Re: [RFT][PATCH v2 0/3] cpuidle: teo: Do not check timers unconditionally every time

[Rafael J. Wysocki]

On Tue, Aug 8, 2023 at 5:22 PM Doug Smythies <dsmythies@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 2023.08.03 14:33 Rafael wrote:
> > On Thu, Aug 3, 2023 at 11:12 PM Rafael J. Wysocki <rjw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Folks,
> >>
> >> This is the second iteration of:
> >>
> >> https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/4511619.LvFx2qVVIh@kreacher/
> >>
> >> with an additional patch.
> >>
> >> There are some small modifications of patch [1/3] and the new
> >> patch causes governor statistics to play a role in deciding whether
> >> or not to stop the scheduler tick.
> >>
> >> Testing would be much appreciated!
> >
> > For convenience, this series is now available in the following git branch:
> >
> > git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rafael/linux-pm.git \
> > pm-cpuidle-teo
>
> Hi Rafael,
>
> Thank you for the git branch link.
>
> I did some testing:
>
> Disclaimer: I used areas of focus derived
> from the original teo-util work last fall,
> and did not check if they were still the best
> places to look for issues.
>
> CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10600K CPU @ 4.10GHz
> HWP: enabled
> CPU frequency scaling driver: intel_pstate
> CPU frequency scaling governor: performance
> Kernel 1: 6.5-rc4 (1000 Hz tick rate)
> Kernel 2: kernel 1 + this patch series (called "rjw")
> System is extremely idle, other than the test work.
>
> All tests were done with all idle governors:
> menu, teo, ladder, rjw.
>
> Test 1: 2 core ping pong sweep:
>
> Pass a token between 2 CPUs on 2 different cores.
> Do a variable amount of work at each stop.
>
> Purpose: To utilize the shallowest idle states
> and observe the transition from using more of 1
> idle state to another.
>
> Results:
>
> teo and rjw track fairly well, with
> rjw reducing its use of idle state 0 before
> teo as the work packet increases. The menu governor
> does best overall, but performs worse over a greater
> range of token loop times.
>
> Details (power and idle stats; times):
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ping-sweep/2-1/perf/
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ping-sweep/2-1/2-core-ping-pong-sweep.png
>
> Test 2: 6 core ping pong sweep:
>
> Pass a token between 6 CPUs on 6 different cores.
> Do a variable amount of work at each stop.
>
> Purpose: To utilize the midrange idle states
> and observe the transitions from between use of
> idle states.
>
> Results: There is some instability in the results
> in the early stages.
> For unknown reasons, the rjw governor sometimes works
> slower and at lower power. The condition is not 100%
> repeatable.
>
> Overall teo completed the test fastest (54.9 minutes)
> Followed by menu (56.2 minutes), then rjw (56.7 minutes),
> then ladder (58.4 minutes). teo is faster throughout the
> latter stages of the test, but at the cost of more power.
> The differences seem to be in the transition from idle
> state 1 to idle state 2 usage.
>
> Details (power and idle stats; times):
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ping-sweep/6-2/perf/
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ping-sweep/6-2/6-core-ping-pong-sweep.png
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ping-sweep/6-2/6-core-ping-pong-sweep-detail-a.png
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ping-sweep/6-2/6-core-ping-pong-sweep-detail-b.png
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ping-sweep/6-2/6-core-ping-pong-sweep-diffs.png
>
> a re-run power and idle stats, showing inconsistent behaviour.
> teo and rjw only, and no timing data:
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ping-sweep/6-1/perf/
>
> Test 3: sleeping ebizzy - 128 threads.
>
> Purpose: This test has given interesting results in the past.
> The test varies the sleep interval between record lookups.
> The result is varying usage of idle states.
>
> Results: It can be difficult to see any differences in
> the overall timing graph, but a graph of differences
> is revealing. teo outperforms rjw in the longer intervals
> region of the test, at the cost of more power.
>
> Details: (power and idle stats; times):
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ebizzy/perf/
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ebizzy/ebizzy-128-perf.png
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/ebizzy/ebizzy-128-perf-diffs.png
>
> Test 4: 2 X 2 pair token passing. Dwell test. Fast:
>
> Purpose: Dwell under one set of conditions. Observe
> noise and/or any bi-stability.
>
> Results (reference time is menu):
> rjw: 3.0723 usecs/loop average. +3.15%
> teo: 2.9917 usecs/loop average. +0.44%
> menu: 2.97845 usecs/loop average. Reference
> ladder: 4.077375 usecs/loop average. +36.9%
>
> Powers are all similar, with ladder a bit lower.
>
> Details: (power and idle stats; times):
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/many-0-400000000-2/perf/
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/many-0-400000000-2/times.txt
>
> Test 5: 2 X 2 pair token passing. Dwell test. Medium:
>
> Purpose: Dwell under one set of conditions. Observe
> noise and/or any bi-stability.
>
> Results (reference time is menu):
> rjw: 11.3406 usecs/loop average. -0.69%
> teo: 11.36765 usecs/loop average. -0.45%
> menu: 11.41905 usecs/loop average. reference
> ladder: 11.9535 usecs/loop average. +4.68%
>
> Powers are all similar.
>
> Details:
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/many-3000-100000000-2/perf/
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/many-3000-100000000-2/times.txt
>
> Test 6: 2 X 2 pair token passing. Dwell test. Slow:
>
> Purpose: Dwell under one set of conditions. Observe
> noise and/or any bi-stability.
>
> Results (reference time is menu):
> rjw: 2591.70 usecs/loop average. +0.26%
> teo: 2566.34 usecs/loop average. -0.72%
> menu: 2585.00 usecs/loop average. reference
> ladder: 2635.36 usecs/loop average. +1.95%
>
> Powers are all similar, with ladder a bit lower.
> Due to the strong temperature to power use curve,
> a much longer dwell test would need to be run to
> be sure to get to steady state power usage.
>
> Details:
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/many-1000000-342000-2/perf/
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/many-1000000-342000-2/times.txt
>
> Test 7: 500 low load threads.
>
> Purpose: This test has given interesting results
> in the past.
>
> 500 threads at approximately 10 hertz work/sleep frequency
> and about 0.0163 load per thread, 8.15 total.
> CPUs about 32% idle.
>
> Results:
> rjw executed 0.01% faster than teo.
> rjw used 5% less energy than teo.
>
> Details:
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/waiter/perf/
> http://smythies.com/~doug/linux/idle/teo-util2/waiter/times.txt

Thanks a lot for doing this work, much appreciated!

> Conclusions: Overall, I am not seeing a compelling reason to
> proceed with this patch set.

On the other hand, if there is a separate compelling reason to do
that, it doesn't appear to lead to a major regression.