Bug 31809 - Graphics card becomes very hot under Linux
Summary: Graphics card becomes very hot under Linux
Status: RESOLVED INVALID
Alias: None
Product: xorg
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Driver/Radeon (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: xf86-video-ati maintainers
QA Contact: Xorg Project Team
URL: http://www.hansbolte.de
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-11-21 04:46 UTC by hansbolte
Modified: 2018-06-12 19:07 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:
i915 platform:
i915 features:


Attachments

Description hansbolte 2010-11-21 04:46:35 UTC
I measured in a slit between heatsink and card (Gigabyte Radeon HD 5750 Silent Cell):

Windows XP out of gear:                38 degree Celsius
Windows XP after 30 min. Warcraft III: 52 degree Celsius
Linux*) out of gear:                   61 degree Celsius

*) Fedora 14, Ubuntu 10.04, openSuse 11.0, openSuse 11.3(2.6.34.7-0.5), openSuse 11.3(2.6.36-1.1)
Comment 1 Rafał Miłecki 2010-11-24 10:55:58 UTC
Use "ForceLowPowerMode" for basic improvement.
Use KMS and "low" power_profile for better results.
Comment 2 John Bridgman 2010-11-24 11:51:41 UTC
Are you sure you are using the radeonhd driver ? I didn't think we had support for HD5xxx in radeonhd... can you check xorg.log to confirm which driver is being used ?
Comment 3 hansbolte 2010-11-24 12:35:18 UTC
No, I'm not shure, I use this driver. 

Here are links to copys of my Xorg.0.log and Xorg.9.log:
<http://www.hansbolte.net/Xorg.0.log>
<http://www.hansbolte.net/Xorg.9.log>
Comment 4 Stefan Dirsch 2010-11-24 12:50:07 UTC
That's definitely the radeon driver. Reassigning.
Comment 5 Douglas Beach 2011-02-23 15:05:35 UTC
I have what seems to be the same problem with an HD5570 card. Running under the default profile, the card runs at roughly 60 degrees all the time. The good news is this does not seem to increase under load; the bad news is that it does seem to already be hot enough to introduce some instability. I've had random system freezes and reboots since installing it.

I'm using 2.6.36, radeon driver with KMS enabled. Setting the power profile to "mid" instead of default lowered the temperature of the card at idle to around 48 degrees and appears to have alleviated the system instability.

It seems that the current default setup is somehow running the card full-tilt all the time.

I am interested in the dynpm but I wasn't sure about its maturity level.
Comment 6 Andy Furniss 2011-02-23 15:20:46 UTC
(In reply to comment #5)
> I have what seems to be the same problem with an HD5570 card. Running under the
> default profile, the card runs at roughly 60 degrees all the time. The good
> news is this does not seem to increase under load; the bad news is that it does
> seem to already be hot enough to introduce some instability. I've had random
> system freezes and reboots since installing it.

If that's the temp as reported by sensors then I'd be suprised if it was the cause of any instability.

My HD4890 runs at 60 when on low and is quite happy on high 80+.

My HD3850 (with poorer cooling design) also runs at 60 low but under load on high can still work OK up to 110. I have to run a certain benchmark in windows to get it that high - the bench starts glitching as if the card shuts down to save its self. I haven't actually locked up the system doing that.
Comment 7 Douglas Beach 2011-02-23 17:06:35 UTC
> If that's the temp as reported by sensors then I'd be suprised if it was the
> cause of any instability.

You know, that's what I thought as well, that until it gets over 80 or so there's no need to worry. But I've had persistent problems when the system (not the graphics card) is under load since I installed this card and the radeon driver. I guess I don't know if it's the temp or something else in the driver causing the issue. Since the system totally crashes it's hard to debug.

Whether or not the heat is actually causing problems, 60 degrees seems high for a card at idle. My previous card, a (fanless) Nvidia 6600GT, would only get that hot under a heavy load, and it (by specs at least) used more power than the new one. I don't have Windows to test, but the OP's experience was that his card ran hotter idle under Linux than with Windows under load.
Comment 8 Adam Jackson 2018-06-12 19:07:44 UTC
Mass closure: This bug has been untouched for more than six years, and is not
obviously still valid. Please reopen this bug or file a new report if you continue to experience issues with current releases.


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