Linux kernel config & user program for frequency control?

[Arwen]

My fitlet-iA10 came in, and it's even smaller than expected. Installing the 8GB SODIMM &
500GB mSATA drive went pretty smooth.

I'll be using Linux exclusively on it. (Okay, might play with Solaris 11.2 x86...)
Now the questions.

• What Linux kernel configuration options do I need to use to get the 2.2Ghz speed?
• Plus, which user programs / packages to match?

So far, all my configuration with the Linux 4.0.0 kernel has not gotten anything except 1Ghz
and 1.2Ghz. It appears that 600Mhz should be the low end, and 2.2Ghz is the high end.

To be clear, compiling the kernel it's self with >4 threads should cause it to use all 4 cores
at maximum. Plus, I have compiled dozens of programs, some heavy hitters like GCC and
GLIB. Compiling those should max out the frequency until heat throttles it back. Nothing
higher than 1.2Ghz on all 4 cores.

[irads]

fitlet is shipped with max TDP configured to 4.5W. To get higher frequencies max TDP should be changed in BIOS. The trade-off is that your fitlet will run hotter under load.

[iroha]

AMD Turbo Core will only be active when half the cores are halted. Even then, the clock will be throttled if temperature is high enough.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Turbo_Core
(use Google translate if you don't read German)

[Arwen]

iroha,
Thanks. That makes a bit of sense. I'll give that a try later.

The BIOS even includes a method to disable cores. If I end up using my fitlet-iA10 as a
media server, I may very well run it with only 2 cores. Then only re-enable the other 2
cores when I think more cores will help.