topic Re: The cores ARE NOT disabled in Z Series

CPU Limit on nougat

Xperiaman007 — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 23:45:24 GMT

Why are 4 cores always stopped on New nougat firmware on Xperia z5 premium? Still issue that is not fixed on New firmware i dont know whats point on it when nothing New is added (vulkan drivers, manual control, New lockscreen etc) or problem fixed..

Re: CPU Limit on nougat

_alexdon_ — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 08:10:29 GMT

Same discussion as on X compact, how did you check? Take a look here:

/t5/Xperia-X-Compact/Nougat-upgrade-lowered-cpuclock/td-p/1187152/page/2

The cores ARE NOT disabled

bullfrog669 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 11:30:25 GMT

The 4 A57 cores are not disabled, they are just offline to save battery.
When have you ever experienced lag in everyday use? Never, that's because A53 cores are sufficient for that. That's the point of 2 processors, slower one is on always, powerful one, when needed. And Antutu is probably on blacklist from Sony, so people don't experience overheats, which is alright, since Antutu shows nothing at all...

Look at this(mine) SS. All 8 cores were active at some point.

So stop on Sony's head and use your brains.

Re: The cores ARE NOT disabled

Lord_viridis — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 11:43:22 GMT

Give the man a beer.
Big.little has always been like this and I'm amazed that people still don't fully understand that at some point fast cores will be disabled.

Re: The cores ARE NOT disabled

chrnodroid — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 12:15:54 GMT

The "4 core disable" is just a unfounded rumor. And benchmarks is best to avoid using them.

Nice work Sony!
The only missing feature is the new Manual Controls of the camera app and we seriously need it.

Disabled 4 cores after Nougat

martinmrmus — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 13:02:22 GMT

Why Sony have you disabled 4 cores after Nougat update? I think we paid for 8 and ni for ridiculous 4!!! This is over lone how Sony acts with its customers!!!

Re: Disabled 4 cores after Nougat

benimnetz — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 13:23:31 GMT

Why do you think that this has happened?

Re: Disabled 4 cores after Nougat

martinmrmus — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 13:27:10 GMT

To of people and force them to buy new phone. Nothing more, nothing less...

Re: The cores ARE NOT disabled

ytheekshana — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 19:32:16 GMT

They are completely disabled. Run the Stress CPU app from the store.

Then the app will use 100% of the CPU, but still the 4 cores are not used.

Re: The cores ARE NOT disabled

Lord_viridis — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 07:52:56 GMT

Or... Run an app that utilises nougats api's and see that they are not disabled, or stop using benchmarks to see if Sony "switched off" half your cpu which would make your system sooooo slow you wouldn't need a benchmark to prove it.

About Disabled 4 Cores

ytheekshana — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 14:40:19 GMT

Many users stated that 4 core are diabled after the Nougat update.

For those who said "they are not disabled,they'll get enabled if the device need them"

I just found an app called "Stress CPU". Once we press start on the app, app will utilize 100% of the CPU.

I did that on my Z5P, Guess what, the disabled core are as it is. None of the 4 got enabled.

If they are not disabled how come they are still stopped when the app needs the 100% CPU.

Re: About Disabled 4 Cores

NeoBeum — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 16:57:30 GMT

http://imgur.com/a/81ZZo

I'm not really bothered ... I'm not doing anything that needs everything running

Re: About Disabled 4 Cores

AiDiN — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 19:19:12 GMT

First of all, your are using android 6.0.1 which has similar story but not as bad as android 7.0. in android 6.0.1 2 cores are disbled and it is random. the only way to use all 4 cores is to put your phone inside a freezer and after 1 hour, try to use them. after 10 second of workload one of two cores will be disabled as well but at least we have 1 A57 core which is not even activate in android 7.0. second of all, I tested all the benchmarking and stress tests possible and I confirm that all 4 A57 cores of the Xperia z3+/z4 and Xperia z5 are disabled in android 7.0. For who says they are not disabled, post screenshot of android 7.0 xperia z3+/z4 or z5 devices with their geekbench scores

Re: About Disabled 4 Cores

Lord_viridis — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 09:40:58 GMT

"the only way to use all 4 cores is to put your phone inside a freezer and after 1 hour, try to use them."

