Is it possible to disable 2 cores on default kernel or any custom kernel - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Currently running 4.4.2. stock with ART enabled. This combo suits me well in terms of fluidity and everything works great. Now I would like to have an option on disabling 2 cores to extend battery life. is there an app to do so on stock kernel and is it even possible to do it on some custom kernel? If there's no option to do it on stock id like recommendation for custom kernel that works on stock rom and would enable me to do this via some app.
And id like that ART can stay enabled.

Buy a dual core phone
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Ivan609 said:
Currently running 4.4.2. stock with ART enabled. This combo suits me well in terms of fluidity and everything works great. Now I would like to have an option on disabling 2 cores to extend battery life. is there an app to do so on stock kernel and is it even possible to do it on some custom kernel? If there's no option to do it on stock id like recommendation for custom kernel that works on stock rom and would enable me to do this via some app.
And id like that ART can stay enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try a custom kernel like ak or hellscore
after that disable 2 cores using trickster mod/kernel specific app

Yes, Darkrai is right. Test a custom Kernel like AK, Matr1x, Hells core, Franco or Faux.
You can easily flash the zip via recovery. After that, you should download a Kernel App like Trickster Mod or Kernel Tweaker from the Play Store to customize the whole kernel, gpu, cpu, govenors, schedulers (2wake) etc. And also the cores of the cpu. But you need not to stop 2 cores, you only have to underclock the cpu, so you have all 4 cores but they, for example stop at 1ghz, which save battery at all

I don't really think it helps your battery life (a lot).
More cores at a lower frequency are more power efficient than less cores that have to work at a higher frequency to get the same job done.
And hotplug is there for a good reason, if cores can sleep they will.
Or does anyone have personal experience where it really helped a lot?

I don't understand why people complain about battery life. They say 1 day is not enough, well it is considering their usage.
You can easily pull of 2-3 days without playing games. The problem is that everyone spends like 2-5 hours looking at their phones every day!
On topic: If you want to have performance and fluidity with 2 cores, you will save 0% battery because cores will work on higher frequencies. Just try not to using your phone 24/7

Ivan609 said:
Currently running 4.4.2. stock with ART enabled. This combo suits me well in terms of fluidity and everything works great. Now I would like to have an option on disabling 2 cores to extend battery life. is there an app to do so on stock kernel and is it even possible to do it on some custom kernel? If there's no option to do it on stock id like recommendation for custom kernel that works on stock rom and would enable me to do this via some app.
And id like that ART can stay enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Short answer: No.
Long answer: No. But you can undervolt them (All 4 of them at the same time).

Ivan609 said:
Currently running 4.4.2. stock with ART enabled. This combo suits me well in terms of fluidity and everything works great. Now I would like to have an option on disabling 2 cores to extend battery life. is there an app to do so on stock kernel and is it even possible to do it on some custom kernel? If there's no option to do it on stock id like recommendation for custom kernel that works on stock rom and would enable me to do this via some app.
And id like that ART can stay enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Franco kernel ... it by default supports dual core mode ... moreover u can play with hotplug values according to need

You can using a custom kernel, lots include the ability to but the best implementation is faux's eco mode which is found in Faux's kernel and Ak kernel.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I have tried semaphore kernel with 2 cores only online.
No big difference with other custom kernels where I was using all 4 normally. And the worse about 2 cores is the lag at many applications.
Unleashed by my Nexus 4

RASTAVIPER said:
I have tried semaphore kernel with 2 cores only online.
No big difference with other custom kernels where I was using all 4 normally. And the worse about 2 cores is the lag at many applications.
Unleashed by my Nexus 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, its the kind of discussion i hoped to start. My logic was that n4 might have enough cpu power for surfing and casual usage with 2 cores only. So if i disable another 2 i might extend battery life.
Its great some of you tried and show me that my logic was flawed
Now undervolting. I suppose that i cant fiddle with stock kernel and undervolt cpu? Any recomendations for custom kernel. id like it to be as similar as stock, with undervolting feature enabled.
And are there any real gains in undervolting?

