Reduce power consumption with powertop


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1 hour ago, Yeyo53 said:

Do you think there is something more I can do to lower my power consumption?

Buy a new mainboard. You need a C246 or W480 Board with 8 SATA ports. By that you can remove the inefficient sas card and profit from the more efficient hardware (CPU, DDR4, chipset etc).

 

The graphics card is used for a VM?

 

1 hour ago, Yeyo53 said:

Only 2 disks spinning.

Why? My HDDs are standing still >90% of the day. Sounds like you need a bigger NVMe. Mine has a size of 2TB to avoid using the HDDs even for Nextcloud files.

 

1 hour ago, Yeyo53 said:

I have 3 small disk that can be replace for 1 big hd

Of course an additional option. But saves only up to 1.5W per HDD (spun down).

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29 minutes ago, mgutt said:

Buy a new mainboard. You need a C246 or W480 Board with 8 SATA ports. By that you can remove the inefficient sas card and profit from the more efficient hardware (CPU, DDR4, chipset etc).

 

Yes, I know. But at the moment I dont really want to spend more money. I think the ROI will be very high.

 

29 minutes ago, mgutt said:

The graphics card is used for a VM?

 

Yes

 

31 minutes ago, mgutt said:

Why? My HDDs are standing still >90% of the day. Sounds like you need a bigger NVMe. Mine has a size of 2TB to avoid using the HDDs even for Nextcloud files.

 

This is my first unraid build and I messed up with my space distribution/shares. Basically I need to move 1 of the disk in the unraid to an unassigned device, because disk 5 is ONLY use for seeding torrents. but right now it also implies parity to be UP and a lot of reads in both disks. The problem is that I think I need a disk to replace disk 5 before moving it outside the array so Im delaying this a bit.

 

33 minutes ago, mgutt said:

Of course an additional option. But saves only up to 1.5W per HDD (spun down).

 

Well, in this case again not worth the expense IMO.

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Powertop seems to completely freeze my system after I run --auto-tune. I need to do a hard reset/restart on the unraid machine because it won't be reachable otherwise (pings are fine, but webserver does not work). 

What could be the problem here?

 

Athlon 200GE, Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H, 16GB of RAM, 1*SATA Expansion Card, 1*2,5GbE Intel Card, 

- enabled CEC2019

- enabled ASPM (Active-State Power Management) in the PCI settings

- enabled all C-States like C7/C9/C10 in the CPU settings

- disabled Audio

- disabled Turbo in the CPU settings

Edited by unifiedmamba
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22 minutes ago, unifiedmamba said:

What could be the problem here?

Your SATA expansion card and evern maybe the ethernet port:

https://forums.unraid.net/bug-reports/stable-releases/pci-power-control-auto-for-unused-ethernet-device-kills-server-r2013/

 

Verify it by executing the commands on the first post one by another until the server crashes (powertop executes the same commands). Please don't start the array while testing, else it would force a parity check after the crash.

 

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@mgutt

Yep, it crashes after the PCI command is executed. 

 

Is there something I can do about it?
 

But even with everything else enabled I just seem to be able to get power consumption from 67-69 watts to 63-64 watts which isn't so great. Also it seems like the CPU only gets to C2... while the array is stopped.

Edited by unifiedmamba
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20 minutes ago, unifiedmamba said:

CPU only gets to C2

Which is normal as you have installed two PCI cards which do not sleep (as the command causes a crash) and the full C-State support for AMD is not available by now (needs Unraid 6.11):

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/121551-erlaubt-der-neue-linux-kernel-stromsparende-amd-server/#comment-1140416

 

20 minutes ago, unifiedmamba said:

Is there something I can do about it?

Test which card causes the problem (remove one by another) and replace it. Or maybe test the command through Ubuntu to verify if the problem is only present in Unraid.

 

20 minutes ago, unifiedmamba said:

63-64 watts

Test each component separately. Which means, measure without all HDDs and PCIe cards, then measure only with the 2.5G card, then measure with the SATA card... until you know which component is the reason for your high power consumption. If your power consumption is high even without all the cards and disks, then your mainboard+CPU is the problem, which wouldn't surprise me as its AMD, which does not allow efficient builds and the Athlon is only produced in an inefficient 14nm node:

https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/amd/athlon/200ge

 

As an example, Synology's Ryzen NAS has one of the worst power consumptions of all models:

https://www.computerbase.de/2022-06/synology-ds1522-nas-amd-ryzen-test/3/#abschnitt_lautstaerke__leistungsaufnahme:~:text=Dauereinsatz zu Buche.-,Leistungsaufnahme,-HDDs im Ruhezustand

