# ati powerplay for linux?

## pari

in windows, there is a nice feature for ati-cards, called powerplay which saves power when the notebook is running on battery.

is it possible to activate this in linux?

----------

## soulwarrior

If you installed the ati-drivers, have a look in "opt/ati/bin", there you should find fgkrx_pplay to control the powerplay functionality of your radeon card.

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## codergeek42

And if you're using X.org's radeon driver, take a look at the DynamicClocks option for the driver. (Check the radeon(4) man page for more information.)

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## Raistlin

```
aticonfig
```

 is very useful, too  :Wink: 

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## BlueShadow

well "aticonfig --set-powerstate=X" does its job. But know I tried to execute from a script after an acpi event. 

That didn't work (could not open display). So it seems that it needs an X Server going. Well I have X running.

Why doesn't that work even with "DISLPAY=:0.0 aticonfig ..." Can anyone help me?

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## beatryder

I have found that the best way to script it is to call fglrx_pplay directly. Test each set of settings from the ati-config and then use those in the script

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## Johan_V

It seems that if I suspend when using low voltage powerstate, linux will occasionally hard lock on resume.

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## ueymir

 *Raistlin wrote:*   

> 
> 
> ```
> aticonfig
> ```
> ...

 

aticonfig --lsp gives me just my default state, no other frequencies, so setting a different powerstate does not work  :Shocked: 

```
 ~ $ aticonfig --lsp

  core/mem      [flags]

---------------

1: 392/209 MHz  [default state]

 ~ $ fglrx_pplay 

extVersion =     1

extRevision =    1

ppVersion =      3

numPowerStates = 1

flags =          0x41 [no POWERplay page, overdrive version]
```

I am running xorg 6.8.2-r6, ati-drivers (+ati-drivers-extra) 8.20.8, kernel 2.6.14-r4, xorg.conf on an ati radeon mobility 9700 (64MB Ram) with an Asus M6Ne.

ati says that the 9700 mobility card supports powerplay version 4, how come the version possible here is 3? I assume it is a driver thing, since ati is slowly getting support for their cards done - or I have trouble with my graphics card.

And what is this no POWERplay page?! I did not find any useful information about that anywhere   :Crying or Very sad: 

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## BlueShadow

 *beatryder wrote:*   

> I have found that the best way to script it is to call fglrx_pplay directly. Test each set of settings from the ati-config and then use those in the script

 

Well fglrx_pplay also needs an X Server running. So it brings the same problem.

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## ueymir

Someone with a clue on how to get more than one powerstate? Anyone? If anything is in the ati-howto found somewhere, well, I can not get it here, China is blocking my way to that site   :Evil or Very Mad: 

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## kalis0

```

loki@midgard ~ $ aticonfig --lsp

  core/mem      [flags]

---------------

1: 105/122 MHz  [low voltage]

2: 209/182 MHz  [low voltage]

3: 398/250 MHz  [default state]

loki@midgard ~ $

```

I guess your card is not powerplay-enabled. it might just not be a mobility, but a plain 9700. I have a mobility x600, in a asus M6.

 *Quote:*   

> Why doesn't that work even with "DISLPAY=:0.0 aticonfig"

 

you may have to run once:

```
xhost +local:
```

so that local users (like root, or the one your acpi script is run as) other than the one logged in can access the x display. I added it in my gnome session startup.

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## ueymir

This IS a Radeon Mobility 9700   :Shocked:  It says so on the outside of the Asus M6Ne, on the bill I got when purchasing it, just lspci says it is a 9600, but that should be fine since the difference is just a higher clock rate 

```
 ~ # lspci |grep VGA

VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10]
```

I was suspicious before, since people were reporting about a fraud that they really just got a 9600 ...

The performance on the other hand does not seem to be that of a 9700 .. which should be higher, right? I guess it is time to contact Asus.   :Evil or Very Mad: 

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## kalis0

hmmm, I seem I get it. see:

 *Quote:*   

> flags =          0x41 [no POWERplay page, overdrive version]

 

usually overdrive means roughly overclock.

so, as you say, the 9700 is an overdrived 9600. thus, powerplay seems to be disabled for this to take place. 

that's just a guess though.

 *Quote:*   

> It seems that if I suspend when using low voltage powerstate, linux will occasionally hard lock on resume.

 

ah, this might (or not) explain the black screen lockup I experience sometimes on logout from gnome to gdm. it seemed to me that it occured when I played with aticonfig and pplay states. I'll have to take a look at that someday.

