Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

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etoimene
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Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

Hi all!

I still have some issues with power consumption after installing Mint on my laptop. You can find a previous thread.
While I had Windows installed, I don't remember being it that hot in the CPU area.

In the meantime I discovered

Code: Select all

sudo powerstat
and it reports

Summary:

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System:   9.41 Watts on average with standard deviation 1.32 


Using

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sudo powertop
reports all CPUs frequency stats 100% idle. I agree with that because I am mostly browsing and editing some texts. Rarely watch some video.

I have found some reports of users in 5-6 W range and mine is almost double that.

Can you post your powerstat average and powertop overview, especially for network power usage? Maybe I simply want too much.
Last edited by LockBot on Sat Mar 11, 2023 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by Wilop91 »

Hello
This is mine. The amount of Watts went from 14 to 7 when the screen brightness was dimmed because no mouse activity. Then it went up again when I started mowing my mouse. So the brightness of the screen has quite an impact on the result (in my case it goes from 100 to 30% after 80 seconds of inactivity)
W.O.

Code: Select all

sudo powerstat
Running for 300.0 seconds (30 samples at 10.0 second intervals).
Power measurements will start in 180 seconds time.

  Time    User  Nice   Sys  Idle    IO  Run Ctxt/s  IRQ/s Fork Exec Exit  Watts
09:51:54   1.2   0.0   0.9  97.8   0.1    1    846    244    0    0    1  14.39 
09:52:04   1.2   0.0   0.3  98.4   0.1    2    826    217    4    0    2  14.12 
09:52:14   1.4   0.0   0.8  97.7   0.1    3    828    229    1    0    4  14.17 
09:52:24   0.9   0.0   0.3  98.8   0.0    2    754    192    0    0    0  14.54 
09:52:34   1.3   0.0   0.9  97.6   0.2    1    826    258    2    0    1  13.76 
09:52:44   2.0   0.0   0.5  97.4   0.1    1   1132    258    8    4    7  10.16 
09:52:54   1.2   0.0   0.8  98.0   0.1    1    828    229    0    0    0   8.54 
09:53:04   1.1   0.0   0.4  98.4   0.1    1    780    200    0    0    2   9.58 
09:53:14   0.9   0.0   0.8  98.2   0.1    1    849    235    1    0    2   8.79 
09:53:24   1.3   0.0   0.4  98.2   0.1    1    804    214    4    0    1   8.07 
09:53:34   1.4   0.0   0.7  97.5   0.4    2    888    265    2    0    2   7.34 
09:53:44   1.7   0.0   0.6  97.4   0.2    1    859    218    0    0    1   7.21 
09:53:54   0.8   0.0   0.6  98.6   0.1    1    817    220    0    0    2   7.25 
09:54:04   1.4   0.0   0.6  97.9   0.1    1    882    337    5    2    4  10.12 
09:54:14   1.0   0.0   0.6  98.3   0.1    1    834    228    3    0    2  11.30 
09:54:24   1.5   0.0   0.5  97.8   0.1    1    835    313    0    0    0  10.72 
09:54:34   0.7   0.0   0.7  98.5   0.1    1    826    229    0    0    2  11.24 
09:54:44   1.4   0.0   0.7  97.8   0.1    1    823    214    0    0    1  11.05 
09:54:54   4.9   0.0   0.8  93.2   1.2    1   1035    453    2    0    1  15.59 
09:55:04   1.3   0.0   0.7  98.0   0.1    2    744    200    0    0    0  14.94 
09:55:14   1.2   0.0   0.5  98.3   0.0    1    961    248    3    0    1  17.04 
09:55:24   1.6   0.0   0.7  97.7   0.1    1    844    244   20    2   15  16.14 
  Time    User  Nice   Sys  Idle    IO  Run Ctxt/s  IRQ/s Fork Exec Exit  Watts
09:55:34   1.6   0.0   0.8  97.3   0.3    1   1041    323   16    0   17  16.11 
09:55:44   1.5   0.0   0.8  97.6   0.1    1    927    333    0    0    3  16.14 
09:55:54   1.7   0.0   0.4  97.7   0.3    1    868    251    0    0    0  16.45 
09:56:04   0.9   0.0   0.7  97.9   0.5    1    761    203    0    0    4  16.32 
09:56:14   1.3   0.0   0.4  98.0   0.3    1    841    226    1    0    0  14.16 
09:56:24   1.0   0.0   0.7  98.0   0.4    1    854    314    4    0    3  13.31 
^C-------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ---- ---- ------ 
 Average   1.4   0.0   0.6  97.8   0.2  1.2  861.1  253.4  2.7  0.3  2.8  12.45 
 GeoMean   1.3   0.0   0.6  97.8   0.0  1.1  857.1  248.3  0.0  0.0  0.0  12.01 
  StdDev   0.7   0.0   0.2   1.0   0.2  0.5   86.2   56.1  4.7  0.9  4.0   3.18 
-------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ---- ---- ------ 
 Minimum   0.7   0.0   0.3  93.2   0.0  1.0  743.9  191.7  0.0  0.0  0.0   7.21 
 Maximum   4.9   0.0   0.9  98.8   1.2  3.0 1131.6  453.3 20.0  4.0 17.0  17.04 
-------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ---- ---- ------ 
Summary:
System:  12.45 Watts on average with standard deviation 3.18  
Note: Power calculated from battery capacity drain, may not be accurate.
For my daily use a CLEVO laptop with LM20.1 booting Legacy
And for my testing a Dell laptop with W10, LM20.1 and Manjaro booting UEFI
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by Pjotr »