 

image.png.85f2898a458fc1ed83d153d4a2d732bc.png

 

But even Intel lost their focus on power efficiency after releasing the 10th gen and it became even worse with the 11th gen. The most efficient builds are still only possible with with 8th and 9th gen. And of course you should never add cards if the same feature is available on a motherboard. So your perfect board would be the Gigabyte W480M (8x SATA, 2x M.2 and 1x 2.5G ethernet port), which allows a 10 to 15W build.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you, you litrally halfed my consumption from 290watt idle to lower than 120watt (yes i know thats still high from the wall, but i am running a lot of kit)

 

CPU: AMD 5900X

GPU1: RTX 3070ti eagle

GPU2: GTX 1080 msi

NVME: 3 x nvme 1TB

HDD: 1x8TB 1x4TB

SSD: 3x500gb

RAM: 64GB 3200mhz

Cooling: full watercooing with 11x120mm fans + 2x140mm fans

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6 hours ago, aussie_huddo said:

Do you mean disable the Intel Turbo Boost Technology setting in BIOS? Won't this affect performance?

It will. But you need to know that a CPU usually runs inefficient on the highest frequencies. Every CPU has a "sweet spot", and above it, the CPU consumes more energy for a less performance impact. That's why every Intel CPU starting with the 11th generation has a huge Turbo TDP Limit. It's the only way for Intel to beat AMD which have the more efficient node platform at the moment. That's why they use extremely high base clocks, too (which are already outside if the sweet spot).

 

As an example, this German user found out, that the Ryzen 4650G has its sweet spot at 35W, which is the TDP Limit of the 4650GE:

https://www.computerbase.de/forum/threads/renoir-und-b550-die-idle-kuenstler.1967755/

 

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I can't get it to run --auto-tune anyway, below is the output:

 

powertop: /lib64/libncursesw.so.6: no version information available (required by powertop)
powertop: /lib64/libtinfo.so.6: no version information available (required by powertop)
modprobe cpufreq_stats failedLoaded 0 prior measurements
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop
File will be loaded after taking minimum number of measurement(s) with battery only 
RAPL device for cpu 0
RAPL device for cpu 0
Devfreq not enabled
glob returned GLOB_ABORTED
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop
File will be loaded after taking minimum number of measurement(s) with battery only 
Leaving PowerTOP

I am still on 6.9.2, upgrading in next couple of days.

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On 10/21/2020 at 4:05 AM, mgutt said:

If your system isn't optimized, you will see this

 

Thank you for this, as I've reduced my idle wattage from 55W to 35W; really nice. However, I notice that my Pkg(HW) c-states are mostly all 0%, still. I have Home Assistant and a Pi-Hole docker running, are they preventing the CPU from going into c-states? For my CPU to go fully idle, does this mean I have to disable all dockers and VMs?

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Im wondering if anyone could help me. I'm getting this error running powertop

 

powertop --auto-tune
powertop: /lib64/libncursesw.so.6: no version information available (required by powertop)
powertop: /lib64/libtinfo.so.6: no version information available (required by powertop)
modprobe cpufreq_stats failedLoaded 0 prior measurements
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop
File will be loaded after taking minimum number of measurement(s) with battery only 
RAPL device for cpu 0
RAPL device for cpu 0
Devfreq not enabled
glob returned GLOB_ABORTED
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop
File will be loaded after taking minimum number of measurement(s) with battery only 
Leaving PowerTOP

 

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6 hours ago, wiregen said:

Im wondering if anyone could help me. I'm getting this error running powertop

 

powertop --auto-tune
powertop: /lib64/libncursesw.so.6: no version information available (required by powertop)
powertop: /lib64/libtinfo.so.6: no version information available (required by powertop)
modprobe cpufreq_stats failedLoaded 0 prior measurements
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop
File will be loaded after taking minimum number of measurement(s) with battery only 
RAPL device for cpu 0
RAPL device for cpu 0
Devfreq not enabled
glob returned GLOB_ABORTED
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop
File will be loaded after taking minimum number of measurement(s) with battery only 
Leaving PowerTOP

 

Are you on 6.10.3? That seemed to fix it. Also try installing the powertop 2.13 version from nerd tools plug-in then run it.

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Thank you @mgutt for the great work!

