Help a newbie: much higher Idle power consumption in Unraid compared to Windows. any hint as to why?

[m1cc]

Hello everyone!

I'm new to everything Unraid, Linux, and this forum.

I set up a small ITX nas with the following components:

- Ryzen 7500f

- Gigabyte B650i Aorus

- 32gb ddr5

- Arc A380

- Firecuda530 2tb

- 3x Seagate Ironwolf Pro 16TB

 

After some tuning, in windows the power registered at the socket at Idle is between 25 and 30w.

 

I installed Unraid 7.00.2 and I immediately noticed that power consumption at idle with disks spun down and no docker is already 65-70w.

 

Things I've tried so far:

- latest gigabyte BIOS (F32)

- installed powertop which is reporting a max state of C3 and RC6pp but CPU stays mostly on C3

- run powertop -autotune which didn't change much, all instances are reported as "good"

 

I'm aware that ryzen + dedicated GPU is not great for idle consumption, but given that I had achieved 25w idle on windows I was rather happy with it and thought it was low enough for a 24/7 nas/home server-jellyfin srvr. But now in unraid is more than double in idle... What gives?

 

Any suggestion?

 

Thank you all in advance!

[Vr2Io]

You may check what power management driver use and try change to old one, but according your descriptions it doesn't like CPU work in light load and I doubt it will help. I use cpufreq to diagnostic, no experience on powertop. You need keep track what average CPU freq. multiplier to compare power usage between different OS.

 

https://forums.unraid.net/bug-reports/prereleases/7-0-0-beta1-cpu-use-twice-power-r3038/?

 

When you say Unraid use much power then Windows, does both running similar task ？

Edited September 15, 2024 by Vr2Io

[m1cc]

1 hour ago, Vr2Io said:

You may check what power management driver use and try change to old one, but according your descriptions it doesn't like CPU work in light load and I doubt it will help. I use cpufreq to diagnostic, no experience on powertop. You need keep track what average CPU freq. multiplier to compare power usage between different OS.

 

https://forums.unraid.net/bug-reports/prereleases/7-0-0-beta1-cpu-use-twice-power-r3038/?

 

When you say Unraid use much power then Windows, does both running similar task ？

Thank you for the link! I'll look into it and see if that does it. 

 

Windows and Unraid were both idle, if anything Unraid had less to do as it was tested with no dockers, just the community apps plugin loaded and disks spun down. 

 

If I make another usb drive with v6.12, separate from the usb with v7 on it, and load unraid from there, do I lose anything or mess up something on the disks? I was in the process of installing all the -arr apps, vpn, downloaders, etc. 

 

Thanks

[Vr2Io]

7 hours ago, m1cc said:

do I lose anything or mess up something on the disks?

No any negative effect, we always do that to get a trial Unraid for testing or troubleshooting.

 

Of course, backup stick and only keep licence file and make a fresh OS also easy, this also a reason why I like Unraid.

 

You also can downgrade OS through GUI too.

Edited September 16, 2024 by Vr2Io

[m1cc]

14 hours ago, Vr2Io said:

You may check what power management driver use and try change to old one, but according your descriptions it doesn't like CPU work in light load and I doubt it will help. I use cpufreq to diagnostic, no experience on powertop. You need keep track what average CPU freq. multiplier to compare power usage between different OS.

 

https://forums.unraid.net/bug-reports/prereleases/7-0-0-beta1-cpu-use-twice-power-r3038/?

 

When you say Unraid use much power then Windows, does both running similar task ？

Another question if you don't mind, this will sound dumb I know... 

I've read the thread you recommended, and it says to add kernel parameters... Can I do that from the unraid terminal window? Or there's another procedure that I need to follow?

 

Thanks a lot for taking the time

[Vr2Io]

You can click on "Flash" then edit in GUI

 

 

[m1cc]

On 9/16/2024 at 12:34 PM, Vr2Io said:

You can click on "Flash" then edit in GUI

 

 

Thanks again! I tried all amd_pstate(s), passive, guided, active and consumption is still more than double than in Windows...

There's must be something where windows can reach lower C states than linux? does it make sense...?
in the meantime I'm considering dropping this Ryzen nas experiment and moving to a more "traditional" intel 12th gen low power board, cause 70w idle is way too much for european energy prices...

[Vr2Io]

10 hours ago, m1cc said:

There's must be something where windows can reach lower C states than linux? does it make sense...?

I don't think relate C states, Windiws and Linux power management should similar, I suspect power draw come from A380, you may try without it does power drop, may be Unraid haven't take power management on A380.

 

Don't too quickly conclude it's Ryzen issue.

Edited September 18, 2024 by Vr2Io

[m1cc]

3 hours ago, Vr2Io said:

I don't think relate C states, Windiws and Linux power management should similar, I suspect power draw come from A380, you may try without it does power drop, may be Unraid haven't take power management on A380.

 

Don't too quickly conclude it's Ryzen issue.

I suspected that as well, but in powertop GPU is shown as staying 99% on C6 state. 

I'll test it without anyways in windows with aspm and latest drivers was drawing as low as 1.2w (from hwinfo, not sure how accurate it is) when in idle and with screen out. 

[Vr2Io]

38 minutes ago, m1cc said:

I suspected that as well, but in powertop GPU is shown as staying 99% on C6 state. 

I'll test it without anyways  in windows with aspm and latest drivers was drawing as low as 1.2w (from hwinfo, not sure how accurate it is) when in idle and with screen out. 

Then case become interesting.