Ivan609 said:
Great, its the kind of discussion i hoped to start. My logic was that n4 might have enough cpu power for surfing and casual usage with 2 cores only. So if i disable another 2 i might extend battery life.
Its great some of you tried and show me that my logic was flawed
Now undervolting. I suppose that i cant fiddle with stock kernel and undervolt cpu? Any recomendations for custom kernel. id like it to be as similar as stock, with undervolting feature enabled.
And are there any real gains in undervolting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many custom kernels support uv like Franco, hell God etc.
Uving is offering a little cooler cpu, which means more time till thermal throttling to start.
Let's say it helps system in general, but not something to notice in big way.
Unleashed by my Nexus 4

Undervolting brings much more than turning off cores. As a side effect your phone won't heat as quickly under heavy load.
What will save you a lot of power while having the phone awake is screen brightness. So you should look for a clever auto brightness solution or, like me, use a mod that let's you adjust brightness by swiping the status bar. I keep my screen dimmed to the low at all times and only make it brighter temporarily if I am outside and the sunlight blinds.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Related

Lower voltage?

Is there a way to feed less voltage to the processor to increase battery life?
nobody?
If you unlocked your tab already, try Faux custom kernel in dev section. It has option to undervolt the cpu voltage. I'm personally using it as well.
Tapatalked from my HOX
You could install one of the devs kernels, and then run something like system tuner from the play store.
In my opinion the battery gain will be minimal, and probably not worth it.
Yes, use SetCpu but you must be rooted. Unsure if you need a custom kernel
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

[Q] Nexus 4 Franco Kernel

I Currently flashed franco kernel on my nexus 4 . My question should I leave everything to default ? And how to exactly do I under volt in franco. I have really never under volted
Thanks
dia_naji said:
I Currently flashed franco kernel on my nexus 4 . My question should I leave everything to default ? And how to exactly do I under volt in franco. I have really never under volted
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Default settings are fine for a decent battery life. UV doesn't really increase the battery life; its used to reduce the heating when using processor intensive apps (games). But if you don't know what you are doing, its recommended that you don't change any settings.
Sent from my Nexus 4
blitzzz3434 said:
Default settings are fine for a decent battery life. UV doesn't really increase the battery life; its used to reduce the heating when using processor intensive apps (games). But if you don't know what you are doing, its recommended that you don't change any settings.
Sent from my Nexus 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's really my intention. Right now I am running
384 mhz- 725mV
1026 Mhz-900mV
1512 Mhz-1024 mV
Do you have the Franco kernel app?
dia_naji said:
That's really my intention. Right now I am running
384 mhz- 725mV
1026 Mhz-900mV
1512 Mhz-1024 mV
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have UV about 100mV with the franco kernel app. so pretty much like what you have done and I haven't noticed any loss of performance.
Sent from my Nexus 4
Yes
Sent from my Nexus 4
decided to bump this instead of starting a new thread
Is it pretty much the consensus that undervolting w franco kernel on the N4 doesn't noticeably increase battery life?
spitswap said:
decided to bump this instead of starting a new thread
Is it pretty much the consensus that undervolting w franco kernel on the N4 doesn't noticeably increase battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't notice any significant increase in battery life, if any. However, the device runs so much cooler than before.
I am now experimenting with 150mV UV. Haven't had any problems with stability or camera.
Sent from my Nexus 4
Undervolting can somewhat increase battery life. Undervolting is meant for lowering CPU power to reduce thermal heat and it will definitely increase the life of the CPU. It doesn't really increase battery life, it might save a little bit but not much.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Got a question for Franco kernel + Franco Kernel updater app user
Do you have the hotplug control in Frequencies/Voltages menu? It seems to be not there for me. If I flash it with stock kernel then the hotplug control is there but can't change anything. If I flash it with Franco's kernel, then the hotplug control is missing.
Using Franco's latest R119 kernel
frozzbyte said:
Got a question for Franco kernel + Franco Kernel updater app user
Do you have the hotplug control in Frequencies/Voltages menu? It seems to be not there for me. If I flash it with stock kernel then the hotplug control is there but can't change anything. If I flash it with Franco's kernel, then the hotplug control is missing.
Using Franco's latest R119 kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Franco didn't add hotplugging feature back yet. He might add it back in the next app update.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
frozzbyte said:
Got a question for Franco kernel + Franco Kernel updater app user
Do you have the hotplug control in Frequencies/Voltages menu? It seems to be not there for me. If I flash it with stock kernel then the hotplug control is there but can't change anything. If I flash it with Franco's kernel, then the hotplug control is missing.
Using Franco's latest R119 kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something similar happened to me while I was using faux. You have to flash the rom first and kernel later. If you flash kernel first and then the rom some of the features on kernel settings might disappear.
Hotplug is available since quite long time.
Nothing to do with flashing Roms.
Unleashed by my Nexus 4
thought I'd bump instead of starting a new thread.
what's the best settings for the cpu hotplug control? I've set suspend frequency to 384000, suspend frequency is the CPU frequency when the screen if off?
cores on touch is how many CPU cores get used when screen is touched? I kept this to 2.
now I'm not too sure what first_level is used for though. so I left it at 60.
the new app is good but lacks description for some of the settings.
alpha-dog said:
thought I'd bump instead of starting a new thread.
what's the best settings for the cpu hotplug control? I've set suspend frequency to 384000, suspend frequency is the CPU frequency when the screen if off?
cores on touch is how many CPU cores get used when screen is touched? I kept this to 2.
now I'm not too sure what first_level is used for though. so I left it at 60.
the new app is good but lacks description for some of the settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do u want to apply the 'best settings' to increase battery life or performance? And I'm using the ones you have stated, pretty balanced stuff. Keep it that way

