
X1 Carbon CPU frequency update - preek
https://200ok.ch/posts/2018-09-27_X1_carbon_cpu_frequency_update.html
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aogl
I have always seen Lenovo as being quite good with Linux, but these sort of
things make me wonder if I should be placing more interest in Dell once
again..

Was just about to purchase a new Lenovo to run Linux on.. Can anyone recommend
what they think would be a good route to take at the moment?

Any new good Lenovos or other coming out later this year?

~~~
scalesolved
I've used one of their lower end thinkpads (s540) and have gotten 4 years of
use out of it doing Java work with vms and running a ton of things without
issues on Ubuntu.

I've had next to no problems the whole time, second
monitors,webcams,printers,sleeping have all worked straight out of the box.

I've flown upwards of 50 times with it during this period, dropped it, spilt
water on it and it has survived it all (almost!). The only reason I'm even
looking at replacements is I spilt a full litre of water on the keyboard and a
few keys have died forever.

If you're looking for a good development machine I'd recommend the following
ThinkPad lines:

* X range: Smallest and lightest, maxes out at 16gb ram (new X1 extreme doesn't but it is $$$$).

* P range: Most power in terms of CPU/Ram/GPU whilst being fairly portable.

* T range: IMO the sweet-spot between X and P. Portable but still with enough grunt, the T480 takes up to 32gb ram.

~~~
clircle
Another ancedote: I used a thinkpad X220 throughout grad school and absolutely
loved it (except the screen resolution). This year I decided it was finally
time to move on... but to what? I heard all the new thinkpads have bad
keyboards, and I'm not going to buy a dell since I generally despise Dell
keyboards and trackpoints.

I bought a refurb T460. Love it. The thoughts that it has a "bad" keyboard are
totally overblown. This thing has a great keyboard, screen, trackpoint. The
whole package is good IMO. Opting for the T460 instead of the T460s, I'm able
to enjoy keys that are slightly taller, and I can use my laptop without
listening to the fans spinning on very much.

I run Debian Stable and this machine is fast as hell and problem free.

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nixpulvis
Mooman called it, only took a day tho:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18080209](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18080209)

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martinsuchan
You could try undervolting the CPU with Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) -
lowering the voltage by ~0.1V decreases the amount of heat produced, which
leads to less CPU throttling.

~~~
yipbub
Any potential drawbacks?

~~~
noir_lord
Drop it too low and the machine may crash under heavy load, it won't (with a
high degree of probability) cause any permanent issues (it's somewhat safer
than over volting).

~~~
Bishonen88
at the offchance that someone knows the answer to my problem: when
undervolting everything works fine for me until I lock my PC(Windows). It then
proceeds to restart itself. Am I undervolting too much or is this something
else?

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crispyambulance
So does that mean that Linux is obeying the TDP specs more closely than
Windows [which allowed die temp to reach 97C]?

~~~
userbinator
According to the Intel link in the article the max Tjunction is 100C so
Windows is pushing it closer to the max.

I'm not too sure about now (especially in this age of forced obolescence), but
it used to be that Intel CPUs would automatically throttle down if they
started overheating, with no software required, and AMDs would just let it
burn:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSGcnRanYMM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSGcnRanYMM)

~~~
Grazester
That was a very long time ago in the early 2000's before the AMD K8 and up
were introduced.

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deft0nes
Is this only applicable for the 6th generation?

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stefan_
The 90s are over, surely the OS can't force the CPU into overheating.

~~~
crispyambulance
Yeah, I think there is a lot going on with TDP, the OS, the workload, die
temp, cooling, voltage rails and power profile.

Can anyone explain how CPU throttling works in real life?

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GrumpNerd
I'm glad I'm not fussing with Linux on the desktop. Far too expensive.

