Reduce power consumption with powertop

dopeytree · February 11

I think intel has power problems with 2.5Gb - I have intel i266 and don't get lower than c3 but do also have a HBA. Someone else in this thread said they were going to email intel about getting better 2.5g intel drivers in linux..

2.5Gb in general just seems to use more power. I sold my unmanaged qnap 2.5Gb switch (QNAP QSW-2104-2T 4-Port Unmanaged Desktop 2.5-Gigabit Switch w/ 2 x 10GbE RJ45 Ports) because it was using about 25-30w for 6ports (only 2x being used at 2.5Gb). Whereas my 1Gb managed switch uses about 3.8w. TP-Link TL-SG608E 8-Port Gigabit

Edited February 13 by dopeytree

ServerUngeek · February 11

I get C7 with the I225-V that I'm having, no HBA and I'm expecting the I226 to being at least not worse. If not, it's going back too 😄

What's really weird is that my MB has 2 short PCI slots and two long and C7 is only reachable with the long slot, short slots give me C3 max. So with it the server consumes 1W more because of C7 which is fine for me.

Is there actually a Mainboard with onboard 2.5Gbit that has been proved to allow C10? My Gigabyte C246M does allow C10 with onboard LAN chips but it's only 1Gbit.

Edited February 11 by ServerUngeek

Knorki · February 11

7 hours ago, mgutt said:

The go file should never be executed manually. It starts the unRAID WebGUI. You need to paste the commands line by line or use a separate script with the user scripts plugin. For example I'm not using the go file. I have a user script which gets executed on first array start.

PS you should restart your server to avoid further problems with your execution of the go file.

That worked, thx.

OrdinaryButt · February 11

3 hours ago, ServerUngeek said:

Well, might very well be the reason, the card isn't useful then if the CPU gets stuck at C3. So, I guess whatever, sending it back.

I've now ordered a I226-T1 card from intel, gonna see how it features. In the specs Intel is actually is explicitly saying that it's tweaked to low power consumption and consumes a maximum of 1.4W when actively transferring in 2.5Gbit mode which is astonishing.

The noname china made I225-V card that I'm currently using is really a bit weird, especially since it seems to not be able to interpret EEE modes from the switch (which the realtek card can do), I hope that the intel made card is going to be more decent.

Let us know how it goes and which exact model. Thanks.

bigup · February 11

6 hours ago, ServerUngeek said:

Well, might very well be the reason, the card isn't useful then if the CPU gets stuck at C3. So, I guess whatever, sending it back.

I've now ordered a I226-T1 card from intel, gonna see how it features. In the specs Intel is actually is explicitly saying that it's tweaked to low power consumption and consumes a maximum of 1.4W when actively transferring in 2.5Gbit mode which is astonishing.

The noname china made I225-V card that I'm currently using is really a bit weird, especially since it seems to not be able to interpret EEE modes from the switch (which the realtek card can do), I hope that the intel made card is going to be more decent.

do you have a link to the I226-T1 ?

bagican · February 12

18 hours ago, dopeytree said:

I sold my 2.5Gb switch because it was using about 25-30w for 5ports (only 2x being used at 2.5Gb). Whereas my 1Gb switch uses about 5w.

My 2.5G switch (4 port, with 2 unused SFP+ ports) uses 2-3 W with 3 ports used. My 5 port router Mikrotik (1Gbit) uses 2.5W.

i recommend to watch/read STH (Serve The Home) for reviews, most of them includes also power consumption measurements

Edited February 12 by bagican

planetwilson · February 12

Not sure if this is the right place. I recently upgraded my server to 13700K, Z690 motherboard an 64GB 3200 RAm. I am getting 100W idle which feels quite high. I have done a lot of the tuning mentioned here but have narrowed it down to my GPU, a Radeon RX6800. If I remove that then it idles around 40W.

Anyone know how I can reduce the idle consumption of the card - it should be less than 10W at idle from reading about.

planetwilson · February 12

Actually I think I answered my own question, I had it isloated with VFIO and that made it run at high idle power. By not doing that, installing Radeontop, the power draw came right down, I assume because drivers got loaded? Anyway I can still use it in my VMs and power usage is much lower so I'm happy.

Maurice97 · February 12

Does anyone have any recommendations for a power supply that is most efficient between 50-120w?

I currently have a Seasonic CORE-GM-650 Partial modular PC Power Supply 80PLUS Gold 650 Watt installed but am considering replacing it because it doesn't seem to be very efficient at loads below ~150w.

ServerUngeek · February 12

2 minutes ago, Maurice97 said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for a power supply that is most efficient between 50-120w?

