Which TLP settings are recommended?

[zsolt-donca]

Continuing #175 I would also like to know what TLP settings are recommended.

Quoting @AdnanHodzic:

auto-cpufreq has all the necessary functionality to do this on your behalf automatically. Hence, I will not recommend settings you should use as part of TLP. I also believe auto-cpufreq has gotten to stage where that's the only tool you should use. While it'll continue to work with other tools, for best optimizations and experience you should solely use auto-cpufreq. I'll also make sure to update ReadMe with this information in upcoming days.

What do you mean by auto-cpufreq has gotten to stage where that's the only tool you should use? Is this with regards to the CPU-related TPU settings, or generally? I am asking because TLP does much more than just control the CPU (e.g. audio, disks, graphics, network, PCIe, radio, USB).

Some clarification would be helpful on this. Thank you.

[AdnanHodzic]

When I started this project, I was also using TLP side by side with auto-cpufreq. But over the year, a lot of things have been implemented and improved in terms of battery life, CPU-related settings and generally speaking that the only tool I use nowadays is auto-cpufreq. Hence, since I don't use TLP anymore I personally can't suggest which TLP settings you should use. In simple terms, if I was making car XY, I can recommend things for XY car and not which settings you should use as part of car AB :)

But, I would definitely be curious to hear which TLP settings are used by those who use auto-cpufreq and TLP in tandem. Especially since there's a request for auto-cpufreq settings file as well #26

[AdnanHodzic]

Hi @peterdieleman great to hear that and thank you for your comments :)

As I replied to @zsolt-donca I don't use TLP anymore (I only have auto-cpufreq), so I can't guarantee which settings work the best and I don't have any particular thoughts on this. If you're suggesting these settings work the best, can you confirm this @zsolt-donca?

What I would like the most is if we had a verified settings that work the best in combination of TLP & auto-cpufreq. Then if we get an answer here I would update project README pointing to these settings for the TLP/auto-cpufreq users.

[ianhundere]

i'd also like to know what settings are best when using both tlp and auto-cpufreq in tandem.

[spikespaz]

@peterdieleman How do you "disable" everything CPU-related? I see options, but not an on/off switch for the category.

[peterdieleman]

@spikespaz

There indeed is no single on/off switch, but I think you should at least make sure that the below variables are commented out (these might already be the default setting, I am not sure).

#CPU_SCALING_GOVERNOR_ON_BAT
#CPU_SCALING_MIN_FREQ_ON_BAT
#CPU_SCALING_MAX_FREQ_ON_BAT
#CPU_HWP_ON_BAT
#CPU_MIN_PERF_ON_BAT

The only ones I have configured are:

TLP_ENABLE=1
...
CPU_MAX_PERF_ON_AC=45
CPU_MAX_PERF_ON_BAT=45

In my case, 45% roughly corresponds to the non-turbo boost frequency of my CPU. If I don't do this, even mildly CPU intensive tasks cause my laptop to significantly heat up and turn on the fans. This is especially true on AC, but even on AC I don't consider this to be worth the relatively minor performance benefit. You ca always manually set it to 100% in case you temporarily want maximum performance.

But, YMMV, these settings are all very system dependent. I guess some people in this thread may find that just using auto-cpufreq and thermald is sufficient for them.

[spikespaz]

@peterdieleman I have an AMD ThinkPad and wanted to keep my TLP configuration for specific settings. I did my best to make sure that everything that cpu-autofreq takes care of is not touched by tlp.conf (everything is commented by default, and set to <none>).

CPU_MAX_PERF_ON_AC and similar do nothing without Intel P-state. These are commented by default.

For others who want to use TLP for other things such as USB/PCIE/Radio devices, here is my config which does seem to work fine. Running cpu-autofreq --stats shows that my system uses boost frequencies under high loads, but it is relatively hard to trigger. The processor also stays between powersave and performance, as I have asked it to. On battery, I have not yet seen the processor go above 37 degrees.

/etc/tlp.d/00-custom.conf

TLP_ENABLE=1

RADEON_DPM_PERF_LEVEL_ON_AC=high
RADEON_DPM_PERF_LEVEL_ON_BAT=low

RADEON_DPM_STATE_ON_AC=performance
RADEON_DPM_STATE_ON_BAT=battery

RADEON_POWER_PROFILE_ON_AC=high
RADEON_POWER_PROFILE_ON_BAT=low

PCIE_ASPM_ON_AC=performance
PCIE_ASPM_ON_BAT=powersupersave

DEVICES_TO_ENABLE_ON_STARTUP="wifi"
DEVICES_TO_DISABLE_ON_STARTUP="bluetooth nfc wwan"
DEVICES_TO_DISABLE_ON_SHUTDOWN="bluetooth nfc wifi wwan"
DEVICES_TO_DISABLE_ON_BAT_NOT_IN_USE="bluetooth nfc wifi wwan"

START_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0=94
STOP_CHARGE_THRESH_BAT0=98

DEVICES_TO_DISABLE_ON_WIFI_CONNECT="wwan"
DEVICES_TO_DISABLE_ON_WWAN_CONNECT="wifi"

/etc/auto-cpufreq.conf

[charger]
governor = performance
scaling_min_freq = 1700000
scaling_max_freq = 1700000
turbo = auto

[battery]
governor = powersave
scaling_min_freq = 1400000
scaling_max_freq = 1600000
turbo = never

[DietrichChristopeit]

Hello,

just to throw in my 2 cents of experience:

I got the best results with Intels DPTF version 9.0... for CHROME BOOKS (works perfectly on (L)Ubuntu as well) in tandem with auto-cpufreq.

1. I went to the 01.org's dptf Project on github
2. Did as the very good install instructions say
3. rebootet
4. permanently switched off TLP and thermald
5. switched on auto-cpufreq

Result:

• Very good responsiveness (the system runs much faster)
• Fan almost always off
• If it turns on the RPM stepping is much better (one can see it in the description of DPTF, that the operate a lot on the PID)
• auto-cpufreq does its thing to provide the necessary short term extra power, without, the system is a bit more conservative in terms of providing MHz when needed.

I dont know if this anyhow helps anyone, but these are my experiences after long times of testing the results of all possible combinations and settings.

Best regards,

Dietrich.

[spikespaz]

Does dptf work with AMD processors? Does thermald work with AMD processors?

[AdnanHodzic]

permanently switched off TLP and thermald

While auto-cpufreq aims to replace TLP, it's recommended to have thermald running alongside with auto-cpufreq, updated README with this info, added as part of "Why do I need auto-cpufreq".

[AdnanHodzic]

I just updated README to be more explicit about TLP usage alongside auto-cpufreq as it's leading to some unwanted results as mentioned in #297.

[cnske]

Just an additional question regarding a similar topic. @AdnanHodzic do this recommendation also apply when running tuned-adm?