linux-kernel - [PATCH] KVM: x86: reduce default value of halt_poll

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Message-Id: <1459267075-44359-1-git-send-email-pbonzini@redhat.com>
Date:	Tue, 29 Mar 2016 17:57:55 +0200
From:	Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>
To:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, kvm@...r.kernel.org
Cc:	dmatlack@...gle.com
Subject: [PATCH] KVM: x86: reduce default value of halt_poll_ns parameter

Windows lets applications choose the frequency of the timer tick,
and in Windows 10 the maximum rate was changed from 1024 Hz to
2048 Hz.  Unfortunately, because of the way the Windows API
works, most applications who need a higher rate than the default
64 Hz will just do

   timeGetDevCaps(&tc, sizeof(tc));
   timeBeginPeriod(tc.wPeriodMin);

and pick the maximum rate.  This causes very high CPU usage when
playing media or games on Windows 10, even if the guest does not
actually use the CPU very much, because the frequent timer tick
causes halt_poll_ns to kick in.

There is no really good solution, especially because Microsoft
could sooner or later bump the limit to 4096 Hz, but for now
the best we can do is lower a bit the upper limit for
halt_poll_ns. :-(

Reported-by: Jon Panozzo <jonp@...e-technology.com>
Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>
---
 arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h
index f62a9f37f79f..b7e394485a5f 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@

 #define KVM_PIO_PAGE_OFFSET 1
 #define KVM_COALESCED_MMIO_PAGE_OFFSET 2
-#define KVM_HALT_POLL_NS_DEFAULT 500000
+#define KVM_HALT_POLL_NS_DEFAULT 400000

 #define KVM_IRQCHIP_NUM_PINS  KVM_IOAPIC_NUM_PINS

-- 
1.8.3.1