I currently have a Seasonic CORE-GM-650 Partial modular PC Power Supply 80PLUS Gold 650 Watt installed but am considering replacing it because it doesn't seem to be very efficient at loads below ~150w.

Yes, Seasonic Prime TX are the best I think, I'm using one myself.

ServerUngeek · February 13

I226-T1 from intel is definitely the way to go, when it comes to power consumption: super low, 0.6W lower than I225-V that I have lying around. However, it also does not interpret EEE from the switch at all, the realtek card could at least report EEE for up to 1Gbit. I dunno what the hell this is. Maybe my router sucks, it's Fritzbox 6690, I opened a AVM ticket but they can't tell me much except that they don't see any problems in the router. Or it's a drivers issue, I'm running 6.5.0-0 kernel, so it's quite up to date.

Besides, with I226-T1 I too have the problem of having to restart the NAS if I pull the network cable, or restart the router, which is annoying but should not happen too often, I hope. This is due to powertop and definitely has to do with the router too. I know no solution to this problem. Basically network connection needs to be established before powertop is run, which only happens at reboot.

So, whatever, I guess I'm keeping the I226-T1

Edited February 13 by ServerUngeek

da_stingo · February 13

On 2/12/2024 at 1:08 PM, bagican said:

My 2.5G switch (4 port, with 2 unused SFP+ ports) uses 2-3 W with 3 ports used. My 5 port router Mikrotik (1Gbit) uses 2.5W.

i recommend to watch/read STH (Serve The Home) for reviews, most of them includes also power consumption measurements

Would you mind naming the switch directly? I always look for hardware with low power recommendations. Thank you

Sptz87 · February 14

Anyone here with an AMD Ryzen? I’m using the 5800x3d on unraid. Changed the governor from performance to ondemand. But I read that there’s an AMD specific driver that is supposedly tailored for these Ryzen cpus? Is that true? Like it’s stated here:

Quote

amd_pstate_epp This "active" driver implements a scaling driver with an internal governor for AMD Ryzen (some Zen 2 and newer) processors.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/CPU_frequency_scaling#Scaling_drivers

Has anyone used this at all in unraid? Or should I leave it as ondemand/performance realistically?

And in the bios settings, CPCC, Global CStates etc are all on auto. ASPM is off but I think that's relevant to the gpu only (pcie).

Basically I want this cpu to idle as deep as it did on Windows and scale up when needed.

mgutt · February 14

18 minutes ago, Sptz87 said:

Has anyone used this at all in unraid?

Has no impact regarding my tests:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/121551-erlaubt-der-neue-linux-kernel-stromsparende-amd-server/?do=findComment&comment=1337385

Sptz87 · February 14

13 minutes ago, mgutt said:

Has no impact regarding my tests:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/121551-erlaubt-der-neue-linux-kernel-stromsparende-amd-server/?do=findComment&comment=1337385

I'm gonna follow that thread thank you! So there's nothing more we can do with these Ryzen chips regarding lowering power consumption on idle?

bagican · February 14

On 2/12/2024 at 1:08 PM, bagican said:

My 2.5G switch (4 port, with 2 unused SFP+ ports) uses 2-3 W with 3 ports used. My 5 port router Mikrotik (1Gbit) uses 2.5W.

i recommend to watch/read STH (Serve The Home) for reviews, most of them includes also power consumption measurements

13 hours ago, da_stingo said:

Would you mind naming the switch directly? I always look for hardware with low power recommendations. Thank you

My 2.5G switch is this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005992916169.html

- HORACO 2.5GbE Ethernet Switch 4 Port

- from HORACO Official Store

HORACO-2-5GbE-Ethernet-Switch-4-Port-250

and my router is Mikrotik RB750Gr3 (or Mikrotik hEX) https://mikrotik.com/product/RB750Gr3

Edited February 14 by bagican

dopeytree · February 14

Regarding AMD there has been a ton of work to optimise low power in linux by AMD & valve due to steamdeck. There's a very detailed video with an AMD engineer on youtube but all I can find is this crapy news article. I'll spin up unraid on my steamdeck and post some stats out of interest.

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/325379-amd-and-valve-are-building-a-better-cpu-driver-for-linux

Sptz87 · February 14

3 hours ago, dopeytree said:

Regarding AMD there has been a ton of work to optimise low power in linux by AMD & valve due to steamdeck. There's a very detailed video with an AMD engineer on youtube but all I can find is this crapy news article. I'll spin up unraid on my steamdeck and post some stats out of interest.

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/325379-amd-and-valve-are-building-a-better-cpu-driver-for-linux

Wish I could help but I have no idea what I'm doing as a first time unraid user! Main thing I've seen is literally what I posted "amd_pstate_epp".

