,1 = 850
1,0 = 1700

and so on all the way to

47,4 = 393
47,3 = 787
47,2 = 1575
47,1 = 3150
47,0 = 6300

dh: Thanks for your reply. I will try this soon.