Energy Efficiency

Requirement

The computer must run on battery power. Energy efficiency jobs are designed to run only on mobile devices. If a battery is not detected, you will receive an error.

Recommendations

Before you begin, configure the settings on the portable computer to reduce the risk of generating warnings in the results and adversely affecting power usage. The following guidelines are recommended settings. They are not required for the job to run, but the results may be affected if the computer is not appropriately configured.

• Make sure that wireless functionality is enabled and connected to a network. If not enabled and connected, the results might not reflect realistic scenarios.
  
  In Control Panel, open Manage Wireless Networks. If wireless functionality is not enabled, turn it on and connect to a wireless network.
  
  

  Note
  If wireless connectivity is on, but there is no network to connect to, results are still affected.

• Install and enable antivirus software. If antivirus software isn't enabled and running, the results might not reflect realistic scenarios.
  
  In Control Panel, open Action Center, click Security, check that the Virus protection is On. If not on, click Change Action Center Settings and then click the Virus protection check box.
  
  
• Make sure that the power policy is set to Balanced. By default, any other power policy generates a warning that may affect the results.
  
  In Control Panel, open Power Options, and then click Balanced.
  
  
• Make sure that the computer is configured so that a password isn't required when the computer resumes from a screen saver.
  
  
• Make sure that all device drivers are correctly installed. Results may vary significantly if your computer has missing or incorrect drivers. You can use the Driver Verification assessment to identify driver issues on the computer that you want to assess.
  
  
• For best results, we recommend that you run the Energy Efficiency job as a packaged job. For information about how to create and run a packaged job, see How to Package a Job and Run It on Another Computer.
  
  

A workload is a set of automated tasks that simulate user activity in a predefined, repeatable manner. The workloads run independent of each other. You can select any combination of these workloads to run during an Energy Efficiency job. The Energy Efficiency job will iterate through the workloads until the job finishes. The following table describes the workloads that are available for an Energy Efficiency job.

By default, each workload uses the recommended settings. Microsoft defines these settings so that you can compare the results across multiple computer configurations or over time on the same computer. When you review the results, the run information includes metadata that indicates whether the recommended settings were used.

• The File Handling workload has these settings available:
  
  

   

  Setting	Description
  Use recommended settings	Specifies whether the File Handling workload runs using the recommended values. By default, this check box is selected. To change the settings, you must first clear this check box.
  Iterations	Specifies the number of times that this workload runs. By default, the value is 1.
  Source	Specifies the location of the files and folders that the workload copies. By default, the source is on the local computer. Use this setting to specify a different location or to use different files.
  Destination	Specifies the location that the workload copies files or folders to. You must have write access to the destination folder. You can use the default folder or specify a different folder. If you provide a different destination folder, the folder must be empty before you run the job.
  Import data location	Specifies a user-created payload for use during workload operations. When you specify an import data location, the data is copied from the import location to the Source folder. When the workload runs, the source content is copied to the Destination folder. For this reason, when you import data, both the Source and Destination folders must be empty when the job starts.

  For more information about the File Handling assessment, see File Handling.
  
  
• The Idle Energy Efficiency workload has these settings available:
  
  

   

  Setting	Description
  Use recommended settings	Specifies whether the Idle Energy Efficiency workload runs using the recommended values. By default, this check box is selected. To change the settings, you must first clear this check box.
  Minutes	Specifies the number of minutes that the system should remain in the idle mode. By default, the value is 11.

• The Photo Handling workload has these settings available:
  
  

   

  Setting	Description
  Use recommended settings	Specifies whether the Photo Handling workload runs by using the default configuration settings. By default, this check box is selected. To change the settings, you must first clear this check box.
  LocalPath	Specifies the run location of the workload. By default, the workload uses the photo dataset that's in the AssessmentData folder. You can also specify a location that's different from the default location to use a custom photo dataset. Be aware of these configuration implications: If you don't define a content path by using the Content Path setting, the local path must be a relative path to the %TEMP%\ PhotoAssessment{9EFF6A22-7006-48E5-8DF7-7C15796237F6}\AssessmentData folder or an absolute path. If you define a content path by using the Content Path setting, the %TEMP%\ PhotoAssessment{9EFF6A22-7006-48E5-8DF7-7C15796237F6}\AssessmentData folder must not exist.
  Content Path	Specifies the location that the workload copies the photo dataset from. By default, the folder is <ADK Installation Root>\Content based Assessments\Contents\PhotoAssessment\PhotoData. You can use the default or specify a different folder. If you supply your own test content, the workload supports the use of a network folder.
  Iterations	Specifies the number of times that the workload runs. By default, the value is 1.
  Keep Local Content	Specifies whether the workload keeps the photo corpus in the destination directory. By default, this check box is cleared. This setting applies only if you've defined a content path by using the Content Path setting.

