Re: Can and should the kernel HZ value be changed?
Jeff Millar (jeff@wa1hco.mv.com)
Sun, 03 Jan 1999 00:12:16 -0500
At 05:11 PM 1/2/99 -0600, Steve wrote:
>The default value of HZ is 100hz. Since the DEF_PRIORITY in sched.h is
20, that
>means a processor intensive process gets a maximum of 200ms or 1/5th of a
>second. Two intensive processes can hog the processor for 0.4 seconds and so
>on. That's a long time when one is running multimedia apps, games, or
burning a
>CD. I presume that there are good reasons to keep HZ at it's present
value, but
>I'd like to find out more about it. Can anyone point me to more
information or
>perhaps a previous discussion of this subject?
>
>Thanks,
>Steve
>steve@netplus.net
The timer value could scale upward with CPU performance, assuming it's limited
by overhead. Given that performance goes up 10X every 5 years and that the
x86 kernels have used 100 Hz for at least that long, we're due for an
increase.
jeff
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/