Yeah...I don't think I'll be taking cpu advice off someone advising this.
For everyone else.. Please don't put your phone in a freezer for an hour, the quick cycle of warm/cold/ warm will condense the air inside your phone and produce water from the condensed air. This will screw up your phone eventually.

Re: About Disabled 4 Cores

AiDiN — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 13:14:17 GMT

I am so disappointed to see some people still don't understand humor. No one will put his/her phone inside a freezer "genius". The phrase meant to be that it is impossible to run 4 A57 cores at the same time.

Re: About Disabled 4 Cores

YoGem — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 19:10:23 GMT

@AiDiN sadly there's people out there that will take for granted what you are saying, I know it was probably just lot of fun for you.. but just don't, unless you end your phrase with a "just kidding".

Now returning to the issue.. there is no issue:

1) SnapDragon 810 - 4 cores for regular tasks @ up to 1.5 ghz, 4 cores for high performance @ up to 2.0 ghz.

2) Android is based upon Linux. Like all Linux and Unix systems you need to understand the difference between CPU usage and Load. The fact that the CPU is at 100% doesn't mean that the load is at 8, more on this below.

To understand how the cpu usage is distributed is complicated and it's not something that a simple APP can really simulate, in fact did you ever read the statement to never believe a benchmark score? It's real life and real usage that dictate the performance and usage.

Now, to let you understand how the cores are awaken during regular usage of your phone:

So we said that the SD810 has 8 cores, 4 low/mid performance and 4 high performance.

Now Imagine that 4 low/mid performance cores are 4 city roads and 4 high performance cores are 4 highway lanes. The following example will let you understand when the cores are going to be activated, mind also that the system/OS may use multiple cores also if are not necessary. This is done by the governor in order to keep the system smooth. A power efficient governor will use just one core until the load require another core to be activated but the device may become sluggish. (Think about Ultra Stamina Mode)..

Example 1: Load: 0.9 - 0.00 - mostyl dozing

Road 1: 4 cars

Road 2: 3 cars

Road 3: 2 cars

Road 4: 0 cars - road closed

HWY 1: 0 - lane closed

HWY 2: 0 - lane closed

HWY 3: 0 - lane closed

HWY 4: 0 - lane closed

Meaning that:

Core 1 has 4 processes to handle, it's load is at 0.4 - No need to use another core,

Core 2 has 3 processes to handle, it's load is at 0.3 - No need to use another core,

Core 3 has 2 processes to handle, it's load is at 0.2 - No need to use another core,

Core 4 has 0 processes to handle, it's load is at 0.3 - This is waiting for more regular tasks.

The Highway lanes are all closed. - no need to use those.

Example 2: Load: 2.2 - 0.00 - Regular usage, screen on, some social networking and chrome browser

Road 1: 8 cars

Road 2: 10 cars

Road 3: 10 cars

Road 4: 2 cars

HWY 1: 0 - lane closed

HWY 2: 0 - lane closed

HWY 3: 0 - lane closed

HWY 4: 0 - lane closed

Meaning that:

Core 1 has 8 processes to handle, it's load is at 0.8 - Able to get 2 more tasks,

Core 2 has 10 processes to handle, it's load is at 1.0 - Need to send a process to another core,

Core 3 has 10 processes to handle, it's load is at 1.0 - Need to send a process to another core,

Core 4 has 2 processes to handle, it's load is at 0.2 - Able to get 8 more tasks.

The Highway lanes are all closed. - no need to use those.

Example 3: Load: 4 - 4 (8) - Lot of background apps, listening music via spotify, on a call with a mate, playing a very detailed video game - plus regular background tasks - Phone here will probably lag!