 

I gave this a shot after a year (back in the days it just didn't work to get the CPU off turbo mode) and it's insane. Maybe my readings are wrong with powertop. But if not... wow

 

Before "tuning" this my power consumption with some steam servers runing, plex and home security runing was around 25-45Watts. Setup is this:

 

CPU: i5 - 10600k

Mainboard: Gigabyte Z490i Aorus Ultra

RAM: 64GB 3200mhz

NVME: 1 x Evo Plus 1TB

HDD: 2x8TB 2x4TB WD Red

Cooling: 4x Noctua 120mm

 

It came down to 6-12Watts! How is this possible? Only because entering C-State and avoiding turbo mode?

NewConsum.png.dad23734f2cc31b8de1d8f31821b6cbf.png

 

My CPU never clocked under 4.1Ghz before tuning. Now it's runing at 1.2Ghz until load is applied.

CPUFreq.png.c5f86997a97498e6c089b7bce48d7fd2.png

 

This is so amazing. Even if it's not turbo boosting anymore. It's still enough power for all my daily tasks. Even the Fans stopped. So it's a passive cooled server in the living room right now :)

 

And with the raising costs for power in europe, i really appreciate this money saving per Year.

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When I ran --auto-tune the CPU frequency would go down to 3.6GHz, then I edited the go file with the commands in the first post and with array stopped min frequency was 800MHz. However when the array is started the min frequency now seems to be pegged around 4GHz with slight dips to ~3.95GHz.

 

CPU is i3-9100. Turbo is still on in the BIOS. I am trying to get best performance while still throttling down the CPU when unneeded. Any ideas?

 

1335731156_Screenshot2022-08-22175229.jpg.561e26f21f30f9ada2ecc9b9663da5e2.jpg

 

EDIT: SOLVED

Settings>Tips and Tweaks (plugin)

set CPU Scaling Governor to Power save. CPU now throttles right back

Edited by aussie_huddo
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*UPDATE*
 

Since i did all this power saving settings, my server looses network connection. Even when in use.

when this happens it‘s not even listed in my router. Is the NIC going to sleep? 
i edited the go file back to default, but it keeps happening. Lost a whole day of my life trying to solve this. 
 

any ideas or experiences with this behavior

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Hi, I think my power consumption is quite to high for my rig. Do you have any advices how I can improve it?

Also, CPU never achieves power state lower (higher?) than C3 and my IDLE stats are too high aswell.

I'm measuring power via smart plug which shows it betwen 37-42 W.

37 W - complete idle with array stopped

42 W - Array started, Dockers: Tailscale, PhotoStructure, qbittorrentvpn, Plex-Media-Server. No users connected to any of them

 

 

"powertop --auto-tune" is obviously done

Powersave governor also enabled


CPU: i5 12500

MOBO: MAG B660M MORTAR WIFI DDR4

PSU: Corsair RM550x

RAM: GOODRAM 2x8GB 3200MHz CL16 IRDM X Black

HDD: 3x Seagate IronWolf 4 TB ST4000VNZ08

 

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Edited by chchiyan
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42 minutes ago, chchiyan said:

CPU: i5 12500

MOBO: MAG B660M MORTAR WIFI DDR4

I've never seen an efficient MSI Board or 12th Gen Intel.

 

42 minutes ago, chchiyan said:

PSU: Corsair RM550x

Which one? 2018 or 2021? The 2018 is much less efficient.

 

44 minutes ago, chchiyan said:

Also, CPU never achieves power state lower (higher?) than C3 and my IDLE stats are too high aswell.

I think powertop does not display correct c-states for recent CPU models.

 

 

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Quote

I've never seen an efficient MSI Board or 12th Gen Intel.

So there is no other way than changing both CPU nad MOBO?

 

Quote

Which one? 2018 or 2021? The 2018 is much less efficient.

2021

 

Quote

I think powertop does not display correct c-states for recent CPU models.

I'm also using CoreFreq but I'm not sure yet how to properly read C-States data in that tool

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Runnng unraid 6.10.3

Can run powertop but not the autotune it gives the following:

 

powertop --auto-tune
powertop: /lib64/libncursesw.so.6: no version information available (required by powertop)
powertop: /lib64/libtinfo.so.6: no version information available (required by powertop)
modprobe cpufreq_stats failedCannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_results.powertop
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop
File will be loaded after taking minimum number of measurement(s) with battery only 
RAPL device for cpu 0
RAPL device for cpu 0
Devfreq not enabled
glob returned GLOB_ABORTED
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop
File will be loaded after taking minimum number of measurement(s) with battery only 
Leaving PowerTOP

 

Any tips to fix? is it a permissions problem?

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