Welcome to X3Dctl Discussions!

[GrandBIRDLizard]

Discussions are now enabled for x3dctl

GitHub Discussions are now open for x3dctl.

The goal is to give users a place to share results, compare behavior across distros and schedulers, ask usage questions, and discuss real-world X3D workload tuning without turning the issue tracker into a support forum.

Use Discussions for:

• general usage questions
• profile and workflow discussion
• distro / kernel / scheduler-specific observations
• mixed workload and gaming results
• benchmark screenshots and system reports
• future ideas and design discussion

Issues should stay focused on:

• confirmed bugs
• regressions
• reproducible failures
• concrete implementation work

For now, the most useful things to share are:

• CPU model
• distro
• kernel / scheduler
• workload tested
• x3dctl command or profile used
• what improved (or didn’t)

x3dctl is designed around explicit, deterministic behavior on AMD X3D systems, so real-world reports across different systems are especially useful.

Thanks to everyone testing and helping shape the project.

[ghost]

Correct me if i am wrong, but for the irqbalance part in readme, i am susposed to disable it? That is not really clear to me as there is a lot of technical jargon without making things clear to the reader. Wich is why i also would advice to redo the readme file with actual usefull information to get started and giving plain ass commands so that noobs know what to do and wont get stuck on the technical jargon.

to be direct with ya all the readme reads a lot like AI assisted writing, it just does not read well.

Stop irqbalance

sudo systemctl stop --now irqbalance

if this is the right command, this applies ONLY to systemD, and should not matter on other init systems.

That should be made clear in the readme and also how to disable it, and make clear that it will not matter on for example systems that use openrc or dinit as init system.

o=========================================o
          X3DCTL SYSTEM STATUS
o=========================================o
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16-Core Processor

Mode: cache
irqbalance Service: OFF

GPU IRQ Audit:
  IRQ 181 → 0xff00ff00

IRQ Steering: Pinned to Frequency CCD
o=========================================o

Another thing. Does it prevent cores from waking up and going to sleep? like c-states? should this be disabled or enabled in the bios ?. As far i am aware, cores sleeping and waking up introduces latency wich we do not want.

and then also.

you need to enable In BIOS CPPC control to "driver" instead of like software or bios, or setting "cache" to /sys/bus/platform/drivers/amd_x3d_vcache/AMDI0101:00/amd_x3d_mode has no point at all.

From the cachyos wiki

AMD posted a patch to optimize the Cache Scheduling on Dual CCD 3D CPUs, like 7950X3D and 7900X3D. You need to set in the BIOS under the CPPC Option to the “Driver” Option. This will allow to override with the sysfs the used mode.

There are two modes:

Frequency
Cache

If cache is set, the driver will try to put the tasks first on the CCD with the higher Cache, this is mainly profitable on games. The frequency option will try to put the tasks on the second CCD, which has a higher frequency than the 3D Cache CCD.

Shortly said: CPPC in bios must be set to driver.

[GrandBIRDLizard]

Correct me if i am wrong, but for the irqbalance part in readme, i am susposed to disable it? That is not really clear to me as there is a lot of technical jargon without making things clear to the reader. Wich is why i also would advice to redo the readme file with actual usefull information to get started and giving plain ass commands so that noobs know what to do and wont get stuck on the technical jargon.

to be direct with ya all the readme reads a lot like AI assisted writing, it just does not read well.

Stop irqbalance

sudo systemctl stop --now irqbalance

if this is the right command, this applies ONLY to systemD, and should not matter on other init systems.

That should be made clear in the readme and also how to disable it, and make clear that it will not matter on for example systems that use openrc or dinit as init system.

o=========================================o
          X3DCTL SYSTEM STATUS
o=========================================o
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16-Core Processor

Mode: cache
irqbalance Service: OFF

GPU IRQ Audit:
  IRQ 181 → 0xff00ff00

IRQ Steering: Pinned to Frequency CCD
o=========================================o

Another thing. Does it prevent cores from waking up and going to sleep? like c-states? should this be disabled or enabled in the bios ?. As far i am aware, cores sleeping and waking up introduces latency wich we do not want.

and then also.

you need to enable In BIOS CPPC control to "driver" instead of like software or bios, or setting "cache" to /sys/bus/platform/drivers/amd_x3d_vcache/AMDI0101:00/amd_x3d_mode has no point at all.

From the cachyos wiki

AMD posted a patch to optimize the Cache Scheduling on Dual CCD 3D CPUs, like 7950X3D and 7900X3D. You need to set in the BIOS under the CPPC Option to the “Driver” Option. This will allow to override with the sysfs the used mode.

There are two modes:

Frequency
Cache

If cache is set, the driver will try to put the tasks first on the CCD with the higher Cache, this is mainly profitable on games. The frequency option will try to put the tasks on the second CCD, which has a higher frequency than the 3D Cache CCD.

Shortly said: CPPC in bios must be set to driver.

---

Thanks, that’s valid feedback.

I left out an important prerequisite in the current docs during a larger refactor. see https://github.com/GrandBIRDLizard/X3Dctl/blob/b7303462c80884e047b378d5887d58987bc6decc/README.md#note-on-irqbalance.
The corrected docs on supported systems will be updated to reflect that CPPC Preferred Cores should be set to Driver in BIOS/firmware for x3dctl to behave as intended. I’ll be adding that back to both the README and man page.

That said, x3dctl is still intended as an explicit, advanced system utility rather than a one-click tuner, so users are expected to be reasonably familiar with their platform and to read the documentation before applying changes.

The man page/README remain the primary reference:
man page is installed and is explicitly stated on install and can be accessed with:

man x3dctl

If something in the docs is unclear or missing, that kind of feedback is useful and helps improve the user experience. Thanks for the contribution.

Another thing. Does it prevent cores from waking up and going to sleep? like c-states? should this be disabled or enabled in the bios ?. As far i am aware, cores sleeping and waking up introduces latency wich we do not want.

No, x3dctl does not directly disable or manage CPU C-states.

In simple terms, x3dctl controls where work runs, while the kernel/firmware still control when cores idle or sleep. For most users, normal CPU power-saving behavior should stay enabled in BIOS. Disabling C-states is usually an advanced tuning choice, not a requirement for x3dctl.

x3dctl is primarily a workload placement tool, not a BIOS power-state override.

---

requesting a layman's block for the README or man page explanation to add a small “FAQ / Common BIOS Questions” isn't a terrible Idea including things like:

• CPPC Preferred Cores = Driver
• C-states
• PBO / CO
• SMT

I'll consider editing and adding it, if I find the time.

also, no ai. Just a simple documentation heavy/forward tool. inspired by UNIX philosophy.

Thanks again for the feed-back!
GrandBIRDLizard

[ghost]

hello and thank you for your response.

requesting a layman's block for the README or man page explanation to add a small “FAQ / Common BIOS Questions” isn't a terrible Idea including things like: ...

this would be a good addition to add

That said, x3dctl is still intended as an explicit, advanced system utility rather than a one-click tuner, so users are expected to be reasonably familiar with their platform and to read the documentation before applying changes.

of course, but we can not always expect the user to know what he or she is doing... or that even the documentation is read lol. even now with linux becoming more mainstream due to gaming and windows 10 eol. That is why i though for more clear examples and to kind of reduce the technical jargon.

for you and me it is not a problem but if i pointed my friend to this repo whom is just new to linux he would have not a clue what al that jargon means. but again, one can simply search for it online.

i would even say this is partially true, but also rather idealistic. That is just not always the case.

requesting a layman's block for the README or man page explanation to add a small “FAQ / Common BIOS Questions” isn't a terrible Idea including things like:

Well i am even surprised the CPPC Preferred Cores = Driver is not even mentioned, because without this cache / freq in the file amd_x3d_mode is simply ignored and may not work as intended, giving false sense that it may work if not properly tested. Seems to me that this piece of information is very very relevant and important for what this project intends to do.

about sudo systemctl stop --now irqbalance. Systemd by default should have it. Openrc and dinit may or may not have irqbalance assigned, but it depends from distro to distro. Artix for example does not have it but has irqbalance-openrc wich is a seperate package to be installed.

[GrandBIRDLizard]

The fact that it is becoming more mainstream makes what I'm doing that much more valuable. you may call it idealistic but it's the standard. I think linking to appropriate documentation or sources may even be better than a quick synopsis by someone like me.

---

Well i am even surprised the CPPC Preferred Cores = Driver is not even mentioned, because without this cache / freq in the file amd_x3d_mode is simply ignored and may not work as intended, giving false sense that it may work if not properly tested. Seems to me that this piece of information is very very relevant and important for what this project intends to do.

you're right on that one I was giving advice on CPPC on a forum and over looked this.

as I said I will update the docs appropriately, thanks for catching that as well.

about sudo systemctl stop --now irqbalance. Systemd by default should have it. Openrc and dinit may or may not have irqbalance assigned, but it depends from distro to distro. Artix for example does not have it but has irqbalance-openrc wich is a seperate package to be installed.

irqbalance is explained in the README refer to line 86, however x3dctl is explicitly not dependent on Systemd it merely reports a state that could affect it, it does not change it.(other distros that add more complexity may be omitted or deemed out of scope if they introduce unnecessary dependencies or heuristics).

those are valuable insights about Openrc, dinit, and irqbalance-openrc though i'll look into them and see if they fit the direction of the project.

---

I have added a CONTRIBUTTING.md file for future reference and issue/discussion direction for the project please refer to it for future contribution.

Thank you for the research material though I'll hit up a few doc's.
GrandBIRDLizard