powerstat seems to work without sudo as well. In such a case it's always best to avoid using sudo.

Anyway:

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  Time    User  Nice   Sys  Idle    IO  Run Ctxt/s  IRQ/s  Watts               
10:41:50   1.7   0.0   1.1  97.2   0.0    2   4642   7365   7.78 
10:42:00   5.4   0.0   2.1  92.4   0.0    1   8457  11321   8.47 
1
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

Thank you both.
Pjotr wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 4:43 am powerstat seems to work without sudo as well.
powertop doesn't so I just assumed ...

I am not that far from yours. Maybe I should check my fan. Could also be a reason that case goes so hot.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by Pjotr »

Let's take a look at your system specs. Please post the output of:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxpmrz
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxpmrz
System:    Kernel: 5.15.0-41-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: MATE 1.26.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una 
           base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: TOSHIBA product: PORTEGE Z930 v: PT235E-03U05PY4 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: TOSHIBA model: PORTEGE Z930 v: Version A0 serial: <filter> BIOS: TOSHIBA v: Version 7.00 
           date: 08/06/2018 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 29.1 Wh condition: 31.4/32.3 Wh (97%) model: G71C000FH210 status: Discharging 
Memory:    RAM: total: 5.68 GiB used: 2.63 GiB (46.4%) 
           RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-3437U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 
           L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
           flags: avx lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19155 
           Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 768/1901 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 3: 798 4: 798 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: Toshiba driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2) v: 4.2 Mesa 21.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Toshiba driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.15.0-41-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Toshiba driver: e1000e v: kernel port: 2080 
           bus ID: 00:19.0 
           IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 2060 bus ID: 02:00.0 
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-2: virbr0-nic state: down mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-3: wwan0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 267.91 GiB used: 138.38 GiB (51.7%) 
           ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: SD size: 29.44 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Micron model: MT-256 size: 238.47 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 79.50 GiB used: 22.02 GiB (27.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 
           ID-2: /boot size: 942.3 MiB used: 478.7 MiB (50.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
           ID-3: /home size: 139.07 GiB used: 92.84 GiB (66.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7 
           ID-4: /media/smadzar/9016-4EF8 size: 29.43 GiB used: 22.46 GiB (76.3%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/mmcblk0p1 
           ID-5: swap-1 size: 2.00 GiB used: 605.0 MiB (29.6%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda6 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/ focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/anydesk-stable.list 
           1: deb http://deb.anydesk.com/ all main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deadsnakes-ppa-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/deadsnakes/ppa/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/git-core-ppa-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/git-core/ppa/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/libreoffice-ppa-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/ppa/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/linuxuprising-shutter-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/linuxuprising/shutter/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nextcloud-devs-client-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/nextcloud-devs/client/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com una main upstream import backport
           2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list 
           1: deb https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ focal-pgdg main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/phoerious-keepassxc-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/phoerious/keepassxc/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/serge-rider-dbeaver-ce-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/serge-rider/dbeaver-ce/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian focal contrib
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources 
           1: deb [arch=amd64 i386] https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-jammy.sources 
           1: deb [arch=amd64 i386] https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu jammy main
Info:      Processes: 373 Uptime: 2d 18h 13m Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 
           inxi: 3.0.38 
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by Pjotr »

Nothing untoward, as far as I can see.... Looks like a healthy system.

Applying the speed tweaks mentioned on this page, may help to reduce power consumption:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... -mint.html

But the current power consumption isn't extravagant.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

Pjotr wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 3:59 pm
But the current power consumption isn't extravagant.
I agree.
I'll try the link.

