1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
2.. include:: <isonum.txt>
3
4===============================================
5``amd-pstate`` CPU Performance Scaling Driver
6===============================================
7
8:Copyright: |copy| 2021 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
9
10:Author: Huang Rui <ray.huang@amd.com>
11
12
13Introduction
14===================
15
16``amd-pstate`` is the AMD CPU performance scaling driver that introduces a
17new CPU frequency control mechanism on modern AMD APU and CPU series in
18Linux kernel. The new mechanism is based on Collaborative Processor
19Performance Control (CPPC) which provides finer grain frequency management
20than legacy ACPI hardware P-States. Current AMD CPU/APU platforms are using
21the ACPI P-states driver to manage CPU frequency and clocks with switching
22only in 3 P-states. CPPC replaces the ACPI P-states controls and allows a
23flexible, low-latency interface for the Linux kernel to directly
24communicate the performance hints to hardware.
25
26``amd-pstate`` leverages the Linux kernel governors such as ``schedutil``,
27``ondemand``, etc. to manage the performance hints which are provided by
28CPPC hardware functionality that internally follows the hardware
29specification (for details refer to AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual
30Volume 2: System Programming [1]_). Currently, ``amd-pstate`` supports basic
31frequency control function according to kernel governors on some of the
32Zen2 and Zen3 processors, and we will implement more AMD specific functions
33in future after we verify them on the hardware and SBIOS.
34
35
36AMD CPPC Overview
37=======================
38
39Collaborative Processor Performance Control (CPPC) interface enumerates a
40continuous, abstract, and unit-less performance value in a scale that is
41not tied to a specific performance state / frequency. This is an ACPI
42standard [2]_ which software can specify application performance goals and
43hints as a relative target to the infrastructure limits. AMD processors
44provide the low latency register model (MSR) instead of an AML code
45interpreter for performance adjustments. ``amd-pstate`` will initialize a
46``struct cpufreq_driver`` instance, ``amd_pstate_driver``, with the callbacks
47to manage each performance update behavior. ::
48
49 Highest Perf ------>+-----------------------+                         +-----------------------+
50                     |                       |                         |                       |
51                     |                       |                         |                       |
52                     |                       |          Max Perf  ---->|                       |
53                     |                       |                         |                       |
54                     |                       |                         |                       |
55 Nominal Perf ------>+-----------------------+                         +-----------------------+
56                     |                       |                         |                       |
57                     |                       |                         |                       |
58                     |                       |                         |                       |
59                     |                       |                         |                       |
60                     |                       |                         |                       |
61                     |                       |                         |                       |
62                     |                       |      Desired Perf  ---->|                       |
63                     |                       |                         |                       |
64                     |                       |                         |                       |
65                     |                       |                         |                       |
66                     |                       |                         |                       |
67                     |                       |                         |                       |
68                     |                       |                         |                       |
69                     |                       |                         |                       |
70                     |                       |                         |                       |
71                     |                       |                         |                       |
72  Lowest non-        |                       |                         |                       |
73  linear perf ------>+-----------------------+                         +-----------------------+
74                     |                       |                         |                       |
75                     |                       |       Lowest perf  ---->|                       |
76                     |                       |                         |                       |
77  Lowest perf ------>+-----------------------+                         +-----------------------+
78                     |                       |                         |                       |
79                     |                       |                         |                       |
80                     |                       |                         |                       |
81          0   ------>+-----------------------+                         +-----------------------+
82
83                                     AMD P-States Performance Scale
84
85
86.. _perf_cap:
87
88AMD CPPC Performance Capability
89--------------------------------
90
91Highest Performance (RO)
92.........................
93
94This is the absolute maximum performance an individual processor may reach,
95assuming ideal conditions. This performance level may not be sustainable
96for long durations and may only be achievable if other platform components
97are in a specific state; for example, it may require other processors to be in
98an idle state. This would be equivalent to the highest frequencies
99supported by the processor.
100
101Nominal (Guaranteed) Performance (RO)
102......................................
103
104This is the maximum sustained performance level of the processor, assuming
105ideal operating conditions. In the absence of an external constraint (power,
106thermal, etc.), this is the performance level the processor is expected to
107be able to maintain continuously. All cores/processors are expected to be
108able to sustain their nominal performance state simultaneously.
109
110Lowest non-linear Performance (RO)
111...................................
112
113This is the lowest performance level at which nonlinear power savings are
114achieved, for example, due to the combined effects of voltage and frequency
115scaling. Above this threshold, lower performance levels should be generally
116more energy efficient than higher performance levels. This register
117effectively conveys the most efficient performance level to ``amd-pstate``.
