Difference between revisions of "How to reduce power consumption"

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(USB, sound)
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===USB===
 
===USB===
Causes significant power draw due to bus mastering. Disable by unloading modules.
+
Causes significant power draw due to bus mastering (affects CPU C-state). Disable by unloading modules,
 +
or unbinding the devices in sysfs.
  
 
===Sound===
 
===Sound===

Revision as of 04:27, 24 September 2006

Reducing system power consumption will extend battery life, reduce system temperature and (on some models) reduce system fan noise. This page summarizes the known techniques for reducing power consumption on ThinkPad laptops under Linux. The power numbers given (in Watt) are very rough and model-specific.

System power states

CPU

Graphics

Hard disk

Spinning down the disk saves about 1W.

Optical drive

The optical drive consumes about 1W even when not accessed.

System fan

Consumes about 0.5W when running.

Wireless network

Consumes up to ~4W.

USB

Causes significant power draw due to bus mastering (affects CPU C-state). Disable by unloading modules, or unbinding the devices in sysfs.

Sound

Consumes about 0.3W. Disable by unloading modules or # echo -n 3 > /sys/class/sound/controlC0/device/power/state (replace 3 by 0 to enable again).

Related toptics

External resources