--- /dev/null
+I usuall optimize my code for clean *code* and don't spend much time
+worrying about optimizing for particular hardware, or really worrying
+about hardware at all. This is why I was surprised when I ran this on
+our deparment computer lab:
+
+ wking@xphy1:~$ grep MHz /proc/cpuinfo
+ cpu MHz : 2000.000
+ cpu MHz : 3166.000
+
+What! Why is the CPU speed changing for a dual-core chip? Some
+searching around lead me to [cpufrequtils][] (Debian: `cpufrequtils`,
+Gentoo: `sys-power/cpufrequtils`) and `cpufreq-info`:
+
+ wking@xphy1$ cpufreq-info
+ cpufrequtils 006: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
+ Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
+ analyzing CPU 0:
+ driver: acpi-cpufreq
+ CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
+ CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
+ maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
+ hardware limits: 2.00 GHz - 3.17 GHz
+ available frequency steps: 3.17 GHz, 2.67 GHz, 2.33 GHz, 2.00 GHz
+ available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace,
+ powersave, performance
+ current policy: frequency should be within 2.00 GHz and 3.17 GHz.
+ The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
+ within this range.
+ current CPU frequency is 2.00 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).
+ cpufreq stats: 3.17 GHz:4.40%, 2.67 GHz:0.05%, 2.33 GHz:0.05%,
+ 2.00 GHz:95.49% (3538)
+ analyzing CPU 1:
+ driver: acpi-cpufreq
+ CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 1
+ CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 1
+ maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
+ hardware limits: 2.00 GHz - 3.17 GHz
+ available frequency steps: 3.17 GHz, 2.67 GHz, 2.33 GHz, 2.00 GHz
+ available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace,
+ powersave, performance
+ current policy: frequency should be within 2.00 GHz and 3.17 GHz.
+ The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
+ within this range.
+ current CPU frequency is 2.00 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).
+ cpufreq stats: 3.17 GHz:4.03%, 2.67 GHz:0.77%, 2.33 GHz:0.03%,
+ 2.00 GHz:95.17% (3743)
+
+Now it makes sense ;). Apparently the current (possibly throttled)
+frequency is listed in `/proc/cpuinfo`, not the maximum frequency.
+
+Also, the computer lab computers don't seem to be working very hard ;).
+
+[cpufrequtils]: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/cpufreq/cpufrequtils.html
+
+[[!tag tags/linux]]
+[[!tag tags/programming]]