If you are one of those who use the computer simply to view your mails, surf the internet or edit some other text files, the free Nouveau drivers will be more than enough. Now, if yours are games, video editing or HD movie playback, then in that case there is no escape: proprietary drivers are the best answer, for now.
Even so, the proprietary drivers do not have the same performance as the Windows ones. To get a little closer to the latter, it is necessary to change some settings.
The setting to be changed is called "PowerMizer". Its function is to adapt the performance of the card according to the needs of the moment or based on the source of electrical energy (battery or current).
To get a good idea of what I'm saying, you can open nvidia settings from a terminal and access the tab PowerMizer.
Ideally, you should be able to change PowerMizer settings directly from nvidia-settings, but for some reason it doesn't save the changes. Our goal will be to change the option PreferredMode de Adaptive a Prefer Maximum Performance. How to get it? Configuring our Xorg configuration file.
1. Open a terminal and run:
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
o
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf
according to your preference.
2. In the Device section add a line specifying the PowerMizer configuration that best suits your needs:
# "adaptive" for any power source Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable = 0x1; PerfLevelSrc = 0x2233; PowerMizerDefault = 0x3" # batt = max power save, AC = max power save Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable = 0x1; PerfLevelSrc = 0x3333 "# batt = adaptive, AC = max performance (my favorite) Option" RegistryDwords "" PowerMizerEnable = 0x1; PerfLevelSrc = 0x3322; PowerMizerDefaultAC = 0x1 "# batt = max power save, AC = max performance Option" RegistryDwords "" PowerMizerEnable = 0x1; PerfLevelSrc = 0x2222; PowerMizerDefault = 0x3; PowerMizerDefaultAC = 0x1 "# batt = max power save, AC = adaptive Option" RegistryDwords "" PowerMizerEnable = 0x1; PerfLevelSrc = 0x2222; PowerMizerDefaultizer = 0x3; PowerMizerDefaultizer = 0x3; PowerMizerDefaultMXNUMX "
3. In my case, as my computer is a PC (connected to the current), I applied the second option:
# batt = adaptive, AC = max performance (my favorite) Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable = 0x1; PerfLevelSrc = 0x3322; PowerMizerDefaultAC = 0x1"
My full configuration file was left so.
In this way, I ensured the maximum performance of my humble nVidia Geforce 7200.
4. Once the changes are made, reboot.
In case it doesn't work, some users have stated that running ...
nvidia-settings -a [gpu: 0] / GPUPowerMizerMode = 1
… Can correct the problem. The point is that this command should be executed every time we start the computer. Likewise, that is not very complicated either, although it varies according to the desktop environment you use (KDE, XFCE, etc.).
Finally, one last comment. You may not notice much of a difference in performance when doing "wild and common" use (web browsing, office automation, etc.) of your card. In my case, this trick has allowed me to eliminate the so-called "flickering" or "chopping" in the playback of HD videos and a better performance in Wine games.
In an upcoming installment, I'll share an additional trick to permanently remove flickering from HD video playback without removing the Compton window composer.
+1
It must be remembered that this change also brings with it a higher temperature and energy consumption.
Sorry, * I get.
You will not spend more than using nouveau xD.!
😀 There is no way to defend the nouveau.
hmm ... could it be that it did not save the configuration because it did not open the nvidia-settings with administrator permissions?
😛
It saves me the change ... and without needing administrator permissions.
my first thought was exactly that
No, it wasn't for that ... no idea why. : S
I tried with admin permissions and it didn't work ...
Do you know if there is any way to establish the «Performance levels» so that when you start climbing, you will not reach the lowest but among the top three for example? Anyway very good the trick
Keep it simple, you open the nvidia-settings as administrator and it allows you to save
gksu nvidia-settings (Gnrome)
kdesu nvidia-settings (KDE)
I apply the change to the xorg.conf, but in nvidia-settings it still appears in adaptive, does it take the option into account even if it does not take it in nvidia-settings?
In my case, he took it. : S
Try making the changes by opening nvidia-settings as admin or using plan b detailed in the post.
Yes, I did it as an admin, I'll pretend to take the change,
Thank you.
I plan to complement this with a stupid and sensual script that causes the same effect xD
Good!
Thank you very much, testing 😀
Let's see fellow Linux users, I have an Nvidia 8400 GS and I use Debian Stable XFCE. The games that I use on my Debian are through emulators (Kega Fusion, ZSnes, Mame, Mednafen, PCSX, etc). Install the Nvidia drivers according to the tutorial on the Debian wiki: https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers#wheezy
My questions are: Is it worth activating the Prefer Maximum Performance? Will the emulators I use look better? Will they consume less CPU resource? By the way, through the nvidia-settings the changes are not saved. Greetings and thanks in advance for reading me.
In my experience, it did improve ... but I get the impression that you have to analyze it "case by case".
By trying you don't lose anything.
This is good for a laptop:
# batt = max energy saving, AC = max performance
Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable = 0x1; PerfLevelSrc = 0x2222; PowerMizerDefault = 0x3; PowerMizerDefaultAC = 0x1 »
??
Hello,
I use opensuse 12.3, I have the proprietary nvidia drivers but I don't have the xorg.conf file and the 20-nvidia.conf is in /etc/modprobe.d and contains only one configuration line.
Also, if I remember correctly, I think I read that the xorg.conf file was no longer used.
Not that it is not used, but it is not recommended.
Instead, it is recommended to use
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf
as also explained in the post. 🙂
Hug! Paul.