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Is Intel's PowerTOP Utility Still Beneficial In 2016 On Ubuntu 16.04 To Save Power?

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  • Is Intel's PowerTOP Utility Still Beneficial In 2016 On Ubuntu 16.04 To Save Power?

    Phoronix: Is Intel's PowerTOP Utility Still Beneficial In 2016 On Ubuntu 16.04 To Save Power?

    Intel OTC's PowerTOP utility has been around for nearly a decade for making it easy to carry out power optimization tweaks on Intel Linux systems. However, is this program still useful or are modern Linux distributions and upstream code now better optimized by default for delivering an ideal power-savings experience? As it's been a while since the last time I tried PowerTOP, I fired it up today on an Intel Haswell ultrabook running a development snapshot of Ubuntu 16.04...

    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite

  • #2
    See how work my mechanism of power and performance management = APM 5.1 + my build od kernel silverstone - on Acer ES1-331:

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...eny/ptop-1.png

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...eny/ptop-2.png

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...eny/ptop-3.png

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...silvermont.png

    APM 5.1 Manager [part of our NeteXt'73 Optimization Tool] on Asus ux303ln - Kubuntu 15.10 [Plasma 5.5.4]:

    Last edited by ext73; 14 March 2016, 05:27 PM.

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    • #3
      Makes a big difference still. I wish more distros would prompt you to run powertop --configure during the install process and set up a powertop --autotune script to run on boot thereafter (or whatever the equivalent arguments are; that's how I set mine up), because Linux would have a much better reputation for battery life.

      It does occasionally cause issues (the --autotune turned off my touchpad by default by allowing it to "sleep" and I had to disable that one rule manually) which is probably why it doesn't run out of the box (which is always the problem with desktop Linux tweaks, of course), but I wish it were more widely used.

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      • #4
        I'd like to see how the 4.6.0 fbc and psr Intel kernel args impact power usage on Intel chips, specifically haswell. I've been using powertop and tlp on my haswell laptop, but I'm always searching for ways to extend my battery life

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        • #5
          Isn't TLP supposed to do the same as Powertop does and add some more including kernel level optimizations when running on battery?

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          • #6
            Originally posted by linuxforall View Post
            Isn't TLP supposed to do the same as Powertop does and add some more including kernel level optimizations when running on battery?
            for the most part, yes. I'd have to check, but I believe that there were a few things that stop TLP couldn't handle out of the box that I ended up originally using powertop for, and eventually just extending TLP to handle for my laptop.

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            • #7
              I don't think powertop should be run by default while you install Linux. It can introduce lots of problems too if USB is in powersave mode and other things. If somebody likes it can be still used after install - then the user has at least full control and (should) know how to adjust the settings.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by linuxforall View Post
                Isn't TLP supposed to do the same as Powertop does and add some more including kernel level optimizations when running on battery?
                @michael: could you run a comparison of powertop and tlp?

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Kano View Post
                  I don't think powertop should be run by default while you install Linux. It can introduce lots of problems too if USB is in powersave mode and other things. If somebody likes it can be still used after install - then the user has at least full control and (should) know how to adjust the settings.
                  Powertop is not a solution ... it is only a diagnostic tool You can do it a lot better [better than TLP - TLP does not have a manager to manage settings] and do not have problems with USB ... check my APM 5.1 - btw. VM wt intentionally is set to "bad" - I give here other values than proposed PT. See this on my Asus UX303LN - i5 5200u + 8 GB ram + Nvidia Optimus - 840M:






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                  • #10
                    You get better battery, but maybe you get lower performance.
                    So you probably want to do this on your laptop, but not on your desktop.

                    I wonder if the Dell Sputnik "Developer Edition" laptop preloaded with Ubuntu is configured this way.

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