control cpu speed and voltage of mac pro under osx

[urknall]

hey all,

i am new to mac and coming from linux. got my mac pro about 3 weeks ago and i am wondering if there is something similar to powernowd or cpufreqd under osx to control the cpu speed and voltage of the 8 core monster. i mean there must be some power saving features in osx for the macbook series i guess and i want to know if there is something similar for the pro series.

i am not sure if i better asked this questions in the osx forum but its somehow mac pro related. so are there any power saving features cpu speed or vcore related for the desktop mac series in osx right now?
or is it maybe not supported yet because the hardware is so new?

greetings

 

[macz1]

I also have been looking for such a tool. In Windows there is a nice app called RMClock, which allows you to set voltages and clock speed of the CPU and create power profiles. RMClock still doesn't support Intels newest CPU models. Therefore I don't think there is a more up to date application for OS X yet.
But if anybody finds such an app I would be glad to try it...

 

[urknall]

i wasn't really looking for some tool to manually adjust the cpu, i was more hoping that there is a daemon implemented in osx watching the cpu and adjusting the vcore and speed at needs...

i was just checking the osx kernel at: http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/ and found out that there is something called: DynamicPowerStep-1.6.0 which i hope is supporting intels enhanced speed step technology. all code that has been updated in the last release is bold but dynamic power step is not bold in the 10.5.1 and in the 10.5.2 update, so i have the hopes that its just not updated yet to the last penryn cpus...

but the question remains, is there any support for desktops at all...

 

[urknall]

update for those who are interested:

just investigated the code, dynamic power step is not adjusting the cpu speed (at least not on x86 systems):

void load(CFBundleRef bundle, Boolean bundleVerbose)
{
io_service_t rootDomainRef;
kern_return_t kr = KERN_FAILURE;

// Return immediately if not on PowerPC.
#ifndef __ppc__
return;
#endif



the search goes on...

 

[macz1]

You don't have to forget that there are power saving features implemented in the hardware of the CPU. The CPU uses less power when it idles compared to full load even if the operating system doesn't any power management.

 

[urknall]

@macz1: yes you are right, but i am sure it would be better if additionally an daemon at operating system side would watch and control the cpu...

at the moment i am a bit stuck, since from what i was reading a bit across it seems that apple dropped somewhere in 10.4.x the speed step support. i will not lay my hands in the fire for it, maybe they have implemented it elsewhere...