I wonder why it gets so hot and spin the fan. Maybe I have something blocking the ventilation.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

Turned off Ethernet, Chrome, plugged out mouse and slightly reduced screen brightness and

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System:   7.36 Watts on average with standard deviation 0.26  

Not too bad.
Still, immediately after starting Chrome fan went on. :(
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by ricardogroetaers »

etoimene wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 5:33 pm I wonder why it gets so hot and spin the fan. Maybe I have something blocking the ventilation.
Comments:
Out of curiosity I installed "powerstat", it only makes measurements if there is a discharging battery.
I don't use a battery on my laptop (at least at home).

In my humble opinion, the fan is made to rotate, I don't like the intermittent on/off of the fan (nor of other components).
I usually disable power management in the machine setup (if any).
A tip is to increase the height of the laptop's feet.

The command:
inxi -s
can show the temperature.

Here, in this "harsh winter" with an ambient temperature around 36°C, inxi shows the cpu temperature at a reasonable 60°C.

Reasonably, you shouldn't worry too much about the temperature, unless it is usually high for no apparent reason.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by antikythera »

the thermal junction of your processor etoimene is 105 celsius. anything up to 90 celsius under full load for a long time is acceptable for your laptop even if it gets uncomfortable for you. if you want to keep it cool, use a laptop cooling mat or at least a stand to allow better airflow underneath to the vents.

idling after hours of usage, expect 55-65 celsius too.

also since 2018 have you ever opened it up to clean out the fans?
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

ricardogroetaers wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 6:46 pm
In my humble opinion, the fan is made to rotate,
It rotates all the time. Just becomes louder quickly.
antikythera wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 7:58 pm
also since 2018 have you ever opened it up to clean out the fans?
You mean since 2013? :oops:
I know my next step. :D

On Windows it was rarely noticeable, so ...
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

BTW, I seem to get pretty constant 70 deg C.

Code: Select all

inxi -s
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 70.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Could it be some system setting? Maybe fan doesn't turn on soon enough.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

From https://phoenixnap.com/kb/linux-cpu-temp

Code: Select all

$ cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone*/temp
70000
57000
$ paste <(cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone*/type) <(cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone*/temp) | column -s $'\t' -t | sed 's/\(.\)..$/.\1°C/'
acpitz        70.0°C
x86_pkg_temp  57.0°C

This acpitz definitely looks like setting.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by Wilop91 »

Hi etoimene
I'm not sure my findings will help you but anyway below is what I observe.

When I checked the temperature this morning with "inxi -s", it was around 50°C

When I started to watch a video on YT in full-screen, fan started after around 30 seconds and temperature went up to 70°C
When the video was complete, the fan stopped but it took around 5 minutes to bring temperature back to 50°C. During this period I noticed that in fact fan was still running but very slowly and without noise.

I use a very basic laptop (CLEVO) with NO dedicated graphical card which may explain this behavior (i.e. I have the impression temperature goes up quite often and as a result fan runs often very fast and noisy). I dont see the same on my test laptop (DELL) with same LM version but with a dedicated graphical card.

W.O.
For my daily use a CLEVO laptop with LM20.1 booting Legacy
And for my testing a Dell laptop with W10, LM20.1 and Manjaro booting UEFI
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by Pjotr »

You might benefit from disabling "smart cooling" or some such thing, in the BIOS. This should cause the fans to run on a constant low speed, instead of a spasmodically high speed after total inertion.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

Wilop91 wrote: Mon Sep 12, 2022 4:35 am
When the video was complete, the fan stopped but it took around 5 minutes to bring temperature back to 50°C.
Mine is not going down until I suspend or turn off the machine.

I guess thermald could be configured. Time for some reading.

Code: Select all

ps -ef | grep thermal
root         109       2  0 Sep09 ?        00:00:00 [acpi_thermal_pm]
root         805       1  0 Sep09 ?        00:00:08 /usr/sbin/thermald --systemd --dbus-enable --adaptive
Seems it has advanced a lot since the version I have installed. https://github.com/intel/thermal_daemon

Code: Select all

thermald --version
1.9.1
Last edited by etoimene on Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by antikythera »

thermald doesn't support your generation of processor too well, I had one. try it anyway but you may find it works better with thermald disabled or uninstalled
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

Maybe it will be better to uninstall it as you suggest.
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Re: Help me gather average power consumption of your Mint laptop in idle!

Post by etoimene »

Removing thermald didn't change a thing.

It is still running warm. Now when summer is gone, it's even nice to have your hands warmed up a bit. :)

Code: Select all

~$ sensors
BAT1-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
in0:          15.14 V  

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +60.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0:        +60.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1:        +53.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)

acpitz-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
temp1:        +70.0°C  (crit = +107.0°C)
Locked

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