The problem is this:

Quote

acpi_cpufreq CPUFreq driver which utilizes the ACPI Processor Performance States. This driver also supports the Intel Enhanced SpeedStep (previously supported by the deprecated speedstep-centrino module). For AMD Ryzen it only provides 3 frequency states.

I checked myself and it's correct. Only 3 frequency states are reported. Whilst using amd_pstate_epp should potentially be better but I have no idea how to do it and am afraid of borking my stable unraid build loool. I do have CPPC on auto and should change it to enabled anyways! Also CO to -30 as I know it's fully stable (this setup is the remnants of my gaming pc)

genesisdoeswhatnintendont · February 14

On 2/13/2024 at 12:50 AM, Maurice97 said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for a power supply that is most efficient between 50-120w?

I currently have a Seasonic CORE-GM-650 Partial modular PC Power Supply 80PLUS Gold 650 Watt installed but am considering replacing it because it doesn't seem to be very efficient at loads below ~150w.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TnPx1h-nUKgq3MFzwl-OOIsuX_JSIurIq3JkFZVMUas/edit#gid=110239702

de-sascha · February 14

On 1/15/2024 at 4:15 PM, bromerico975 said:
Hi,

I have almost the same system as you:

- ASUS Pro H610T D4-CSM

- Intel i3 12100 boxed

- 1x 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MHz

- Leicke ULL NT03015 12V 120W

- Transcend 16GB JF V10 (no HHD for testing)

- Unraid 6.12.6

I found the solution to enable ASPM for the Realtek RTL8111H (it works for me):
echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/r8169/0000\:02\:00.0/link/l1_2_aspm
"0000\:02\:00.0" is the adress for the Realtek RLT8111H from lspci (0000:02:00.0).

But the lowest wattage I can reach is 4,7 watts with unplugged HDMI cable and unplugged keyboard.

@bagican How can you reach 3 watts? Is your Akasa power supply so much better?

Hi long pause between. But today I tried on my ASUS Pro H610T D4-CSM

echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/r8169/0000\:02\:00.0/link/l1_aspm

To activate L1 ASPM on the Realtek RTL8111H

But I don't know why I don't have permissions to. See:

root@nasnas:~# lspci -vv | awk '/ASPM/{print $0}' RS= | grep --color -P '(^[a-z0-9:.]+|ASPM )'
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-S PCH PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev 11) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        LnkCap:    Port #1, Speed 8GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s <1us, L1 <4us
        LnkCtl:    ASPM L0s L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes, Disabled- CommClk-
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 7aba (rev 11) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        LnkCap:    Port #3, Speed 8GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L1, Exit Latency L1 <64us
        LnkCtl:    ASPM L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes, Disabled- CommClk+
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
        LnkCap:    Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s unlimited, L1 <64us
        LnkCtl:    ASPM L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes, Disabled- CommClk+


root@nasnas:~# echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/r8169/0000\:02\:00.0/link/l1_aspm
tee: '/sys/bus/pci/drivers/r8169/0000:02:00.0/link/l1_aspm': Permission denied
1

UPDATE!
ENABLE native ASPM support in BIOS fixed the permission issue
Mean ENABLE = OS ASPM support not BIOS support which is disable state.

UPDATE2:

C10 Working now!
Without HDDs connected around 5 Watt idle load

I need to enable ASPM on the Realtek NIC manuel:
You can simple use this Shell script. But may you need edit the Endpoint like here: 02:00.0

#!/bin/bash

# Execute lspci -vv and filter lines containing ASPM
# Then grep for lines containing Ethernet controller
# Finally, print all lines beginning from the Ethernet controller line to the end
output=$(lspci -vv | awk '/ASPM/{print $0}' RS= | grep --color -P '(^[a-z0-9:.]+|ASPM )' | awk '/Ethernet controller/{found=1} found')

# Check if "ASPM Disabled" appears after finding the Ethernet controller
if echo "$output" | grep -q "ASPM Disabled"; then
    echo "ASPM Disabled for Ethernet controller"
    sleep 2
    # Run the command to enable ASPM
    echo "Enabling L1 ASPM for Ethernet controller"
    echo
    set -x
    echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/r8169/0000:02:00.0/link/l1_aspm >/dev/null
    set +x
    # Sleep for 3 seconds
    sleep 3
    # Check again if ASPM is now enabled
    new_output=$(lspci -vv | awk '/ASPM/{print $0}' RS= | grep --color -P '(^[a-z0-9:.]+|ASPM )' | awk '/Ethernet controller/{found=1} found')
    if echo "$new_output" | grep -q "ASPM Disabled"; then
        echo
        echo "ASPM still Disabled after attempting to enable"
    else
        echo
        echo "ASPM Enabled for Ethernet controller"
        echo "$new_output"
        echo
        echo "Use powertop and check the C-States"
    fi
else
    echo
    echo "ASPM Enabled for Ethernet controller"
    echo "$new_output"
    echo
    echo "Use powertop and check the C-States"
fi