Road 1: 10 cars

Road 2: 10 cars

Road 3: 10 cars

Road 4: 10 cars

HWY 1: 10 - lane in use

HWY 2: 10 - lane in use

HWY 3: 10 - lane in use

HWY 4: 10 - lane in use

Meaning that:

Core 1 has 10 processes to handle, it's load is at 1.0 - Need to send a process to another core,

Core 2 has 10 processes to handle, it's load is at 1.0 - Need to send a process to another core,

Core 3 has 10 processes to handle, it's load is at 1.0 - Need to send a process to another core,

Core 4 has 2 processes to handle, it's load is at 1.0 - No more tasks can be executed at once. - LAG

The Highway lanes are all open and in use. - unable to execute more tasks. - LAG

In few words, it's the load or the number of processes running that dictate when to use more cores or less, not the cpu usage. Do not believe apps and benchmarks but of course, if you want your phone to have all cores on to do simple day by day usage, let's say 1 process per core no matter what.. you can do that but mind that involve:

1) Rooting,

2) Modifying governors or Installing a different one,

3) accepting a possible 6 hours battery life total.

No one want that.

TL/DR: Your phone works just fine.

Re: About Disabled 4 Cores

AiDiN — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 19:45:40 GMT

@YoGem

I really appreciate that you took time to explain to me how cores work in synchronous and asynchronous ways. I agree in some level but not completely.

The core of android OS is Linux which is a Unix based OS. The brain inside linux based OS is kernel which all the timing and handler will be resituate. Let say a program wants to use 8 cores for some reason, it can only use it if the kernel will allow it. so if I modify the kernel to not allow anyone use, lets say core 7 and 8, no one can use them. That was how samsung could cheat the benchmark apps which getting full priority to white listed app inside the kernel.

The first version of android, if I am not mistaken 5.0.2, which was bundled with xperia z3+/z4 when it's launched, had all 8 cores available for use which the overheated issue emerged and sony patch it with almost all the time 2 high cores disabled. I undestand the S810 heating issue and there is no other way to coontrol that.

bottom line is, no matter what you use, if the app demands it or not, the A57 cores won't be activated in android 7.0. Maybe it is a bug or maybe it is sony's decision but in both ways, the 4 high performance A57 cores are completely disabled or at list no app can use them, even benchmark apps.

Re: About Disabled 4 Cores

YoGem — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 01:16:31 GMT

@AiDiN exactly! There you go, it's all about governors!! It's said that many handset are tested using a high performance setting where the cores are all always on and at maximum speed. This was done by ZTE, HTC, Samsung and also by HP with the Slate 6 with a Marvell SoC similar to one old Samsung Galaxy that automatically was recognizing the benchmark app and switching the governor to the benchmark one.. Obviously score was going up at cost of battery life.

Seriously, again... There is nothing wrong with it. You don't need to see them active at all, it's the system that has to decide when to divert the traffic from regular roads to the Speedway. No benchmark, no cpu stresser will activate those 4 cores.

Re: About Disabled 4 Cores

AiDiN — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 09:01:51 GMT

@YoGem

This is exactly what I was saying man. I don't expect them to be active all the time but in android 6.0.1 at least one of them was active. In android 7 no one can take advantage of Core A57. battery life was good on android 6.0.1 if you want to see on battery life point of view. The big impact is on heavier task apps, they are way slower than before that try to put your phone on stamina mode and see what will happen. the phone will be a chineese 50$ slow crapy phone to give you an example.

Re: About Disabled 4 Cores

foxsevent — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 10:34:57 GMT

The big issue here is that the 4 extra cores are now useless in general use.
No matter what app or game i use the A57 stays inactive, resulting in worse performance in said apps/games.

Secondly the A57 was most likely down clocked in nougat to 1.56GHz to match the A53, when in MM A57 clocked at 1.96GHz.