AMD PowerPlay

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AMD PowerPlay (formerly ATI PowerPlay ) refers to a technology for power and energy-saving control from the semiconductor manufacturer AMD (formerly ATI ). The technology is in the Mobility Radeon - , Imageon - and Radeon - GPUs implemented.

History and more details

The technique was first in the Mobility Radeon - GPUs used the power consumption of portable computers (such as laptops to reduce). PowerPlay encompasses several technologies, such as dynamically clocking down the graphics chip while the computer is not connected to a power supply, and dimming the LCD . The latest revision is ATI PowerPlay 7.0.

After the takeover of ATI by AMD - in 2006 - the development continued.

Starting with the Radeon HD 3800 series in 2007, PowerPlay was also implemented in ATI's desktop graphics cards in order to reduce the power consumption of the GPU. In 2D mode it is possible to reduce the speed of the GPU fan to reduce the volume and the temperature of the graphics chip.

The main difference between the implementations on desktop and mobile graphics cards is that the desktop versions are cut back to include notebook-specific functions (variable LCD lighting). PowerPlay technology for desktop Radeons also uses three power-saving scenarios; Normal mode (2D mode), a hybrid mode and a game mode (3D mode), as opposed to two scenarios in notebooks (connected to a power supply or not). Tests show that the core clock of an RV670 GPU can be reduced to 300 MHz with activated PowerPlay.

The Radeon HD 4800 series implemented PowerPlay in 2008, but at that time it was not as efficient as previous cards.

At the beginning of 2016, the first parts of the technology were included in the Linux kernel .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ AMD presents the first graphics chips with Direct3D 10.1 - Heise online , on November 15, 2007
  2. ↑ PC Watch image - Screenshot of the graphics settings in the Catalyst Control Center , on December 3, 2007; see the grayed out core clock under GPU Clock
  3. ↑ Power saving mode for 48X0 series? - Discussion in the 3DCenter forum about the current situation of PowerPlay in the HD 4000 series, started on June 29, 2008
  4. ↑ Linux 4.5: Improved 3D drivers and smooth connection changes - Heise online , on January 25, 2016, and a. with "AMD's PowerPlay"
  5. ↑ Kernel: Linux 4.5-rc1 upgrades AMDGPU with Powerplay - Golem.de , on January 25, 2016