Hi guys!

I purchased a few months ago a new AMD PC, with a 7700 CPU, 32GB of RAM and a 7800XT GPU. I’ve noticed since, that my electric bill has been increased (compared to when I used an Intel i7 6700 with a 1070 GPU), I was wondering, is it possible to use a hybrid GPU setup kinda like laptops, where the iGPU from the CPU is activated for normal tasks, and the discrete GPU is only activated on demand? Would the GPU be unpowered/sleeping in the meantime?

…all this from a Linux perspective, I’m running Nobara 40.

Thanks!

  • moxEnglish
    7•2 months ago

    I built a new machine pretty recently, also with an RX 7800XT GPU (factory overclocked). When sitting idle at the desktop, the system draws about the same amount of power as my old machine did with an RX 480. So I think trying to put the big GPU to sleep during desktop use might be barking up the wrong tree.

    I suggest getting a power monitor, like a Kill-A-Watt, and taking measurements while you experiment. Here are some ideas to consider:

    • Are you using multiple monitors? I have read that newer AMD GPUs sometimes draw more power than they should in this case. It might depend on the resolution and/or windowing system in use. (I don’t remember if the reports I read were on Wayland or Xorg.) It almost certainly is a driver issue.
    • Are you using nonstandard timings? Have you tried different refresh rates? https://community.amd.com/t5/graphics-cards/which-monitor-timing-parameter-allows-gpu-vram-frequency-to/td-p/318483
    • Have you been playing games for hours every day, with no frame rate limit? The graphics card can draw considerably more power pushing polygons at 1440p@180Hz than it does at 90Hz, for example, and I don’t think the wattage progression from idle to full load is linear.
    • Are you using recent kernel and firmware versions?