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Question to all of you guys using linux:
Is it normal for my PC to use 100W power with just x11 running, nothing fancy open while when using windows it just takes about 60W. I didn't find anything about that on the web so I'm really concerned at the moment.
My hardware is a xeon e3 1230v5 and a amd rx 480. My guess is that the amdgpu drivers don't support AMDs low power thingie. What are your thoughts?

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  • 1
    See if you have any vulkan drivers on.
  • 1
    @melezorus34 To be henost I don't know much about drivers in linux. I have amdvlk installed (didn't know until I searched for it). But lsmod doesn't list anything with vulkan. So I don't know.
  • 1
    How are your disk spin-down timers? Normal idle CPU usage? Is your CPU scaling frequencies properly? Maybe look up "powertop" to get an estimate.
  • 2
    Linux is known for having power management issues. Especially concerning total power usage and sleep states. Modern Linux is not as bad, but Linux on a laptop will generally shorten your battery life by 2-4 hours depending on the specifics of your hardware and the quality of the drivers implemented for them.

    Since Linux is open source those drivers range in quality from “I developed this driver as a paid Linux kernel developer for a large multinational corporation.” to “We made these drivers with 0 hardware documentation, while using our feet to code and our hands to juggle baby kittens”

    Google your specific model, specific distribution, and get a list of the drivers installed for your hardware. Then settle in for the traditional Linux rite of passage involving tweaking your distro of choice to optimize its use on your particular hardware.
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