{"id":106,"date":"2018-09-05T15:36:22","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joontech.nl\/wordpress\/?p=106"},"modified":"2018-09-10T11:29:40","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T14:29:40","slug":"radeon-hd8890m-graphics-card-and-ubuntu-18-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.joontech.nl\/?p=106","title":{"rendered":"Radeon HD8890M graphics card and Ubuntu 18.04"},"content":{"rendered":"

To see which graphis card is installed:
\nhttps:\/\/www.cyberciti.biz\/faq\/linux-tell-which-graphics-vga-card-installed\/<\/a><\/p>\n

lspci | grep -i –color ‘vga\\|3d\\|2d’<\/span><\/strong>
\n01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD\/ATI] Venus XTX [Radeon HD 8890M \/ R9 M275X\/M375X] (rev 83)<\/span>
\nsudo lspci -v -s 01:00.0 # Note the Device ID from the previous output<\/span><\/strong>
\n01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD\/ATI] Venus XTX [Radeon HD 8890M \/ R9 M275X\/M375X] (rev 83) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])<\/span>
\nSubsystem: Dell Venus XTX [Radeon HD 8890M \/ R9 M275X\/M375X]<\/span>
\nFlags: fast devsel, IRQ 16<\/span>
\nMemory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]<\/span>
\nMemory at dfe00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]<\/span>
\nI\/O ports at e000 [size=256]<\/span>
\nExpansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]<\/span>
\nCapabilities: [48] Vendor Specific Information: Len=08 <?><\/span>
\nCapabilities: [50] Power Management version 3<\/span>
\nCapabilities: [58] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00<\/span>
\nCapabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable- Count=1\/1 Maskable- 64bit+<\/span>
\nCapabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=010\u00a0<\/span>
\nCapabilities: [150] Advanced Error Reporting<\/span>
\nCapabilities: [200] #15<\/span>
\nCapabilities: [270] #19<\/span>
\nKernel modules: radeon, amdgpu<\/span><\/p>\n

I used the early preview AMD driver Amdgpu-pro-18.20-579836<\/a>. It seems to work fine with my notebook and docking station. The normal version is installed, the pro version seems to give issues.<\/p>\n

Run\u00a0sudo lshw -c video<\/code>, and look for the line with “configuration”. The loaded driver is prefixed with “driver=”<\/p>\n

And this gives you loads of information on the driver itself.<\/p>\n

modinfo $(modprobe --resolve-alias radeon)<\/pre>\n
lspci -nnk | grep -i vga -A3 | grep 'in use'<\/code> also shows which graphics option is being used in the current configuration.<\/p>\n
You can blacklist the radeon driver by adding blacklist radeon<\/code> to \/etc\/modprobe.d\/blacklist-radeon.conf
\n<\/code>and by adding blacklist radeonfb<\/code>\u00a0to \/etc\/modprobe.d\/blacklist-framebuffer.conf<\/code><\/p>\n
Note that this does NOT<\/strong> stop the card from being turned on at boot, and consuming a lot of power.<\/p>\n
Setting driver options:<\/h2>\n
Follow this page on info of kernel module features and settings.
\nhttps:\/\/wiki.archlinux.org\/index.php\/Kernel_module<\/a><\/p>\n
Driver features can be set\u00a0 by adding specific options to your boot environment in grub\u00a0\/etc\/default\/grub<\/code><\/p>\n
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=\"quiet splash radeon.dpm=1\"\r\nsudo update-grub<\/pre>\n
An alternative is adding files to\u00a0\/etc\/modprobe.d\/<\/code>, that will be read at boot time<\/p>\n
\/etc\/modprobe.d\/radeon.conf\r\n# Force the Dynamic Power Management\r\noptions radeon dpm=1<\/pre>\n
resulting settings are made visible with this command:<\/p>\n
systool -v -m radeon<\/i>\r\n<\/pre>\n
More power settings<\/h2>\n
The Radeon driver supports more power settings. See here:<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.x.org\/wiki\/RadeonFeature\/#index3h2<\/a><\/p>\n
You can see the current selected method, profile and details with:<\/p>\n
cat \/sys\/class\/drm\/card0\/device\/power_method\r\ncat \/sys\/class\/drm\/card0\/device\/power_profile\r\nsudo cat \/sys\/kernel\/debug\/dri\/0\/radeon_pm_info<\/pre>\n
Disabling the Radeon HD8890M to\u00a0reduce power consumption<\/h2>\n
Discrete graphics cards have the disadvantage that they consume a lot of power, and are best used with external power connected.
\nBut what if you do not need the extra graphical power, battery time is more important?<\/p>\n
You can unload the radeon<\/em> driver by blacklisting it or using driver feature\u00a0radeon.modeset=0<\/code>. This will make you use the embedded graphics.
\nIn both cases, no driver is loaded, but the card is still switched on and consuming power<\/strong> <\/span>like it is switched on in full.<\/p>\n
An other option is to disable the card in the BIOS\/UEFI. On my Dell\u00a0Precision 7510, this is however not possible.<\/p>\n
Then the final option would be to use the power settings in the previous text to reduce the consumption. This seems to work pretty good.
\nPower some statistics with the different options<\/p>\n