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    PC Engines apu2 experiences

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    • D
      dugeem
      last edited by dugeem

      PC Engines / 3mdeb have released another new legacy coreboot BIOS v4.0.24.

      The release notes (https://pcengines.github.io/#lr-16) note that CPB is now enabled with this release. CPB = Core Performance Boost ... the AMD equivalent of Intel Turbo Boost.

      On my test pfSense system (2.4.4-RELEASE-p2) I'm seeing a useful 5-10% improvement in single core task performance.

      Example using openssl:

      openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-gcm
      ...
      type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
      aes-128-gcm      52651.25k   134318.72k   296380.07k   408489.98k   482383.19k
      

      PowerD is enabled in adaptive mode. No significant change in CPU temperature was observed.

      /boot/loader.conf.local
      #hw.acpi.cpu.cx_lowest=C2
      hw.igb.rx_process_limit=-1

      Kudos to PC Engines & 3mdeb for these continuing BIOS improvements.

      Edit: the hints hint.p4tcc.0.disabled & hint.acpi_throttle.0.disabled in loader.conf.local are no longer required as they are now defaults in /boot/device.hints
      Edit2: hw.acpi.cpu.cx_lowest=C2 does not apply from loader.conf.local

      QinnQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • QinnQ
        Qinn @dugeem
        last edited by Qinn

        I am on Bios v4.0.24 also.

        edit: noticed that CPU temperature dropped. Normally it was around 54c now it's around 47c.

        Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
        Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
        Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • K
          keen
          last edited by

          i must upgrade my APU, but i would like to know why we can not use Mainline releases...

          VeldkornetV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • VeldkornetV
            Veldkornet @keen
            last edited by

            @keen said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

            i must upgrade my APU, but i would like to know why we can not use Mainline releases...

            I use mainline, no problems here.

            I’m on 4.9.0.2 currently.

            QinnQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • QinnQ
              Qinn
              last edited by Qinn

              Please read this
              http://www.pcengines.info/forums/?page=post&id=6D2EEC40-5928-463B-8BAE-7C74A46B2060&fid=DF5ACB70-99C4-4C61-AFA6-4C0E0DB05B2A

              Cheers Qinn

              https://pcengines.github.io/#mr-19

              Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
              Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
              Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • QinnQ
                Qinn @Veldkornet
                last edited by Qinn

                @veldkornet said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                @keen said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                i must upgrade my APU, but i would like to know why we can not use Mainline releases...

                I use mainline, no problems here.

                I’m on 4.9.0.2 currently.

                @veldkornet Do you use mSATA disk?

                Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                VeldkornetV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • VeldkornetV
                  Veldkornet @Qinn
                  last edited by

                  @qinn Yes, I have a Samsung SSD 850 EVO mSATA 250GB.

                  QinnQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • QinnQ
                    Qinn @Veldkornet
                    last edited by

                    @veldkornet Thanks and good to know as the table on site mentioned, not tested.👍

                    0_1550319029889_ScreenHunter_183 Feb. 16 13.07.png

                    Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                    Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                    Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • D
                      dugeem
                      last edited by

                      For another quick comparison I updated my test APU2C4 to mainline v4.9.0.2. Quick & dirty performance testing showed gain for light loads was similar to legacy v4.0.24 (at least within a few percent).

                      I also compared full multi core performance on both versions and had similar results (again within a few percent).

                      @Qinn FYI I'm also running mSata SSDs in both my test and live systems.

                      QinnQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • QinnQ
                        Qinn @dugeem
                        last edited by

                        @dugeem said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                        For another quick comparison I updated my test APU2C4 to mainline v4.9.0.2. Quick & dirty performance testing showed gain for light loads was similar to legacy v4.0.24 (at least within a few percent).

                        I also compared full multi core performance on both versions and had similar results (again within a few percent).

                        @Qinn FYI I'm also running mSata SSDs in both my test and live systems.

                        Thanks for confirming. Btw how do you install the bios, I boot into a USB stick with has tinycore and then flashrom?

                        Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                        Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                        Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                        VeldkornetV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • VeldkornetV
                          Veldkornet @Qinn
                          last edited by Veldkornet

                          @qinn SSH into it and install flashrom. No need to boot from USB etc.

                          pkg install flashrom

                          Upload the firmware to /tmp with scp and run:
                          flashrom -w /tmp/apu2_v4.9.0.2.rom -p internal:boardmismatch=force

                          Shutdown pfSense, pull the power for 10 seconds, then boot up.

                          QinnQ D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • QinnQ
                            Qinn @Veldkornet
                            last edited by

                            @veldkornet said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                            @qinn SSH into it and install flashrom. No need to boot from USB etc.

                            pkg install flashrom

                            Upload the firmware to /tmp with scp and run:
                            flashrom -w /tmp/apu2_v4.9.0.2.rom -p internal:boardmismatch=force

                            Shutdown pfSense, pull the power for 10 seconds, then boot up.

                            Thanks btw you always use the command :boardmismatch=force*?

                            Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                            Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                            Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                            VeldkornetV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • VeldkornetV
                              Veldkornet @Qinn
                              last edited by

                              @qinn No, the board mismatch is probably not required. But at one point they kept changing the name between “apu2”, “APU2”, “PC Engines APU2”, etc. So I’ve just left it in now... although I think they’ve settled now :)

                              QinnQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • QinnQ
                                Qinn @Veldkornet
                                last edited by

                                @veldkornet I will try tomorrow when I have access to the FW, it seems they have kept there promise that mainline is good for pfS http://www.pcengines.info/forums/?page=post&id=6D2EEC40-5928-463B-8BAE-7C74A46B2060&fid=DF5ACB70-99C4-4C61-AFA6-4C0E0DB05B2A

                                Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                                Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                                Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • QinnQ
                                  Qinn
                                  last edited by

                                  ...up and running on Coreboot Mainline bios version 4.9.0.2, so far so good..

                                  Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                                  Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                                  Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • K
                                    kevindd992002 @Veldkornet
                                    last edited by

                                    @veldkornet said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                                    @kevindd992002 said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                                    Does this mean that as long as you add those lines to /boot/loader.conf, running the latest FW's is fine?

                                    I'm currently running 4.8.0.5 on pfSense 4.2.2 with a SSD in ZFS and except for the small things I mentioned about the reboot not working if the system had been running for a long time, all seems to be fine. I have those lines in my config as well.

                                    Btw, what do those config lines do and why'd you recommend them? I'll flash the latest mainline release in a few hours.

                                    D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • D
                                      dugeem @kevindd992002
                                      last edited by

                                      @kevindd992002

                                      With either the latest legacy or mainline releases there is no longer any need to add specific coreboot configuration to loader.conf.local or device.hints.

                                      With mainline up until v4.6.7 it was recommended to add

                                      hint.ahci.0.msi="0"
                                      

                                      To device.hints file (source https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/blob/master/docs/pfSense-install-guide.md)

                                      NB do not modify loader.conf - it may/will be overwritten by pfSense. Always put system specific config lines in loader.conf.local.

                                      K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • K
                                        kevindd992002 @dugeem
                                        last edited by

                                        @dugeem

                                        Thanks. So I don't have to worry about these custom configs then.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • VeldkornetV
                                          Veldkornet
                                          last edited by

                                          I just have a look at /var/log/dmesg.boot and see what it complains about. Add anything that’s related to those.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • K
                                            kevindd992002
                                            last edited by

                                            Is the APU2C4 a UEFI-compatible board?

                                            V QinnQ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
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