Edited February 14 by de-sascha

de-sascha · February 14

1 hour ago, genesisdoeswhatnintendont said:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TnPx1h-nUKgq3MFzwl-OOIsuX_JSIurIq3JkFZVMUas/edit#gid=110239702

I did some short Tests based on Fritz Dect 200:

Based on ASUS Pro H610T D4-CSM
1 USB Stick Unraid 6.12.6,
Powertop --auto-tune , System in C3 State!

Mean Well LSP-160-12T:
Not really sure why such a PSU is on the market!

PSU without Mainboard connected = ~ 2,9 Watt
PSU Mainboard connected = ~ 3,5 Watt
PSU Powertop --auto-tune , System in C3 State! = ~ 13 Watt

LEICKE ULL Netzteil 19V 6,32A/6,3A 120W

PSU without Mainboard connected = ~ 0,14 Watt
PSU Mainboard connected = ~ 0,28 Watt
PSU Powertop --auto-tune , System in C3 State! = ~ 10,6 Watt

Ultra Dünne LED Netzteil DC 12V 24V Beleuchtung Transformator 60W 100W 150W 200W 300W 400W Led-treiber Netzteil für LED Streifen "Aliexpress PSU GW Green Wisdom"

PSU without Mainboard connected = ~ 0,64 Watt
PSU Mainboard connected = ~ 0,78 Watt
PSU Powertop --auto-tune , System in C3 State! = ~ 10,5 Watt

For me a cool PSU in case of Price.

Edited February 14 by de-sascha

mgutt · February 14

3 hours ago, genesisdoeswhatnintendont said:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TnPx1h-nUKgq3MFzwl-OOIsuX_JSIurIq3JkFZVMUas/edit#gid=110239702

This isn't really helpful I think. I tested the Seasonic Titanium power supply and it's far away of being the best:

https://gutt.it/seasonic-titanium-netzteil-bei-niedriglast-keine-option/

genesisdoeswhatnintendont · February 14

1 hour ago, mgutt said:

This isn't really helpful I think. I tested the Seasonic Titanium power supply and it's far away of being the best:

https://gutt.it/seasonic-titanium-netzteil-bei-niedriglast-keine-option/

Agree. This data should be taken with a grain of salt of course and we should look at other reviews.

_cjd_ · February 14

A random problem with my HomeAssistant docker forcing me to jump through hoops led to discovery that (at the moment) the USB device I have to read my electric meter and track usage and current price (Rainforest EMU-2) was causing crashes to HA. So, I got rid of that integration for now...

Original write-up: result was 5-6w improvement, netting me a mean consumption under idle (but with HA active) around 43W, with the current lowest momentary read at 38W. I'm now not sure I want to go back.

Edited February 15 by _cjd_

bigup · February 17

My server runs i5-11500 and a ASRock H570 Steel Legend motherboard and Unraid 6.12.8

Its running 12x HDD, 1 WD RED nvme cache for appdata, and 2xSSD in RAID0 for downloads cache.

I use 2x ASM1166 SATA cards as well as onboard SATA for the drives

PSU is a brand new Corsair 650W (2021)

Network card is an Intel i226 PCI 2.5Gbe 1 port.

Onboard card is Realtek 2.5gbe but have disabled it and all other rubbish like RGB, audio etc all disabled.

BIOS has all Power states options enabled and ASPM enabled (L0L1)

When i run lspci -vv | awk '/ASPM/{print $0}' RS= | grep --color -P '(^[a-z0-9:.]+|ASPM )' everything is APSM enabled.

Powertop autotune ran, kernel in powersave mode and intel turbo is off (using tips and tweaks plugin)

No hdmi cable fitted and no unraid GUI left on in any browser.

Unraid flash drive is running off an internal USB header

Right now the server is running at 27W/28W at idle with all drives in standby apart from nvme which is always on due to dockers and powertop shows it's only in C3, ive yet to see it go to C6.

Am i missing anything else? whats left to check? or can it just be the cpu/motherboard combo? or something else?

Reduce power consumption with powertop

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

mgutt

genesisdoeswhatnintendont

mgutt

Posted Images

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Based on ASUS Pro H610T D4-CSM

1 USB Stick Unraid 6.12.6,

Powertop --auto-tune , System in C3 State!

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Join the conversation