  For more information about the Photo Handling assessment, see Photo Handling.
  
  
• The Streaming Media workload has these settings available:
  
  

   

  Setting	Description
  Use recommended settings	Specifies whether the Streaming Media workload runs using the default values. By default, this check box is selected. To change the settings, you must first clear this check box.
  Iterations	Specifies the number of times that the workload runs. By default, the value is 3.
  Content Path	Specifies the path of the source directory for the dataset that contains media and HTML files that the workload uses. By default, the content at /Content/Streaming Media is used.
  Server Name	Specifies the name of the streaming media server on the local network. Even though the box appears to be blank, the path of the default server is defined. If an alternative server name isn't specified, the workload starts the streaming server on the local computer.
  Port	Specifies the port that the server accepts requests on. The default is port 80.
  Streaming Time	Specifies the maximum time, in seconds, that the job waits for a video workload to finish playing. By default, the value for this setting is 65.
  Workloads	The Streaming Media workload can stream video to Internet Explorer by using content that has various resolutions. The default is 720p (30 FPS).

  For more information about the Streaming Media assessment, see Streaming Media Performance.
  
  
• The Windows Media Player playback workload has these settings available:
  
  

   

  Setting	Description
  Use recommended settings	Specifies whether the Windows Media Player playback workload runs using the default values. By default, this check box is selected. To change the settings, you must first clear this check box.
  Content Path	Specifies the source folder for the media clips that are played in Windows Media Player when the workload runs. By default, the folder is at \Content\Streaming Media Assessment. If you supply your own media content, specify the full path to the content on the local computer or a network share.
  Duration	Specifies the duration of single playback session, in seconds. The default is 600.

• The Internet Explorer playback (HTML5) workload has these settings available:
  
  

   

  Setting	Description
  Use recommended settings	Specifies whether the Internet Explorer playback (HTML5) playback workload runs using the default values. By default, this check box is selected. To change the settings, you must first clear this check box.
  Content Path	Specifies the source folder for the media clips that are played in Internet Explorer playback (HTML5) when the workload runs. By default, the file that is used is \Content\Streaming Media Assessment\720p.mp4. If you supply your own media content, specify the full path to the content on the local computer or a network share.
  Duration	Specifies the duration of single playback session, in seconds. The default is 600.

Job settings provide specific information about how a job will run. The following table describes the job settings that are specific to an Energy Efficiency job. The settings are used with any mode that you select, except where noted.

Setting	Description
Mode	This is the basic mode in which the job runs. Select one of the following modes in the Mode drop-down list: Battery run down only Determines the amount of time that a computer can run on battery power before it transitions to hibernate. This mode produces only battery run down metrics. Use this mode to run a traditional battery run down test. Battery run down with energy efficiency diagnostics During the first iteration, the job runs in diagnostic mode to analyze and output the power configuration and system settings, run diagnostics, collect traces of each workload run, and analyze the traces to generate metrics and issues related to CPU and disk activities. During subsequent iterations, logging is stopped but the workloads continue to run, to assess the amount of time that a computer can run on battery power before it shuts down. Energy efficiency with diagnostics only During a single iteration, while it is running on battery power, the job runs in diagnostic mode to analyze and output the power configuration and system settings, run diagnostics, collect traces of each workload run, and analyze the traces to generate metrics and issues related to CPU and disk activities. Use this mode to assess whether system components are using power when they should be idle. This mode produces diagnostic metrics and issues, but it does not generate battery run down metrics.
Start before fully charged	Allows the job to start before the battery is fully charged. By default, this check box is cleared. When you click Run to begin the job, the job checks the battery to make sure that it is charged to the level that is specified in the Battery start % box. If this check box is selected, you must also specify the Battery start % to define the job start condition. If not specified, the job starts when the battery is fully charged.
Battery start %	Specifies the percentage of charge that you want in the battery before the test begins. You can specify any integer from 1 to 100, but the setting must be higher than that shown in the Battery end % setting. Use this setting only if you selected Start before full charged.
End before fully discharged	Specifies the condition of the battery at the conclusion of the job and allows the job to end before the battery is fully discharged. By default, this check box is selected and Battery end % is set to 5.
Battery end %	Specifies the percentage of charge that you want remaining in the battery when the job ends. By default, this setting is set at 5. You can specify any integer from 1 to 100. Note This setting does not apply in the Energy efficiency with diagnostic only mode but is available for the battery run down modes.
Run automated	Runs the job with minimal user interaction. By default, this check box is cleared. If this check box is selected, you can specify the commands to run at power transitions.
Disconnect power command	Specifies the command to run to disconnect the AC power. By default, this setting is not enabled until the Run automated check box is checked. Once selected, AC power is automatically disconnected when the assessment begins.
Restore power command	Specifies the command to run when AC power can be restored. By default, this setting is not enabled until the Run automated check box is checked. Once selected, AC power is automatically restored when the assessment finishes.
Logging Frequency (minutes)	Specifies the frequency with which results are written to disk after the battery reaches the critical threshold and may shut off the system. Valid values range from 1 to 60. By default, this value is 1. Note This setting does not apply in the DC Energy Efficiency with Diagnostic mode.