How safe is overclocking?

I am experiencing lag on real racing 3, on high graphics. If I overclock to say 2ghz on cpu, will the tablet be stable enough? Should I undervolt ( and does it actually make any difference on temps)? I want to overclock but not at the cost of huge battery drain, can some1 recommend me a good kernel and some stable oc steps?
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
lvnatic said:
I am experiencing lag on real racing 3, on high graphics. If I overclock to say 2ghz on cpu, will the tablet be stable enough? Should I undervolt ( and does it actually make any difference on temps)? I want to overclock but not at the cost of huge battery drain, can some1 recommend me a good kernel and some stable oc steps?
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you running a custom ROM and kernel? I play RR3 daily and have NO lag. AOKP PUB ROM with ktmanta kernel, at 1.7mhz CPU and GPU OC to 720. Runs great.
Most OC is safe, issues are really with battery and overheating. I've run for long periods at 1900 just fine.
So there's no way the tablet will melt down because of the heat? Does warranty cover that? Assuming they don't know it was overclocked, which they couldn't because the device would be dead, right? I guess they don't bother to repair it and see if it was rooted.
LE: btw did you manage to safely undervolt? Even a -5 gives me reboots on most freqs.
Any time I try to use the app from the store to set the graphics mode it causes problems. Running RR3 without it works fine.
lvnatic said:
So there's no way the tablet will melt down because of the heat? Does warranty cover that? Assuming they don't know it was overclocked, which they couldn't because the device would be dead, right? I guess they don't bother to repair it and see if it was rooted.
LE: btw did you manage to safely undervolt? Even a -5 gives me reboots on most freqs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at the KTmanta thread. KTmanta is a great option for what you are after, he notes and codes distinctions between clocking and thermal protection, plus unless you lock the settings, they will reset at reboot!
If you tell Google you messed it up from some sort of tinkering, no - they won't help you.
lvnatic said:
So there's no way the tablet will melt down because of the heat? Does warranty cover that? Assuming they don't know it was overclocked, which they couldn't because the device would be dead, right? I guess they don't bother to repair it and see if it was rooted.
LE: btw did you manage to safely undervolt? Even a -5 gives me reboots on most freqs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am assuming you must be using the KTmanta kernel right? I thought it was the only kernel right now that allows for user control undervolting. Trinity has a static -50mv value set on all frequencies by default. You should be able to undervolt just about everything. Getting lockups at -5mv lets me think there is something you are not doing correctly
EDIT: threw the quote in so its less confusing
EniGmA1987 said:
I am assuming you must be using the KTmanta kernel right? I thought it was the only kernel right now that allows for user control undervolting. Trinity has a static -50mv value set on all frequencies by default. You should be able to undervolt just about everything. Getting lockups at -5mv lets me think there is something you are not doing correctly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the kernel
Edit: oops thought you were asking me, I see now I was confused.

[Q] S4 i9505 "underclock" CPU, possible?

