[Intel-gfx] [PATCH 4/6] drm/i915/pmu: Add reference counting to the sampling timer

[Dixit, Ashutosh]

On Tue, 09 May 2023 10:25:16 -0700, Dixit, Ashutosh wrote:
>
> On Fri, 05 May 2023 17:58:14 -0700, Umesh Nerlige Ramappa wrote:
> >
> > From: Tvrtko Ursulin <tvrtko.ursulin at intel.com>
> >
> > We do not want to have timers per tile and waste CPU cycles and energy via
> > multiple wake-up sources, for a relatively un-important task of PMU
> > sampling, so keeping a single timer works well. But we also do not want
> > the first GT which goes idle to turn off the timer.
>
> Apart from this efficiency, what is the reason for having a device level
> PMU (which monitors gt level events), rather than independent gt level
> PMU's (each of which monitor events from that gt)?
>
> Wouldn't independent gt level PMU's be simpler? And user space tools (say
> intel-gpu-top) would hook into events from a gt and treat each gt
> independently?
>
> So my question really is what is the reason for keeping the PMU device
> level rather than per gt?

Maybe ignore this for now, the way it is expressed it is too open
ended. Let me get a better handle on the code and the patches and I'll see
if I have anything to say.

Thanks.
--
Ashutosh