Driver Patch Reduces ATI Graphics Power Consumption
ATI graphics cards have become more and more interesting for Linux developers ever since the manufacture released the sources. The latest drive has released power management functions that have previously been neglected on Linux.
AMD developer Alex Deucher released a patch for the free R500 and R600 graphics chip driver to add support for dynamic graphics processor clocking. The "Dynamic Clocks" extension changes the graphics processors clock speed, although functions for modifying the bus and memory clock speeds are still missing for full dynamic power management support like that provided by ATI's "PowerPlay" solution. PowerPlay has not been completely released. And because clock management is often implemented in the form of BIOS calls, the new code will not benefit some users. Despite this, the patch is regarded as a starting point for making the free ATI driver less power hungry.
The current "xf86-video-ati driver" driver is available in the Git tree on FreeDesktop.org. It is most useful to owners of notebooks with the ATI R500/R600 graphics chipset. The code has no effect on desktop machines.
AMD released the specifications for the ATI R500 and R600 in September last year. The release was followed by documentation for further cards and chips this February.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.