GPU core temperature in Linux
 

Hi all,

The nVidia embedded graphic card of my previous (less that 2 years old) Compaq laptop has died, so I'm now paying more attention to the GPU core temperature in my new laptop, a Dell M1710 with a nVidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX card.

I've noticed that, when running Linux, nvidia-settings reports about 70 to 75°C most of the time even if I don't run any 3D application. This seems pretty high to me, on a most idle laptop (the CPU is less than 50 degrees)

So I booted up in Windows, installed nVidia's nTune application to be able to monitor the GPU temperature and it's about 60°C. I'm fired Quake4 and played a few minutes, then check again and it was still 61°C

So it appears that the GPU is a lot cooler when running Windows than Linux without any reason.

Is that an issue with nVidia drivers, or with ACPI in Linux, should I try to check/fix the DSDT table?

PS: Yes, I'm already using the latest BIOS update for that hardware.

Cheers,
Olivier.

Re: GPU core temperature in Linux
 

Oddly, I've added "nvidia-settings -l" to my X session startup, and I can hear the fan and the GPU temperature stays lower than 60°C now.

Does that make any sense? Does nvidia-settings helps with that issue or is that just coincidence?

Re: GPU core temperature in Linux
 

Doesn't seem to be related to nvidia-settings. I found that sometimes the fan is on and stays so, then the GPU stays cool, sometimes the fan doesn't start and the GPU heats up.

booting with acpi=off helps keeping the fan always on, but clearly disables a bunch of other useful stuff on a laptop.

I've also built a "fixed" DSDT table but it doesn't help either. Anything I could do from nVidia driver/settings to help with that issue?

Re: GPU core temperature in Linux
 

I have a 6600GT card in a desktop system and the GPU temp has been above 70 deg from the beginning. I have updated the driver several times but no difference.
There has been some talk that very old drivers resulted in a cooler GPU like in Windows, but no definite reply from nvidia.
In my case, when I do nothing the fan is at 100% and I can hear it whining. So I normally set it to 90% with nvclock, this has no influence on the temperature at all but it is a lot quieter.

It may be that the Linux driver keeps the card more active (like polling something) than the Windows driver.

Re: GPU core temperature in Linux
 

geforce go 6200TC on a VAIO, I read (with NVClock 0.8 Beta2):

gpu: 74C

cpu: 47C (acpi -V)

to note: core underclocked at 100MHz (300MHz standard) and memory at 166MHZ (600)

c.