https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=500745
Bug ID: 500745
Summary: The Hardware section of the Info Center shows wrong
and confusing description for 'Processors' on its
initial (summary) page
Classification: Applications
Product: kinfocenter
Version: 6.3.0
Platform: Debian unstable
OS: Linux
Status: REPORTED
Severity: wishlist
Priority: NOR
Component: general
Assignee: plasma-b...@kde.org
Reporter: ilikef...@waterisgone.com
CC: sit...@kde.org
Target Milestone: ---
Created attachment 178880
--> https://bugs.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=178880&action=edit
How the CPU, with its cores and threads, is shown in Info Center's summary +
CPU details pages and in in Mission Center
SUMMARY
The Hardware section of the Info Center shows wrong and confusing description
for 'Processors' on its initial (summary) page
STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Look at your CPU(s) hardware specifications.
2. Look at your UEFI / BIOS CPU page.
3. Boot into Windows if you dual-boot and look at system info page or in Task
Manager about the CPU.
4. Open some programs that show informations about your CPU.
5. Now go into Plasma and open Info Center.
OBSERVED RESULT
The first line of the Hardware section is about the CPU or CPUs installed on
the motherboard and it shows like this:
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
Which is confusing as I don't have 8 CPUs installed in my laptop to tell me
that 8 times the same CPU is present.
EXPECTED RESULT
1. Since I have only one CPU installed from a maximum of 1 CPU possible to be
installed, I expected to see something like this:
Processors: 1 × Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
Or, since it's just one in pretty much 99% of the cases, it can also be just
the CPU name like:
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
If there are two, like on a dual-socket motherboard that some servers have,
then:
Processors: 2 × Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
Probably as it is now, if somebody tries Plasma on a old dual-core CPU system,
the Info center will also display:
Processors: 2 × Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
Which is not true as there are not 2 CPUs installed, but two cores (no HT) on
one CPU.
2. Since CPUs can actually be 1 or 2 (dual-socket systems), 1 or 2 or 4 cores,
1 or 2 or 4 or 8 threads and so on, showing a single number in front which can
mean actual sockets / CPUs or cores or threads, it's very confusing which one
is it.
Then some firmwares (UEFI / BIOSes) also allow the possibility to enable /
disable the SMP (Symmetric multiprocessing) or enable / disable the HT
(Hyper-threading) which will change the number of threads, so the number in
front.
Similar to my other bug report about this section:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=500412
I think the information here should be displayed as the hardware normally is,
so the CPU without changes done from the firmware or because some software
makes it run at a higher frequency, so without the changes made by software.
Those alterations, like with the memory, can be displayed in parentheses, if
needed.
I think / propose it should be split like:
- The number in front should show the number of CPUs installed, maximum being 2
as most a motherboard can hold are 2 on dual-socket ones. Optional: This should
not be visible if it's only 1 and the label in front should be 'Processor'
instead of 'Processors' (both versions should be translatable).
- Then the name of the CPU, the @ sign and the frequency, as it is now
- Then in parentheses, the number of cores and the number of threads, like:
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz (cores: 4, threads: 8)
Or:
Processor: 1 × Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz (cores: 4, threads: 8)
Or even like this:
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz (sockets: 1,cores: 4, threads:
8)
But this might be more confusing to people as a dual-socket motherboard might
still have 2 sockets and only one could have a CPU installed, so if you want to
display how many sockets are available and how many are populated, I think it
would be better to display it like this:
Processors: 1/2 (or 2/2) Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz (cores: 4,
threads: 8)
Or final suggestion, you can do it like how the multiple GPUs are displayed,
let's says:
Central Processor 1: Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz (cores: 4, threads: 8)
Central Processor 2: Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz (cores: 4, threads: 8)
Unlike the GPUs, here can be a maximum of 2 and displaying the same values 2
times will affect very few people as dual-sockets with both sockets populated
are very uncommon. I assume for the GPUs nobody complained seeing the same one
multiple times if all are the same model.
Displaying the cores and threads in the parentheses would be similar to how the
Memory field will have the usable one in parentheses, if this PR started for
the other bug report is merged:
https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kinfocenter/-/merge_requests/234
SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma:
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.11.0
Qt Version: 6.7.2
Kernel Version: 6.12.16-amd64 (64-bit)
Mesa Version: 25.0.0-1
Graphics Platform: Wayland
HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS
Hardware: Laptop Dell Inspiron 5770 (17" 1080p@60Hz screen)
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
GPU 1: Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics 620 (main, Vulkan capable)
GPU 2: AMD Radeon R5 M465 Series
RAM: 8 GiB (7.7 GiB usable)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I think CPU-X displays the installed CPU(s) in the least confusing way:
https://www.linuxadictos.com/wp-content/uploads/CPU-X.png
https://mac-cdn.softpedia.com/screenshots/CPU-X_1.jpg
And similarly CPU-Z for Windows:
https://s2.glbimg.com/1pM7u7pneF1sZYrUW7bEL81SImY=/0x0:695x514/984x0/smart/filters:strip_icc()/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_08fbf48bc0524877943fe86e43087e7a/internal_photos/bs/2018/7/X/V7v6xQQga8L64swWrwXA/cpu-z-01.jpg
https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/AMD-Ryzen-7000-Raphael-Ryzen-9-7950X-5.85-GHz-CPU-Clock-Speeds-With-XFR-PBO-_2-lines-scale-4_00x.jpg
Another very good (logical) design / display of sockets, cores and threads is
Windows 10's task manager (resource monitor):
https://s11986.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/cpu-performance.png
Even though the term "sockets" seems to me to be like "slots" for RAM sticks,
which might be related more to the motherboard than to CPUs as it's a bit
unclear how many there are in total and how many of those are populated.
Still how the CPU (with its sockets, cores and threads) is displayed in CPU-X +
CPU-Z + Windows' task manager seems to me the easiest to understand and the
least confusing designs.
I wish that a similar, easy to understand and not confusing presentation, we
have here too.
--
You are receiving this mail because:
You are watching all bug changes.
