Boost CPU to max speed on Linux/CentOS

As I was filling up a ticket and pasting my /proc/cpuinfo I realized my CPU was running at 800MHz even though the CPU is Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2510E CPU @ 2.50GHz !

How to look at your current speed

$> sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor

Default on CentOS 6

$ sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
ondemand
ondemand
ondemand
ondemand

Default on CentOS 7

$ sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
powersave
powersave
powersave
powersave

It repeats for each of your Core.

How to change

$> echo "performance" | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor

Or you can use "cpufreq-set":

sudo yum/apt-get install cpufrequtils
sudo cpufreq-set -r -g performance

For an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3540M CPU @ 3.00GHz

Before

model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3540M CPU @ 3.00GHz
stepping        : 9
microcode       : 0x1c
cpu MHz         : 1200.000

After

model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3540M CPU @ 3.00GHz
stepping        : 9
microcode       : 0x1c
cpu MHz         : 3230.625

For an Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2510E CPU @ 2.50GHz
Before

model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2510E CPU @ 2.50GHz
stepping        : 7
microcode       : 41
cpu MHz         : 800.000

After

model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2510E CPU @ 2.50GHz
stepping        : 7
microcode       : 41
cpu MHz         : 2501.000

Benchmark

Setup: Compile Node.js from source

Before Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2510E :
Before :

After :

Enjoy !