Stop cpu from overheating

apt-get install thermald
## ```



# TLP

From [Arch Linux][4]:

> TLP brings you the benefits of advanced power management for Linux  
> without the need to understand every technical detail. TLP comes with  
> a default configuration already optimized for battery life, so you may  
> just install and forget it. Nevertheless TLP is highly customizable to  
> fulfill your specific requirements.  

Please read the full Arch Linux TLP link above. There are issues with Nvidia that require configuration changes.

After many trials and errors with other packages, I've had great success using TLP. It gives superior fan control and works seamlessly with ***thermald*** and ***p-states***.

As these [installation instructions][5] for Ubuntu 15.04+ mention TLP not only reduces overheating but it extends battery life too.

Since installing TLP, ***Powerclamp*** (described below) has never been invoked again.


----------


# Intel Powerclamp

Intel's ***Powerclamp*** driver is defined here ([kernel.org - Intel Power Clamp.txt][2]) and is part of ***thermald*** described above. A direct quote for **Powerclamp** from the link:

> Consider the situation where a system’s power consumption must be  
> reduced at runtime, due to power budget, thermal constraint, or noise  
> level, and where active cooling is not preferred. Software managed  
> passive power reduction must be performed to prevent the hardware  
> actions that are designed for catastrophic scenarios.  
>   
> Currently, P-states, T-states (clock modulation), and CPU offlining  
> are used for CPU throttling.  
>   
> On Intel CPUs, C-states provide effective power reduction, but so far  
> they’re only used opportunistically, based on workload. With the  
> development of intel_powerclamp driver, the method of synchronizing  
> idle injection across all online CPU threads was introduced. The goal  
> is to achieve forced and controllable C-state residency.  
>   
> Test/Analysis has been made in the areas of power, performance,  
> scalability, and user experience. In many cases, clear advantage is  
> shown over taking the CPU offline or modulating the CPU clock.  



----------


# How do you know Powerclamp is running?

***Powerclamp*** might only show itself once a year when your fan vents get too much dust & lint. So how do you know it's actually running in the background? Use:

And you should see a list similar to this:

If you see `intel_rapl` and `intel_powerclamp` you know it's working and simply waiting temps to exceed 85C.


----------


# Powerclamp in action displayed by Conky

Here is a screen shot when *Powerclamp* injects sleep cycles:

[![Kidie Injection][3]][3]

Normally on this system CPU clock speed is 2400 Mhz to 3400 Mhz when watching HTML5 video and 10 Chrome tabs open. Normally CPU utilization is about 9% to 12% across 8 CPUs. When things get too hot (**86C**) *Powerclamp* kicks in and this happens:

 - CPU speed is reduced to 1200 Mhz. 
 - CPU utilization spikes up to 80%. This is misleading because the extra 70% is sleeping time.
 - The top 9 CPU processes are usually 5 or 6 Chrome processes plus Xorg, Conky, Pulse Audio and an occasional kworker. However now 8 of the top 10 are the **kidle_inject/x** process where `x` is from 0 to 7. For the first 8 CPUs.

The ***Powerclamp*** driver runs until temps drop below 85C again. While the driver is running you might have split second pausing in your videos and possibly split second keyboard and mouse lag.


----------


# Disable Intel Turbo Boost

Back in the "cool old days" of Ubuntu 14.04 Intel Turbo Boost was broken so my processor speed fluctuated between 1200 Mhz and 2400 Mhz. After upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 it would go up to 3400 Mhz (3.4 Ghz) because Turbo Boost was finally working. But it also raised the heat.

To disable Intel Turbo Boost use:

----------


# Short term fix in this scenario

To "band-aid" fix this problem I pulled the old laptop cooler pad with dual fans out of the closet and popped under the laptop. This dropped temps to 63C under the same workload.

The next step will be compress air in vents. After that the final step will be new Cooling Heatsink with pipes for CPU and GPU. Good thermal paste such as Arctic Silver 5 is also needed in that operation. A new fan was already installed last year and that seems to be running ok.

### Update Jan 25 2017

Blew out fan vents with compressed air and temps dropped from 63C to 56C. This is still using the laptop cooling pad mind you.


### Update Aug 06 2017

Have been using `TLP` (described above) for many months now and temperatures are steady around 50C and fan performance is optimal.

----------


# Watch out for too many fan control drivers

Because this is a Dell I had installed I8K Fan Monitor / Control in hopes it would speed up the fan sooner and faster. When I type `sensors` I get:

***Ignore the virtual temps, they are out to lunch***. Under Ubuntu 14.04 the were accurate and I used `temp 1` in Conky display. After Ubuntu 16.04 upgrade I had to refer to a third temperature not displayed on this screen. To see the **REAL** temps you can use this command:

When I type: