cpupower

List CPUs

$ sudo cpupower [[-c|--cpu]] [all] info

$ sudo cpupower [[-c|--cpu]] [all] info

$ sudo cpupower [[-c|--cpu]] [all] frequency-set --governor [powersave]

$ sudo cpupower [[-c|--cpu]] [0] frequency-info [[-g|--governors]] | grep "analyzing\|governors"

$ sudo cpupower [[-c|--cpu]] [4] frequency-info [[-w|--hwfreq]] [[-m|--human]]

cpupower [options] command [command-options]

-c, --cpu CPULIST
    Operate on specific CPUs (e.g., 0-3 or 0,2)

-g, --gov GOVERNOR
    Set or display scaling governor (e.g., powersave, performance)

-b, --perf-bias BIAS
    Set Intel P-state performance bias (0-15, default 6)

-q, --human-readable-quiet
    Quiet human-readable output without units

--human-readable-ext
    Extended human-readable output

-h, --help
    Show help

-V, --version
    Print version

frequency-info [options]
    Show CPU frequency and governor info (alias: info)

frequency-set [options]
    Set frequency policy/governor (alias: set)

monitor [options]
    Monitor CPU performance/power metrics

powercap-info
    Display power capping information

cpupower is a versatile command-line utility from the Linux kernel tools package for monitoring and controlling CPU power consumption, frequency scaling policies, and performance data. It interacts with kernel subsystems like CPUFreq via sysfs, allowing users to query available governors (e.g., powersave, performance, ondemand), set frequency limits (min/max), adjust performance bias, and monitor real-time metrics such as frequency, voltage, and power draw.

Ideal for system administrators, overclockers, and power optimizers, it supports multi-CPU systems with per-CPU targeting. Subcommands like frequency-info display current settings, frequency-set applies changes (requires root), monitor logs data, and powercap-info shows power capping info. It helps balance performance and energy efficiency on laptops, servers, and desktops, especially with modern Intel/AMD CPUs supporting P-states and C-states.

Requires root privileges for setting operations; kernel CPUFreq support needed; some options hardware-specific (e.g., Intel Sandy Bridge+ for perf-bias); output varies by CPU/driver.

cpupower frequency-info
View current CPU frequencies/governor.

cpupower -c all frequency-set -g performance
Set all CPUs to performance governor (root).

cpupower monitor 1 100ms
Monitor for 1 second at 100ms intervals.

Common: powersave (min freq, save power), performance (max freq), ondemand (dynamic), schedutil (scheduler-integrated). List via frequency-info.

Introduced in linux-tools ~2.6.30 (2009), developed by Intel's Dominik Brodowski and community; evolved to replace deprecated cpufrequtils; active in modern kernels with support for AMD Zen, Intel Alder Lake+.

cpufreq-info(1), cpufreq-set(1), powertop(8), turbostat(1), perf(1)