118
119Lowest Performance (RO)
120........................
121
122This is the absolute lowest performance level of the processor. Selecting a
123performance level lower than the lowest nonlinear performance level may
124cause an efficiency penalty but should reduce the instantaneous power
125consumption of the processor.
126
127AMD CPPC Performance Control
128------------------------------
129
130``amd-pstate`` passes performance goals through these registers. The
131register drives the behavior of the desired performance target.
132
133Minimum requested performance (RW)
134...................................
135
136``amd-pstate`` specifies the minimum allowed performance level.
137
138Maximum requested performance (RW)
139...................................
140
141``amd-pstate`` specifies a limit the maximum performance that is expected
142to be supplied by the hardware.
143
144Desired performance target (RW)
145...................................
146
147``amd-pstate`` specifies a desired target in the CPPC performance scale as
148a relative number. This can be expressed as percentage of nominal
149performance (infrastructure max). Below the nominal sustained performance
150level, desired performance expresses the average performance level of the
151processor subject to hardware. Above the nominal performance level,
152the processor must provide at least nominal performance requested and go higher
153if current operating conditions allow.
154
155Energy Performance Preference (EPP) (RW)
156.........................................
157
158This attribute provides a hint to the hardware if software wants to bias
159toward performance (0x0) or energy efficiency (0xff).
160
161
162Key Governors Support
163=======================
164
165``amd-pstate`` can be used with all the (generic) scaling governors listed
166by the ``scaling_available_governors`` policy attribute in ``sysfs``. Then,
167it is responsible for the configuration of policy objects corresponding to
168CPUs and provides the ``CPUFreq`` core (and the scaling governors attached
169to the policy objects) with accurate information on the maximum and minimum
170operating frequencies supported by the hardware. Users can check the
171``scaling_cur_freq`` information comes from the ``CPUFreq`` core.
172
173``amd-pstate`` mainly supports ``schedutil`` and ``ondemand`` for dynamic
174frequency control. It is to fine tune the processor configuration on
175``amd-pstate`` to the ``schedutil`` with CPU CFS scheduler. ``amd-pstate``
176registers the adjust_perf callback to implement performance update behavior
177similar to CPPC. It is initialized by ``sugov_start`` and then populates the
178CPU's update_util_data pointer to assign ``sugov_update_single_perf`` as the
179utilization update callback function in the CPU scheduler. The CPU scheduler
180will call ``cpufreq_update_util`` and assigns the target performance according
181to the ``struct sugov_cpu`` that the utilization update belongs to.
182Then, ``amd-pstate`` updates the desired performance according to the CPU
183scheduler assigned.
184
185.. _processor_support:
186
187Processor Support
188=======================
189
190The ``amd-pstate`` initialization will fail if the ``_CPC`` entry in the ACPI
191SBIOS does not exist in the detected processor. It uses ``acpi_cpc_valid``
192to check the existence of ``_CPC``. All Zen based processors support the legacy
193ACPI hardware P-States function, so when ``amd-pstate`` fails initialization,
194the kernel will fall back to initialize the ``acpi-cpufreq`` driver.
195
196There are two types of hardware implementations for ``amd-pstate``: one is
197`Full MSR Support <perf_cap_>`_ and another is `Shared Memory Support
198<perf_cap_>`_. It can use the :c:macro:`X86_FEATURE_CPPC` feature flag to
199indicate the different types. (For details, refer to the Processor Programming
200Reference (PPR) for AMD Family 19h Model 51h, Revision A1 Processors [3]_.)
201``amd-pstate`` is to register different ``static_call`` instances for different
202hardware implementations.
203
204Currently, some of the Zen2 and Zen3 processors support ``amd-pstate``. In the
205future, it will be supported on more and more AMD processors.
206
207Full MSR Support
208-----------------
209
210Some new Zen3 processors such as Cezanne provide the MSR registers directly
211while the :c:macro:`X86_FEATURE_CPPC` CPU feature flag is set.
212``amd-pstate`` can handle the MSR register to implement the fast switch
213function in ``CPUFreq`` that can reduce the latency of frequency control in
214interrupt context. The functions with a ``pstate_xxx`` prefix represent the
215operations on MSR registers.
216
217Shared Memory Support
218----------------------
219
220If the :c:macro:`X86_FEATURE_CPPC` CPU feature flag is not set, the
221processor supports the shared memory solution. In this case, ``amd-pstate``
222uses the ``cppc_acpi`` helper methods to implement the callback functions
223that are defined on ``static_call``. The functions with the ``cppc_xxx`` prefix
224represent the operations of ACPI CPPC helpers for the shared memory solution.
