Saving Power on idle PCs

This page describes methods for saving power on computers using various CPUs when the machines are idle. For this discussion a machine is idle when it is in a normal operating state and nothing is running on the CPU. For instance, on Windows XP it corresponds to the amount of time spent in the "System Idle Process". When a computer is used for word processing or similar data entry tasks, or displaying static documents, it will spend the vast majority of its time idling. However, if music is simultaneously playing in the background, or a USB device is active, the same machine may spend almost no time idling.

Computer servers may also save considerable energy by appropriately configuring their display options. Since typically the consoles of such systems are rarely used the display and parts of the video circuitry may be powered down without penalty. If the display is needed pressing a key on the keyboard or shaking the mouse is sufficient to bring the display back on line.

Most operating systems can also be set to drop the machine into a standby state following a long period of inactivity, or on a notebook, when the system is folded closed. Typically this is much more drastic than just slowing the CPU and turning off the monitor. For instance, the disks are spun down and the system effectively shuts itself off. These states are not further considered here because they represent systems which can do no work. They are not merely idle (either at the CPU or the Display) but for most purposes, they are simply "off".

Saving Power at the CPU

CPU Introduction

Manufacturers have designed certain features into their processors that enable said processors to drop into lower power states when signaled by the operating system that the machine is idle. The primary mechanisms are:

1. Decreasing the CPU frequency

2. Decreasing the CPU voltage

3. Temporarily disconnecting the CPU and reducing it's frequency.

By installing software to activate these capabilities the power dissipated by the idling CPU may be substantially reduced. For instance, on one Athlon XP 2000+ machine the CPU dissipated 39 fewer watts, which resulted ina reduction of the CPU temperature from 59° C to 47° C.

Additionally many CPUs may be throttled, which effectively forces the processor to be inactive during some part of each second. Throttling is typically used to control overheating on heavily used machines. However it generally doesn't save more power when the machine is already idle, and it tends to adversely affect computer performance to such an extent that the machine feels "broken", so throttling will not be further discussed here.

AMD Processors

Athlon XP and MP, Duron

These CPUs can respond to an idle state by disconnecting from the front side bus and dropping their CPU frequency. In order to do so two PCR registers in the northbridge must generally be modified. In addition the length of time for a Halt or StopGrant disconnect may be controlled by a clock divisor set in the MSR. In experiments with Athlon XP 2000+ machines this divisor could be set as high as 128 without causing problems, but going to 256 caused various glitches in video and sound playback. The idle temperature decreased by about 2° C for every doubling of this divisor. Your mileage may vary.

Windows XP Instructions

1. Login as administrator

2. Obtain coolon 2.1.0 from http://coolon.o-ya.net/en/

3. Create a folder C:\Program Files\Coolon

4. Run the coolon installer and unpack the files into

C:\Program Files\Coolon

5. Double click C:\Program Files\Coolon\coolon.exe

6. Click on the PCR tab and check cooling

7. Click on the MSR tab, click Change

Change the Halt and StopGrant values to 128

WARNING! Your system might require smaller values!

Click on eVal

Click on Write

8. Click on Shortcut

Select Startup Tab

Check MSR and Cooling

Click on Make

9. Click on Driver tab

Check Startup Service

Click on Set

10. Close Coolon

11. Right click on:

C:\Documents and Settings\All users\Startup\Programs\Startup\Coolon

12. Select properties

13. Change the options on the startup string to: /M /C

(eliminate the /D, it will cause problems for unpriv'd users.)

14. Change the file protections on the Coolon directory and its

contents to: Everyone: read & execute, read, list folder contents

15. Monitor the CPU temperature with the system at idle.

Note added 2/28/07. As of this date fully patched XP SP2 does not enable

power regulation of this processor by itself. So the steps above are still

required.

Linux Instructions

See the athcool home page http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/jacobi/linux/softwares.html#athcool if you require more information.

1. Use a recent 2.6.x kernel.

2. Boot with kernel option: acpi=strict

3. Login as root

4. Obtain and install the athcool package (as appropriate

for your distribution). If no package is available build

it from the tarball on the athcool home page.

5. See if athcool works: athcool stat

6. Start athcool: athcool on

7. If the CPU temperature falls (sensors command, from

lm_sensors package) and nothing blows up, then enable

athcool to autostart at boot. Some athcool packages provide

an init.d script for this, others don't.

8. If athcool doesn't work or the CPU temperature doesn't fall on

the idle machine (preferably with no X11 running, no USB devices,

top showing little or no CPU use) try a more recent kernel

as the relevant parts of the kernel code may have been fixed.

9. Still not working? Do: modprobe processor

10. cat /proc/acpi/processor/CPU0/info

and see if acpi is disabled in the kernel.

Note added 2/28/07. Some distributions such as Mandriva 2007 do all of

this automatically. In addition to athcool they use a powernow-k7 module.

You can verify that athcool is working by using

lm_sensors to measure CPU temperature on the idle system, turn off athcool,

wait 20 minutes, and look at the CPU temperature again. Also, athcool did

not work on a Tyan S2466N mobo with an Athlon MP processor under early

2.6.x kernels, but upgrading those machines to Mandriva 2007 let athcool

work correctly, dropping the average CPU temp from 39C to 27C.

killuazhu

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Saving Power on idle PCs

Saving Power on idle PCsIdle represents 69 to 97% of total annual energy use, even if power management is enabled. Recommendations for Tier I ENERGY STAR Computer Specification, Natural Resources Def...
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