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[madbiologist <987401@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK - the runtime power management support I mentioned in comment #30 has
finally been enabled on ATI/AMD Radeon graphics hardware in the upstream
3.13 kernel - it has support for dynamically powering down discrete GPUs
on PowerXpress systems - see http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-
devel/2013-November/048316.html and
http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-
devel/2013-September/045650.html for details.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/987401

Title:
  Ubuntu should poweroff video cards not in use

Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in “xserver-xorg-video-ati” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I have a laptop with two video cards:
  > lspci|grep -i vga
  00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
  01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc NI Whistler [AMD Radeon HD 6600M Series] (rev ff)

  I have looked around and I saw there is the vgaswitceroo module which
  can be used in order to turn on/off unused graphics cards and also
  switch the enabled one (albeit with X restarting).

  I believe Ubuntu should power off the unused card by default.
  The default behavior is to use the Integrated GPU (Intel) but still keeping the Discrete GPU (ATI) on.

  This can save up to 10W in my laptop, which is at least 50% more
  battery power previously wasted on keeping an unused GPU on.

  Best regards,
  Nikos

  
  ---

  AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
  ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
  Architecture: amd64
  ArecordDevices:
   **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
   card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
     Subdevices: 1/1
     Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  AudioDevicesInUse:
   USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
   /dev/snd/controlC0:  andrikos   3587 F.... pulseaudio
  Card0.Amixer.info:
   Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7d00000 irq 48'
     Mixer name	: 'Intel CougarPoint HDMI'
     Components	: 'HDA:10ec0269,104d5300,00100004 HDA:80862805,104d5300,00100000'
     Controls      : 17
     Simple ctrls  : 9
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
  HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=2a386f35-058c-4b56-a4ef-086a54f6b10e
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
  MachineType: Sony Corporation VPCCB2S1E
  Package: linux (not installed)
  ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-17-generic root=UUID=30b47f3a-9136-4791-a5c8-f72e6b1c7362 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-17.30-generic 3.0.22
  RelatedPackageVersions:
   linux-restricted-modules-3.0.0-17-generic N/A
   linux-backports-modules-3.0.0-17-generic  N/A
   linux-firmware                            1.60.1
  StagingDrivers: mei
  Tags:  oneiric running-unity staging
  Uname: Linux 3.0.0-17-generic x86_64
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout kismet lpadmin plugdev sambashare
  dmi.bios.date: 04/15/2011
  dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
  dmi.bios.version: R1100V2
  dmi.board.asset.tag: N/A
  dmi.board.name: VAIO
  dmi.board.vendor: Sony Corporation
  dmi.board.version: N/A
  dmi.chassis.asset.tag: N/A
  dmi.chassis.type: 10
  dmi.chassis.vendor: Sony Corporation
  dmi.chassis.version: N/A
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrR1100V2:bd04/15/2011:svnSonyCorporation:pnVPCCB2S1E:pvrC6099RLH:rvnSonyCorporation:rnVAIO:rvrN/A:cvnSonyCorporation:ct10:cvrN/A:
  dmi.product.name: VPCCB2S1E
  dmi.product.version: C6099RLH
  dmi.sys.vendor: Sony Corporation

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