225
226
227AMD P-States and ACPI hardware P-States always can be supported in one
228processor. But AMD P-States has the higher priority and if it is enabled
229with :c:macro:`MSR_AMD_CPPC_ENABLE` or ``cppc_set_enable``, it will respond
230to the request from AMD P-States.
231
232
233User Space Interface in ``sysfs``
234==================================
235
236``amd-pstate`` exposes several global attributes (files) in ``sysfs`` to
237control its functionality at the system level. They are located in the
238``/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyX/`` directory and affect all CPUs. ::
239
240 root@hr-test1:/home/ray# ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/*amd*
241 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/amd_pstate_highest_perf
242 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/amd_pstate_lowest_nonlinear_freq
243 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/amd_pstate_max_freq
244
245
246``amd_pstate_highest_perf / amd_pstate_max_freq``
247
248Maximum CPPC performance and CPU frequency that the driver is allowed to
249set, in percent of the maximum supported CPPC performance level (the highest
250performance supported in `AMD CPPC Performance Capability <perf_cap_>`_).
251In some ASICs, the highest CPPC performance is not the one in the ``_CPC``
252table, so we need to expose it to sysfs. If boost is not active, but
253still supported, this maximum frequency will be larger than the one in
254``cpuinfo``.
255This attribute is read-only.
256
257``amd_pstate_lowest_nonlinear_freq``
258
259The lowest non-linear CPPC CPU frequency that the driver is allowed to set,
260in percent of the maximum supported CPPC performance level. (Please see the
261lowest non-linear performance in `AMD CPPC Performance Capability
262<perf_cap_>`_.)
263This attribute is read-only.
264
265Other performance and frequency values can be read back from
266``/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuX/acpi_cppc/``, see :ref:`cppc_sysfs`.
267
268
269``amd-pstate`` vs ``acpi-cpufreq``
270======================================
271
272On the majority of AMD platforms supported by ``acpi-cpufreq``, the ACPI tables
273provided by the platform firmware are used for CPU performance scaling, but
274only provide 3 P-states on AMD processors.
275However, on modern AMD APU and CPU series, hardware provides the Collaborative
276Processor Performance Control according to the ACPI protocol and customizes this
277for AMD platforms. That is, fine-grained and continuous frequency ranges
278instead of the legacy hardware P-states. ``amd-pstate`` is the kernel
279module which supports the new AMD P-States mechanism on most of the future AMD
280platforms. The AMD P-States mechanism is the more performance and energy
281efficiency frequency management method on AMD processors.
282
283Kernel Module Options for ``amd-pstate``
284=========================================
285
286.. _shared_mem:
287
288``shared_mem``
289Use a module param (shared_mem) to enable related processors manually with
290**amd_pstate.shared_mem=1**.
291Due to the performance issue on the processors with `Shared Memory Support
292<perf_cap_>`_, we disable it presently and will re-enable this by default
293once we address performance issue with this solution.
294
295To check whether the current processor is using `Full MSR Support <perf_cap_>`_
296or `Shared Memory Support <perf_cap_>`_ : ::
297
298  ray@hr-test1:~$ lscpu | grep cppc
299  Flags:                           fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc cpuid extd_apicid aperfmperf rapl pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 fma cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt tce topoext perfctr_core perfctr_nb bpext perfctr_llc mwaitx cpb cat_l3 cdp_l3 hw_pstate ssbd mba ibrs ibpb stibp vmmcall fsgsbase bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid cqm rdt_a rdseed adx smap clflushopt clwb sha_ni xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves cqm_llc cqm_occup_llc cqm_mbm_total cqm_mbm_local clzero irperf xsaveerptr rdpru wbnoinvd cppc arat npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale vmcb_clean flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold avic v_vmsave_vmload vgif v_spec_ctrl umip pku ospke vaes vpclmulqdq rdpid overflow_recov succor smca fsrm
300
301If the CPU flags have ``cppc``, then this processor supports `Full MSR Support
302<perf_cap_>`_. Otherwise, it supports `Shared Memory Support <perf_cap_>`_.
303
304
305``cpupower`` tool support for ``amd-pstate``
306===============================================
307
308``amd-pstate`` is supported by the ``cpupower`` tool, which can be used to dump
309frequency information. Development is in progress to support more and more
310operations for the new ``amd-pstate`` module with this tool. ::
311
312 root@hr-test1:/home/ray# cpupower frequency-info
313 analyzing CPU 0:
314   driver: amd-pstate
315   CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
316   CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
317   maximum transition latency: 131 us
318   hardware limits: 400 MHz - 4.68 GHz
319   available cpufreq governors: ondemand conservative powersave userspace performance schedutil
320   current policy: frequency should be within 400 MHz and 4.68 GHz.
