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    Power Usages are different when boot up on battery

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by Dethredic, Jul 23, 2009.

  1. Dethredic

    Dethredic Notebook Enthusiast

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    So, I just got a shiny new laptop, installed Arch Linux and I have been trying to extend my battery usage. I read lots of wiki pages and some forum posts and applied a bunch of things.

    If I charge my comp to 100%, take out the power cord then restart I get 17.5W (powertop).
    Now, lets say I charge my computer, restart, then take out the power cord I get to 14.2W (powertop).

    Any reason or explanation for that? I am not sure if this is a Linux thing, but I would think so.

    A little off topic but in my nvidia-settings it still says the performance mode is "Desktop" and the performance level is 3. I don't know if that chances, or how to change that if possible
     
    Dethredic, Jul 23, 2009
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  2. archer7

    archer7 Notebook Evangelist

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    You can adjust the nvidia power level through the card's "Device" section in xorg.conf. The relevant codes are bolded out in my example below. nvidia-settings will always report "Desktop" or "High-Performance" though, no matter what you do. However, the clocks it reports are real.

    Code: 
    Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Card0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "nVidia Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 9600M GT"
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
    Option         "TripleBuffer" "True"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option         "BackingStore" "True"
    Option         "DamageEvents" "True"
    Option         "DPMS" "True"
    Option         "TwinView" "true"
    Option         "TwinViewOrientation" "Clone"
    Option         "OnDemandVBlankInterrupts" "True"
   [B]#Option         "RegistryDWords" "PerfLevelSrc=0x3333" #fully adaptive power scaling
    Option         "RegistryDWords" "PowerMizerLevel=0x3" #force low power
   #Option         "RegistryDWords" "PowerMizerLevel=0x2" #force med power
   #Option         "RegistryDWords" "PowerMizerLevel=0x1" #force high power[/B]
EndSection
     
    archer7, Jul 23, 2009
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  3. Dethredic

    Dethredic Notebook Enthusiast

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    alright, I had that I just wondered why it didn't change.
     
    Dethredic, Jul 23, 2009
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  4. Dethredic

    Dethredic Notebook Enthusiast

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    any ideas on the power issue?
     
    Dethredic, Jul 25, 2009
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