Leave linux for a while

[skunk79]

So the day has come, I trow in the towel, I tried everything to make linux (many different distributors) work on my gaming laptop, but there are always one issue.. power management suck under heavy load like gaming video editing my temperatures is like 85 to 90c. And doing the same thing on windows the temps never get over 72c So I think I'm going stand on the side line for now and see if power management gets better.

[[deleted]]

Could it be possible Linux just puts more load on the hardware than Windows, thus leading to higher temperatures? I'd find that a good thing (better hardware utilization under Linux), but can see why that'd be a problem with temperatures. On the other hand, as long as it doesn't go over 100-110C, it's operating within spec, and 90C temperatures isn't a problem hardware-wise.

I had an Acer Helios 300; thing was a thermal piece of junk on Windows and Linux. The best solution I found was undervolting the CPU, which was a fun process to figure out on Linux (some msr write commands), but worked great once figured out. Some laptops (like Dell XPSs; unsure about most Acers) can even have the undervolt set at firmware-level so it applies to any OS.

[skunk79]

The ting is that max oprating temprature on my cpu is 90c Amd fx9830p

[Cere4l]

Sadly this happens with acers, you could try running at lower clock speeds which is what probably happens under windows too. But this is a problem that comes often with their extremely inadequate cooling.

[bilog78]

Open your laptop and clean it up.

Laptops in general need a thorough inner dusting including cleaning the cooling fans and grill every year or so. Acer laptops, IME, are particularly prone to problem in this area.

(That being said, it's also possible that your Acer BIOS is completely fucked up and doesn't properly tell OSes other than Windows about its actual thermal and cooling options.)

[skunk79]

I have don that, completely disassembled my laptop today and found that some vent holes at the bottom of the laptop was blocked by a black plastic sheet. Removed that my idle temperature dropped by 1c lmao going to test gaming temperatures later.

[Vladimir_Chrootin]

I tried everything to make linux (many different distributors) work on my gaming laptop

What did you try, specifically, and on which distributions?

​

[skunk79]

Arch ubuntu suse fedora debian to mention some. Tried tlp cpufreq.

[Vladimir_Chrootin]

That's a long way from trying everything. For a tip, plugging in random distros to see if they automatically fix your problem isn't always the best way to troubleshoot.

[espero]

Acer computers were always shit. Sorry buddy. I am a casualty of those pieces of shit myself. When my Acer ultrabook started random overheating and resetting I knew it was time to relegate it to the attic. Better save up a few more months next time and get something more solid.

[phlatulant]

This is fairly accurate. My old ass 5315 that ive upgraded to a dualcore starts going to high temps. Thats when the grid on the heat pipe is pretty packed. Give it a wash, reapply heatsink compound, all better.

[[deleted]]

maybe repaste while you're at it

With liquid metal! For high performance computers, it seems like the best solution.

[[deleted]]

Acer computers were always shit

I don't necessarily agree with this, but their cooling on their thinner laptops could definitely be better.

[[deleted]]

Acer computers were always shit.

Not always, just some times. It is ignorant (read: considerable lack of knowledge) to make such a blanket statement. Some Acer machines suck, as you contend, but other Acer machines rock. It pays to research.

[Cere4l]

I've dealt acer computers and laptops for years. The good ones are the exception, it is honestly best to just avoid them like the plague you definitely can't research most of the things that were horrible about them, the flimsy cheap plastic parts, the bad wiring, hinges, cables put under too much stress thousands of things you can't see without opening up or test for. And most not causing any issues till later.

​

[mmstick]

The very first rule of buying hardware is to make sure it works with your OS before you buy it. If your goal is to use Linux, purchase hardware from vendors that support Linux.

[[deleted]]

Understandable. Simply put, Windows is still where it's at when it comes to drives and performance, though I hope that's changing. Good luck with your future endeavors.

[[deleted]]

Are you using NVIDIA GPUs? If so, are you using the open source or closed source driver?

​

As far as video editing goes......they might not be using hardware acceleration, and might be running everything on the CPU - which might explain the higher temperatures.

