[SOLVED] Forcing maximum power saving on the desktop ("Minimum power" mode for PowerMizer)

birdie · August 9, 2013, 7:05am

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Why cannot NVIDIA users enforce the lowest performance level/maximum power savings on the desktop?

When I had a 8800GT GPU I simply used nvclock to power down my GPU:

nvidia-settings -a GPUOverclockingState=1 -a GPU2DClockFreqs=165,237 -a GPU3DClockFreqs=165,237
or with older drivers:
nvclock -f -m 200 -n 150

and it worked beautifully.

With Kepler overclocking is no more and we are allowed only three power unfriendly modes: Auto, Adaptive and Maximum Performance.

Please, allow us to have and use “Maximum power saving” mode on the desktop.

birdie · August 11, 2013, 10:13am

This issue is also discussed here - no resolution though.

birdie · August 11, 2013, 10:27am

I’ve found a solution, hooray!!

Nvidia settings panel has a tab called powermizer where you can set a power policy. It will change Graphics Clock, Memory Clock and Processor Clock depending on the system graphics load.

First get what modes do your card and driver support:
nvidia-settings -q GPUPerfModes -t

    perf=0, nvclock=50, memclock=135, processorclock=101 ; perf=1, nvclock=405, memclock=324, processorclock=810 ; perf=2, nvclock=405,
    memclock=1800, processorclock=810 ; perf=3, nvclock=715, memclock=1800, processorclock=1430
I have 4 levels, 0, 1, 2 and 3. 0 is the one I want to set as it sets the clocks to the lower frequency.

If you want to set it to a powersave mode with no scaling you can do it by editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf like this:
Section "Device"
        Identifier     "Device0"
        Driver         "nvidia"
        VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option  "Coolbits" "1"
     Option  "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerLevel=0x3; PowerMizerDefault=0x3; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x3"
    EndSection
"PowerMizerEnable=0x1;

enables PowerMizer feature (0×0 would disable it instead). This entry may not be needed since in recent driver versions PowerMizer is enabled by default.

PerfLevelSrc=0x2222;

sets the governor approach. 0×2222 means fixed frequencies for both battery and AC mode.

PowerMizerLevel=0x3;

sets the current mode. 0×3 is the lowest, least power intensive mode.

PowerMizerDefault=0x3;

sets the default level on battery. 0×3 is the lowest, least power intensive mode.

PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x3"

sets the default level while with an AC plug. 0×3 is the lowest, least power intensive mode.

baitisj · May 7, 2015, 1:03am

These features are no longer available on driver versions 340 and 346 – tested on FreeBSD. It seems like the driver no longer recognizes RegistryDWords…

dinosaur · May 25, 2015, 2:18pm

Works fine for me, but with: Option “Coolbits” “13”

Mounir · May 25, 2015, 7:03pm

hi
nvidia-settings -q GPUPerfModes -t
perf=0, nvclock=590, nvclockmin=590, nvclockmax=590, nvclockeditable=0,
memclock=600, memclockmin=600, memclockmax=600, memclockeditable=0,
memTransferRate=1200, memTransferRatemin=1200, memTransferRatemax=1200,
memTransferRateeditable=0, processorclock=1405, processorclockmin=1405,
processorclockmax=1405, processorclockeditable=0
perf=0, nvclock=590, nvclockmin=590, nvclockmax=590, nvclockeditable=0,
memclock=600, memclockmin=600, memclockmax=600, memclockeditable=0,
memTransferRate=1200, memTransferRatemin=1200, memTransferRatemax=1200,
memTransferRateeditable=0, processorclock=1405, processorclockmin=1405,
processorclockmax=1405, processorclockeditable=0

only one performance mode , i am using 340.65 driver( patched version ) (G210) under Kernel 3.19 .

I am still waiting for a new update .
regards
Mounir

birdie · August 20, 2020, 11:08pm

An update from 2020. Some users may now require a kernel module option instead of an X.org option.

cat /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf
options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwords="OverrideMaxPerf=0x1"

philip2009 · August 11, 2021, 9:37am

options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwords=“OverrideMaxPerf=0x1”

This is a working solution for me. Thanks for sharing.
hardware: macbook pro 15 2009 with nvidia 9400m
software: pop os 21.04, kernel 5.11, nvidia-340
performance level be fixed at level 0, temperature seems lower.