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Topic: cpupower in "conservative" mode = tranquility and performance (Read 841 times) previous topic - next topic
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cpupower in "conservative" mode = tranquility and performance

Thanks to cpupower in "conservative" mode, my PC's processors heat up even less and I haven't noticed any loss in performance.

What is significant in "conservative" mode is that in iddle mode, the processor no longer has these frequency peaks. This causes the CPU fan to ramp up for a few seconds, which is annoying.

I configured my PCs in "conservative" mode, including two old entry-level laptops from 2010.

I am using Artix XFCE OpenRC.

Code: [Select]
sudo pacman -Sy cpupower-openrc

Run cpupower at startup (openrc):
Code: [Select]
sudo rc-update add cpupower

To set "conservative" mode at startup:
Code: [Select]
sudo nano /etc/conf.d/cpupower

Adapt this line:
Code: [Select]
START_OPTS="--governor conservative"

Re: cpupower in "conservative" mode = tranquility and performance

Reply #1 –
I use the "schedutil" governor, and I'm happy with it. In my experience, it's much like the "conservative" one in idle managing, but somewhat more responsive. Conservative governor, on the other hand, is good for laptops, because it spares energy with little to no impact on performance.

If you suffer from performance peaks with your CPU, you may try to adjust power and frequency settings in your BIOS. Certain options depend on your mobo's firmware. It's a known issue, especially with AMD processors, and searching over the Internet brings you plenty results. (Luckily, I don't have these issues with my CPU and mobo).

Re: cpupower in "conservative" mode = tranquility and performance

Reply #2 –
Quote from: VictorBrand – on
I use the "schedutil" governor, and I'm happy with it. In my experience, it's much like the "conservative" one in idle managing, but somewhat more responsive. Conservative governor, on the other hand, is good for laptops, because it spares energy with little to no impact on performance.

If you suffer from performance peaks with your CPU, you may try to adjust power and frequency settings in your BIOS. Certain options depend on your mobo's firmware. It's a known issue, especially with AMD processors, and searching over the Internet brings you plenty results. (Luckily, I don't have these issues with my CPU and mobo).
Thank you for your observations and conclusions.

I don't like fiddling too much in the bios, especially since those of laptops are reduced to a minimum.
It's true, I observe this phenomenon of performance peaks more on my AMD CPU.

But as I also have Intel, especially on laptops where we have rudimentary bios, cpupower smooths out these peaks well on all my machines.

And as said, I don't see any performance degradation or responsiveness on all my PCs, even on the oldest ones.