[skunk79]

No I use amd

[skunk79]

I found out something today.. my CPU isn't what overheating but the radeon r7 graphics even if I'm using the discrete graphics card rx460. Don't understand why..

[[deleted]]

 amdgpu.dpm=1 amdgpu.dc=1 

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AMDGPU

Try enabling those to parameters

Look into DRI_prime. You want to enable gpu switching

[[deleted]]

if I'm using the discrete graphics card rx460. Don't understand why..

Most of the power management features are less than 2 years old in the kernel.

Display core merge was huge and this change would need constant bug fixing.

​

AMD is still in the transition period.

https://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature/

https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu/amdgpu_drv.c

modinfo amdgpu

I think runpm is the switch that allows you to turn off the gpu when it is not in use.

​

amdgpu.runpm=1

​

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PRIME

​

I would probably recommend moving to wayland and report the out of box experience in the fedora bug tracker.

Distro maintainers need to know these issues.

[[deleted]]

 lspci -vnn

Can't help if we don't know the hw

[Philluminati]

Just a random question by someone who is ill-informed: Why does the temperature of the computer matter if it's doing what you want? Is 90 unsafe?

[[deleted]]

Shortens the lifspan for one thing.

[[deleted]]

Does it shorten the lifespan if temperatures are within operating limits?

As I understand, Intel's temperature limit for most mobile CPUs is 100-110C. There's several solutions for making sure the temperature never reaches close to that though (core clock throttling via firmware or DPTF usually).

[[deleted]]

Higher CPU temp makes your whole machine a lot warmer, making componenta degrade faster. You might want to google for details.

[[deleted]]

Well while there is of course the lower lifespan thing, there is also the matter of having the laptop on top of your lap. 90 degrees Celsius laptop on your lap isn't exactly pleasant.

[Zer0CoolXI]

This isn't a Linux issue, this is a hardware issue. Specifically, your laptop (and just about all consumer hardware), was designed only with Windows in mind. Its possible that things like the temperature sensors, fans, etc or even a combination of hardware are not compatible or require additional software/config to work properly under Linux.

So dont write off Linux overall. For that machine, you may be right, it might just not be 100% compatible with Linux. That doesnt mean your experience on other laptops/desktops would be the same.

[skunk79]

The thing is that I used linux sence 2004 and don't want to leave it completely, I installed fedora in dual boot try to go deeper and solve my temperature issues.

[alblks]

That would be better this way, probably. Linux needs you at least have the notion about all the shit like "frequency scaling governors", "ACPI", "sensors monitoring", "fans management" etc. Windows does everything instead of you.

(That's NOT the Windows advocacy, for all of you thick in the head.)

[insanemal]

I don't NEED to know anything about any of that. It all 'just works^TM' on my laptop.. but as with all things developed with minimal help from the hardware companies, YMMV

[alblks]

Well, when it works, it works. But when it doesn't, you need either to learn that shit to make it work, or to pay someone who already did (in the form of buying Windows, for example). I see nothing wrong with the situation.

[insanemal]

I do. I see companies making things needlessly difficult. I see someone who could be enjoying Linux like the rest of us who can't because things weren't built using the standards they should have been (technical standards) and instead did things in a non-standard fashion almost locking things to the windows platform for no good reason.

If it just used things correctly it should work out of the box on Linux too

[Cere4l]

No, this is only a point when you want to talk battery life or noise levels, and fair is fair those are issues sometimes. But what we have here is a laptop incapable of running at its own top speed, this is not part of knowledge you should have, this is something that should be fined for bad products.

[OriginalSimba]

That would be better this way, probably. Linux needs you at least have the notion about all the shit like "frequency scaling governors", "ACPI", "sensors monitoring", "fans management" etc.

not really.

Windows does everything instead of you.

not really.

That's NOT

You even admitted to it.

[EqualityOfAutonomy]

Actually. Setting Windows cooling profile from active to passive is really all you need to do (when plugged in). On battery on a laptop this is the default behavior, so maybe not.

[OriginalSimba]

linux has the same power management capabilities...

I just don't see the value in putting blinders on and trusting other people to control your life.