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## ueymir

The overclocking was done by ATI itself, so I heard, since the Model M10 and M11 is almost identical (9600 and 9700) except the clockspeed. On the ati webpage you can see that the 9700 and the 9600 _both_ support powerplay in version 4. The 9700 is just supposed to be a better piece of hardware, thus the higher clockspeeds. Actually, it is just a marketing fraud, as I believe now.   :Crying or Very sad: 

This is what it says on their webpage. Notice the Overdrive™ feature. I do not have a sensor to work with, though, nothing to read, maybe it is just an internal one?   :Rolling Eyes:   *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Powerplay™4.0
> 
>         * ATI’s fourth-generation PowerPlay™ power management technology provides users with the optimal balance between performance and power consumption
> ...

 

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## kalis0

this overdrive feature reminds me of the intel throttling feature: it allows the processing unit to not do anything during a number of cycles (though it does not change the clock; it's available through /proc/acpi/processor/CPU1/throttling), allowing it to cool down when reaching critical thermal levels. I saw some impressive videos of a p4 running quake 3, and the heatsink+fan being removed live: the game slowed down as hell, but the cpu was safe, unlike the poor amd cpus in the video, which looked much like a overheated toaster.

in my laptop I do have a sensor on the gpu, but can't read it, although it controls internally the gpu fan (i can hear the fan making different noises depending on gpu load and heat expelled from exhausts), which I seem to have access to via acpi:

```
loki@midgard ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/power_resource/GFAN/state

state:                   on

system level:            S0

order:                   0

reference count:         1

```

I just guess gfan stands for gpu/graphicscard/graphic-whatever fan, and the acpi state seems to be on sync with the fan physically, so this must be the entry.

back to your issue:

what worries me is this:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> ppVersion =      3
> 
> numPowerStates = 1
> ...

 

the powerplay version is 3 and the number of powerstates is 1... so you might just as well have a faulty chip, or one that just does not support powerplay... which is not what was advertised, so you can complain to asus/your dealer. just a question though: did you test it under windows? (whatever people may say, windows is a good test place to know ih things are software-(i.e linux/driver) or hardware-related).

edit: just tested on mine: 

```
 loki@midgard ~ $ fglrx_pplay

extVersion =     1

extRevision =    1

ppVersion =      3

numPowerStates = 3

flags =          0x60 [power-saving state, overdrive version]

```

 gah... ppVersion is 3...

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## ueymir

Actually, I just did boot into windows to file the ASUS complain, linux and firefox (cookies and javascript = yes) does not seem to be compatible with their support form  :Evil or Very Mad: 

Where exactly do I check the powerplay feature when using omega drivers? I hardly use windows, just keep it for just THAT case and my girlfriend, but I did not see anything related in the settings part. Ah, I have some other software that might help me, will report back in double boot time!

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate that!

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## ueymir

I just checked windows again, used SiSoft Sandra and Power Strip. Powerstrip let me change the speed randomly, but for predefined values only normal could be selected. I was using older omega drivers (half year old maybe), do not know if that version might not support the powerplay feature. Forgot to write down the version, but might update it, if it is necessary.

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## kalis0

powerstrip and omega are a bit of a hack, so they would do things you couldn't normally do (i.e over/underclocking) and that your hardware migh not support. for a true vision of the hardware capabilities, you should install latest ati catalyst drivers and go to display->config->advanced (or the likes), there should be a powerplay tab (drivers w/ control panel) or go take a look in the control center (drivers w/ catalyst control center). if the tab does not appear, there's chance your device does not support it. if it appears, there should be various sliders (for different ac/dc states) with a number of positions available, corresponding to pp states.

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## ueymir

Oh boy, what a ride! I tried to get the catalyst drivers to work, had to patch them before, since they have some trouble with some *.inf file.. Well, after downloading the wrong files - the ones including some control center software that in return requires .NET to be installed - managed to get some drivers working. I guess they were working, but I did not have any extra tabs whatsoever. Finally I gave up, after 7 times restarting   :Evil or Very Mad:   It is way to late here, I am tired of Microsoft, ATI, ASUS and will NEVER buy anything related anymore.

The Hotline did not reply yet, which I did not expect anyway, but I was lucky enough to miss some information about powerplay not being activated by ASUS on the M6xx.   :Embarassed:   Great day, not only wasting time on the net, searching for a way to get it to work (I really thought this was linux related   :Rolling Eyes:  ) but also being stupid enough to believe ASUS would not trick their users. I am eagerly awaiting their response, although I know the outcome already. Do you guys think I can put pressure on ASUS for not telling me about that? The pdf pricelist flyer did not contain anything about this at the time I bought this hardware, nor did the webpage say anything about some features being missing. I am angry, very angry.

Anyway, I am happy to be home now, away from microsoft, here with you guys! It really feels good not to reboot every 15 seconds, right after 4 or 5 minutes of booting up all the software I do not want to use anyway.

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