For more information about how to configure settings, see How to Create and Run an Energy Efficiency Job.

The results include metrics for battery duration, projected battery life, and the diagnostic metrics, in addition to the job and workload settings that were used. Depending on which workloads are run, metrics are also collected for network traffic measured during the assessment.

Results vary depending on the mode the job runs in and the workloads you decide to use. You will always see the total duration metric (as shown in the following table) listed in the results, regardless of which mode the job runs in.

Result metrics fall into several categories. The following table outlines which metric category is included in the results based on which mode was used for the job run.

CPU metrics

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CPU utilization metrics are described in the following table. These metrics are gathered when you run the job in Battery run down with energy efficiency diagnostic mode or Energy efficiency diagnostic only mode.

 

Metric	Description
Active C-State Residency	Active C-State Residency is captured by the highest C-State residency of the CPU, is a primary interval metric, which measure the percentage of time spend in the highest C-State.
Lowest C-State	The Lowest C-State Residency is captured by the deep C-State residency is a primary interval metric, which represents the percent of time that the CPU spend in deepest available C-State. The value of the C-States can be C2, C3, C6, and so on. This depends on the CPU architecture. Note A C-state is an idle state, categorized from C0, when the CPU is performing useful work, to various levels of idleness including C1, C2, and C3. In the idle states, the CPU should be conserving energy at various levels of efficiency.
Periodic CPU sources <100 ms	This metric is a secondary count metric, which counts the processes or modules that wake up the CPU more often than every 100 milliseconds.
Periodic CPU sources <300 ms	This metric is a secondary count metric, which counts the processes or modules that wake up the CPU more often for a period less than 300 milliseconds, excluding the periodic CPU sources less than 100 milliseconds.
Processes Changing System Timer resolution	This metric is a secondary counter metric which hold the number of processes requesting a system resolution change.
Processes Utilizing Greater Than 1 Percent CPU	This is a secondary counter metric, which holds the count of processes that are using more than 1 percent of the CPU Utilization.
System timer Resolution	The system timer resolution determines how frequently windows perform two main actions: updating the timer tick count if a full tick has elapsed, and checking whether a scheduled timer object has expired.

The Energy Efficiency job shows the analysis that the job has produced, according to the settings that you selected. It identifies problems, provides some background on how these issues affect your system, and suggests possible remediation steps. Issues are surfaced either from the power CFG analysis or from the analysis of the ETL trace files generated by the job.

The Energy Efficiency job does not generate any issues when it is run in the Battery run down only mode. Idle efficiency issues only appear if you have added the Idle energy efficiency workload or run other workloads that include a minimum of at least 10 minutes of idle time. This is because all issues that are generated are derived from idle periods during workloads. However, if the idle period of any workload does not last longer than 10 minutes, no issues are generated for that workload.

The following issues and recommendations can appear after you run the Energy Efficiency job in either the Battery run down with energy efficiency diagnostic mode or the Energy Efficiency with diagnostic only mode.

This information may include links to view associated reports or trace-log timelines.

The concepts of power and energy are often confused. Batteries do not hold power; they hold energy. Power is the rate of energy usage over a specified period. Energy is measured in joules. A joule is defined as an electric current of 1 amp that is flowing through an electrical resistance of 1 ohm for one second. Power consumption for desktop computers, mobile computers, Tablet PCs, and cell phones is expressed in watts. A watt is defined as 1 joule that is used in one second. In the Energy Efficiency job, we differentiate between the charge in a battery and the available system energy. The charge in all batteries in the system is the system energy.