[Solved?]ATI Power Consumption

tadevokle · 2011-02-25 18:17:14

Hi all,

I've recently installed ArchLinux (64 Bit) to my Asus K52JK (GPU Model: ATI Radeon HD5145). On other distros I wd usually install the proprietary ATI drivers, but on Arch as recommended by the wiki I've installed the open source version.

Now here's my problem:

The proprietary version (at least on other distros like ubuntu, sabayon and etc.) had this power save feature, which basically turned the gpu down, when the computer is not connected to an ac-power source. As far as I understand the open source version doesn't have this feature (or maybe I somehow have overseen it), and thatswhy my computer consumes the battery power like crazy (the max. battery life I get is like 70 minutes, which with this power save feature of the proprietary drivers was nearly 3.5 hours) . Is there a similiar if not equivalent feature or some command line trickery, which will at least give me some reasonable battery run time?

(Just in case if it's relevant I'm using gnome as my desktop environment)

I'd be glad if you could help.Thanks in advance!

Last edited by tadevokle (2011-02-25 20:26:40)

milomouse · 2011-02-25 19:12:55

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ATI#Powersaving

Is that what you're refering to? I just did this the other day. I use the dynpm method but didn't see if it takes battery into consideration or not. You may want 'profile' and 'auto' power_profile which checks for CPU activity and also battery. This is if you're using KMS. There's non-KMS methods too.

P.S. Not sure if you need git versions of open-source driver for this to work (but that's what I'm using and seems to be suggested by adding a radeon repo to your pacman.conf ala the ATI wiki. I got mine from AUR: xf86-video-ati-git)

Last edited by milomouse (2011-02-25 19:15:55)

tadevokle · 2011-02-25 20:19:11

Yup thanks, more or less. I'm using the KMS-Low Profile thingy now, but I can't say it made a significant amount of difference in the power thirst of my laptop. Though according to powertop my computer now consumes less power (the acpi power usage estimate dropped from ca. 33.0W to ca. 20.0 W,in ubuntu for example it oscilated between 13 W and 15W), so nevertheless it's better than nothing.

PS: It feels really bitter to realize there is an entire section devoted to powersaving after spending nearly half an hour going through that wiki article and overseeing that section.

Last edited by tadevokle (2011-02-25 20:39:49)

Kirurgs · 2011-02-25 20:28:28

Well, I'm using Arch64 and I have catalyst installed. No problems. I think it's just a preference or needs which are driving your choice of driver. OS drivers are not ready for me at least, so I use catalyst.

milomouse · 2011-02-25 23:16:35

since you're on a notebook (as am I) maybe you'll want to use laptop-mode-tools and/or acpid in combination with a kernel CPU Governor (instead of 'performance' which is maxed out, and default) such as cpufreq_conservative, cpufreq_powersave or even cpufreq_userspace (depending on your need). just some ideas on powersaving, anyway. another wiki page for consideration though you've probably already read it: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop

tadevokle · 2011-02-25 23:58:36

I guess the problem was probably of my own making (or maybe even my inability to set up the driver, i'm not sure ^^), after installing catalyst driver, things have been running pretty smoothly and the power management issue also seemed to be fixed.

Thanks for the help though, I greatly appreciate your efforts.

Last edited by tadevokle (2011-02-26 01:45:37)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-02-25 18:17:14

[Solved?]ATI Power Consumption

#2 2011-02-25 19:12:55

Re: [Solved?]ATI Power Consumption

#3 2011-02-25 20:19:11

Re: [Solved?]ATI Power Consumption

#4 2011-02-25 20:28:28

Re: [Solved?]ATI Power Consumption

#5 2011-02-25 23:16:35

Re: [Solved?]ATI Power Consumption

#6 2011-02-25 23:58:36

Re: [Solved?]ATI Power Consumption

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