321                   The governor "schedutil" may decide which speed to use
322                   within this range.
323   current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
324   current CPU frequency: 4.02 GHz (asserted by call to kernel)
325   boost state support:
326     Supported: yes
327     Active: yes
328     AMD PSTATE Highest Performance: 166. Maximum Frequency: 4.68 GHz.
329     AMD PSTATE Nominal Performance: 117. Nominal Frequency: 3.30 GHz.
330     AMD PSTATE Lowest Non-linear Performance: 39. Lowest Non-linear Frequency: 1.10 GHz.
331     AMD PSTATE Lowest Performance: 15. Lowest Frequency: 400 MHz.
332
333
334Diagnostics and Tuning
335=======================
336
337Trace Events
338--------------
339
340There are two static trace events that can be used for ``amd-pstate``
341diagnostics. One of them is the ``cpu_frequency`` trace event generally used
342by ``CPUFreq``, and the other one is the ``amd_pstate_perf`` trace event
343specific to ``amd-pstate``.  The following sequence of shell commands can
344be used to enable them and see their output (if the kernel is
345configured to support event tracing). ::
346
347 root@hr-test1:/home/ray# cd /sys/kernel/tracing/
348 root@hr-test1:/sys/kernel/tracing# echo 1 > events/amd_cpu/enable
349 root@hr-test1:/sys/kernel/tracing# cat trace
350 # tracer: nop
351 #
352 # entries-in-buffer/entries-written: 47827/42233061   #P:2
353 #
354 #                                _-----=> irqs-off
355 #                               / _----=> need-resched
356 #                              | / _---=> hardirq/softirq
357 #                              || / _--=> preempt-depth
358 #                              ||| /     delay
359 #           TASK-PID     CPU#  ||||   TIMESTAMP  FUNCTION
360 #              | |         |   ||||      |         |
361          <idle>-0       [015] dN...  4995.979886: amd_pstate_perf: amd_min_perf=85 amd_des_perf=85 amd_max_perf=166 cpu_id=15 changed=false fast_switch=true
362          <idle>-0       [007] d.h..  4995.979893: amd_pstate_perf: amd_min_perf=85 amd_des_perf=85 amd_max_perf=166 cpu_id=7 changed=false fast_switch=true
363             cat-2161    [000] d....  4995.980841: amd_pstate_perf: amd_min_perf=85 amd_des_perf=85 amd_max_perf=166 cpu_id=0 changed=false fast_switch=true
364            sshd-2125    [004] d.s..  4995.980968: amd_pstate_perf: amd_min_perf=85 amd_des_perf=85 amd_max_perf=166 cpu_id=4 changed=false fast_switch=true
365          <idle>-0       [007] d.s..  4995.980968: amd_pstate_perf: amd_min_perf=85 amd_des_perf=85 amd_max_perf=166 cpu_id=7 changed=false fast_switch=true
366          <idle>-0       [003] d.s..  4995.980971: amd_pstate_perf: amd_min_perf=85 amd_des_perf=85 amd_max_perf=166 cpu_id=3 changed=false fast_switch=true
367          <idle>-0       [011] d.s..  4995.980996: amd_pstate_perf: amd_min_perf=85 amd_des_perf=85 amd_max_perf=166 cpu_id=11 changed=false fast_switch=true
368
369The ``cpu_frequency`` trace event will be triggered either by the ``schedutil`` scaling
370governor (for the policies it is attached to), or by the ``CPUFreq`` core (for the
371policies with other scaling governors).
372
373
374Tracer Tool
375-------------
376
377``amd_pstate_tracer.py`` can record and parse ``amd-pstate`` trace log, then
378generate performance plots. This utility can be used to debug and tune the
379performance of ``amd-pstate`` driver. The tracer tool needs to import intel
380pstate tracer.
381
382Tracer tool located in ``linux/tools/power/x86/amd_pstate_tracer``. It can be
383used in two ways. If trace file is available, then directly parse the file
384with command ::
385
386 ./amd_pstate_trace.py [-c cpus] -t <trace_file> -n <test_name>
387
388Or generate trace file with root privilege, then parse and plot with command ::
389
390 sudo ./amd_pstate_trace.py [-c cpus] -n <test_name> -i <interval> [-m kbytes]
391
392The test result can be found in ``results/test_name``. Following is the example
393about part of the output. ::
394
395 common_cpu  common_secs  common_usecs  min_perf  des_perf  max_perf  freq    mperf   apef    tsc       load   duration_ms  sample_num  elapsed_time  common_comm
396 CPU_005     712          116384        39        49        166       0.7565  9645075 2214891 38431470  25.1   11.646       469         2.496         kworker/5:0-40
397 CPU_006     712          116408        39        49        166       0.6769  8950227 1839034 37192089  24.06  11.272       470         2.496         kworker/6:0-1264
398
399Unit Tests for amd-pstate
400-------------------------
401
402``amd-pstate-ut`` is a test module for testing the ``amd-pstate`` driver.
