Re: Intel N95: OpenBSD stuck at 1700 MHz, Windows boosts up to 3.4 GHz

Hi,

On Tue, Aug 18, 2026 at 12:48 AM Jonathan Gray <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 17, 2026 at 09:17:29PM +0200, Sebastian Reitenbach wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I got this fanless Intel N95 based system. It came with Windows 11
> > pre-installed.
> > hwinfo64 showed, that it can boost up to the promised 3.4GHz. But on
> > OpenBSD,
> > I tried with
> >
> > apm -H, or hw.perfpolicy=high,auto
> >
> > to no avail, hw.cpuspeed never goes higher than 1701.
>
> 1701 represents the turbo setting
>
> look at the cpu frequencies in sysctl hw.sensors
>


Ah, OK, looking at the right place, in idle state I saw this:

sysctl hw.sensors

hw.sensors.cpu0.temp0=38.00 degC
hw.sensors.cpu0.frequency0=800000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu1.frequency0=800000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu2.frequency0=800000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu3.frequency0=800000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.acpitz0.temp0=27.80 degC (zone temperature)

then started 4x sha256 -ttt and once I saw this:

sysctl hw.sensors
hw.sensors.cpu0.temp0=54.00 degC
hw.sensors.cpu0.frequency0=3300000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu1.frequency0=3350000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu2.frequency0=3350000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu3.frequency0=3300000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.acpitz0.temp0=27.80 degC (zone temperature)

a short spike up to maximum,

then later on, it kept staying at:

sysctl hw.sensors
hw.sensors.cpu0.temp0=49.00 degC
hw.sensors.cpu0.frequency0=2700000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu1.frequency0=2700000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu2.frequency0=2700000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu3.frequency0=2700000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.acpitz0.temp0=27.80 degC (zone temperature)

then next test running only 2x sha256 I saw:
sysctl hw.sensors
hw.sensors.cpu0.temp0=52.00 degC
hw.sensors.cpu0.frequency0=3250000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu1.frequency0=3000000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu2.frequency0=3000000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu3.frequency0=3050000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.acpitz0.temp0=27.80 degC (zone temperature)

and this:
sysctl hw.sensors
hw.sensors.cpu0.temp0=62.00 degC
hw.sensors.cpu0.frequency0=3200000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu1.frequency0=3250000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu2.frequency0=3250000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu3.frequency0=3150000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.acpitz0.temp0=27.80 degC (zone temperature)

so with 2x sha256 it keeps frequency above 3GHz.

as soon as I add a third sha256 it drops all 4 to
sysctl hw.sensors
hw.sensors.cpu0.temp0=53.00 degC
hw.sensors.cpu0.frequency0=2700000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu1.frequency0=2700000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu2.frequency0=2700000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.cpu3.frequency0=2700000000.00 Hz
hw.sensors.acpitz0.temp0=27.80 degC (zone temperature)

Under 2-thread load, the N95 boosts to ~3.2–3.3 GHz, but under sustained
3–4-thread load it settles at ~2.7 GHz.
I assume this is an all-core turbo/power-limit behavior and working as
expected?

cheers,
Sebastian

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