Battery life on this phone is abysmal - on a fresh phone. Didn't restore much from titanium backup.
Would like to drop the CPU down a good 25% or so, can this be done without too much stress? It's an unbranded, rooted i9505 in Australia.
I suspect I'll need to flash something to do so, is that right?
wizzbang3 said:
Battery life on this phone is abysmal - on a fresh phone. Didn't restore much from titanium backup.
Would like to drop the CPU down a good 25% or so, can this be done without too much stress? It's an unbranded, rooted i9505 in Australia.
I suspect I'll need to flash something to do so, is that right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mines telstra stock rooted using faux kernel and my battery life is superb
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
It must be asked in Q/A Subforum buddy.
Ausboy 2011 said:
Mines telstra stock rooted using faux kernel and my battery life is superb
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Define "superb" for me.
Apologies for jumping in here. Can you define abysmal too? I would say my battery life is more than double my S2 (that was Cyanogen niggtlies but this is currently djembey's slim). Biggest drain is usually the 3G but I have that off most of the time. It is hard to compare to be fair as we will all use different settings but I have a lot of the bloat removed or disabled, power save on and screen at half brightness. How is yours setup as maybe we can shyc settings a little to compare more closely.
Ausboy 2011 said:
Mines telstra stock rooted using faux kernel and my battery life is superb
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the reason to underclock is to save more juice, you should understand that the phone doesn't work on 1,9ghz most of the time, on average it's 200-800mhz depending on task, so you would not probably win a lot battery if you underclock let's say to 1.7 unless you're a heavy gamer.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
beeboss said:
If the reason to underclock is to save more juice, you should understand that the phone doesn't work on 1,9ghz most of the time, on average it's 200-800mhz depending on task, so you would not probably win a lot battery if you underclock let's say to 1.7 unless you're a heavy gamer.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this tread is already pretty old, but that answer is only partially true.
On stock configuration the GS4 uses the 'ondemand' cpu gouvernor. That gouvernor ramps up the cpu speed to the max when cpu activity is detected and will then slow down the cpu depending on the task. So everytime you open/close an app the cpu is running at 1.9ghz. (At least that I heard/experienced) using a custom kernel you can choose a different gouvernor which is more battery friendly, or lower the max cpu speed(from 1.9 To for example 1.7ghz). You can also lower the min cpu speed so that when the device is idle, it will consume less power (I think standard is around 350mhz and I put mine on 189). Some kernels even allow to underclock the GPU. Undervolting will also save battery.
In short: using a custom kernel you can really save some battery, increase performance, or get a better balance between the two, but you will have to take the time to find the settings that work best for you. I personally use KT kernel, with an overclocked CPU and GPU, but I also undervolted them both by 75mV, and with some tweaking with settings for when the screen is turned off, my battery lasts longer than stock configuration.
Correct me if I'm wrong on something, I'm not a Cpu expert
And sorry for bad english
wizzbang3 said:
Battery life on this phone is abysmal - on a fresh phone. Didn't restore much from titanium backup.
Would like to drop the CPU down a good 25% or so, can this be done without too much stress? It's an unbranded, rooted i9505 in Australia.
I suspect I'll need to flash something to do so, is that right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check this out, if you long press the power saving icon in the notification pull down, it will bring the settings for it, Uncheck all but the cpu. It will run no higher than about 1.3 ghz and is plenty fast for all tasks. I use that setting on the s4 and note 3. I never ran into any lag except TouchWhiz home launcher but I use Nova Launcher anyways.
You will see a better battery life as well.

Best GPU Govenor for any custom rom?

Can you guys give me the best GPU govenor for any kind of rom? thanks!
derking1 said:
Can you guys give me the best GPU govenor for any kind of rom? thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That'll depend on what you need your phone for.
If you want all your cores to run at max speed thereby maximizing performance on games and browsing pick the performance kernel.
Otherwise for normal usage just pick the interactive governer.
There's a lot of governors available but these 2 are the only ones that are important and actually useful. Major kernel developers only give support to these 2 governors as they are the most useful when compared to others.
Dont use any battery saving governer. Trust me, your phone will slow down and make it unusable.
Hope this helps!
Best for what?
Governors are built into the kernel, so if you want choices, you'll have to flash a kernel that has those choices. Some are for high performance. Some are for saving battery. And then there's ones in between. Some might work better if you underclock or undervolt to save battery. Some might work better if you run only 2 cores. Some have better wake-up speed from sleep. "Best" depends on what you plan to do with your phone.
Don't forget about profiles either. For example, I've been playing around with HellsCore kernel and HellsCore Manager. You can create profiles depending on what you're doing. Like, if you're plugged in and playing a game, set it for max performance. If you need it to last as long as possible, limit the max clock speed, run only 2 cores, and use a battery saving governor. With HellsCore Manager you can even mix it up; Performance or normal until battery hits 50% (or whatever), and then switches to a battery saving profile. Pretty nifty.

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