403
404 * It can help all users to verify their processor support (SBIOS/Firmware or Hardware).
405
406 * Kernel can have a basic function test to avoid the kernel regression during the update.
407
408 * We can introduce more functional or performance tests to align the result together, it will benefit power and performance scale optimization.
409
4101. Test case decriptions
411
412        +---------+--------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
413        | Index   | Functions                      | Description                                                                        |
414        +=========+================================+====================================================================================+
415        | 0       | amd_pstate_ut_acpi_cpc_valid   || Check whether the _CPC object is present in SBIOS.                                |
416        |         |                                ||                                                                                   |
417        |         |                                || The detail refer to `Processor Support <processor_support_>`_.                    |
418        +---------+--------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
419        | 1       | amd_pstate_ut_check_enabled    || Check whether AMD P-State is enabled.                                             |
420        |         |                                ||                                                                                   |
421        |         |                                || AMD P-States and ACPI hardware P-States always can be supported in one processor. |
422        |         |                                | But AMD P-States has the higher priority and if it is enabled with                 |
423        |         |                                | :c:macro:`MSR_AMD_CPPC_ENABLE` or ``cppc_set_enable``, it will respond to the      |
424        |         |                                | request from AMD P-States.                                                         |
425        +---------+--------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
426        | 2       | amd_pstate_ut_check_perf       || Check if the each performance values are reasonable.                              |
427        |         |                                || highest_perf >= nominal_perf > lowest_nonlinear_perf > lowest_perf > 0.           |
428        +---------+--------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
429        | 3       | amd_pstate_ut_check_freq       || Check if the each frequency values and max freq when set support boost mode       |
430        |         |                                | are reasonable.                                                                    |
431        |         |                                || max_freq >= nominal_freq > lowest_nonlinear_freq > min_freq > 0                   |
432        |         |                                || If boost is not active but supported, this maximum frequency will be larger than  |
433        |         |                                | the one in ``cpuinfo``.                                                            |
434        +---------+--------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
435
436#. How to execute the tests
437
438   We use test module in the kselftest frameworks to implement it.
439   We create amd-pstate-ut module and tie it into kselftest.(for
440   details refer to Linux Kernel Selftests [4]_).
441
442    1. Build
443
444        + open the :c:macro:`CONFIG_X86_AMD_PSTATE` configuration option.
445        + set the :c:macro:`CONFIG_X86_AMD_PSTATE_UT` configuration option to M.
446        + make project
447        + make selftest ::
448
449            $ cd linux
450            $ make -C tools/testing/selftests
451
452    #. Installation & Steps ::
453
454        $ make -C tools/testing/selftests install INSTALL_PATH=~/kselftest
455        $ sudo ./kselftest/run_kselftest.sh -c amd-pstate
456        TAP version 13
457        1..1
458        # selftests: amd-pstate: amd-pstate-ut.sh
459        # amd-pstate-ut: ok
460        ok 1 selftests: amd-pstate: amd-pstate-ut.sh
461
462    #. Results ::
463
464         $ dmesg | grep "amd_pstate_ut" | tee log.txt
465         [12977.570663] amd_pstate_ut: 1    amd_pstate_ut_acpi_cpc_valid  success!
466         [12977.570673] amd_pstate_ut: 2    amd_pstate_ut_check_enabled   success!
467         [12977.571207] amd_pstate_ut: 3    amd_pstate_ut_check_perf      success!
468         [12977.571212] amd_pstate_ut: 4    amd_pstate_ut_check_freq      success!
469
470Reference
471===========
472
473.. [1] AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual Volume 2: System Programming,
474       https://www.amd.com/system/files/TechDocs/24593.pdf
475
476.. [2] Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Specification,
477       https://uefi.org/sites/default/files/resources/ACPI_Spec_6_4_Jan22.pdf
478
479.. [3] Processor Programming Reference (PPR) for AMD Family 19h Model 51h, Revision A1 Processors
480       https://www.amd.com/system/files/TechDocs/56569-A1-PUB.zip
481
482.. [4] Linux Kernel Selftests,
483       https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/dev-tools/kselftest.html
484