topic Arc B50 32.0.101.6979 -> .8306 idle power consumption regression in Graphics

Arc B50 32.0.101.6979 -> .8306 idle power consumption regression

mag1024 — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 03:21:26 GMT

Hi,

I've observed that the latest version of the Pro firmware causes an idle power usage regression with the Arc B50 card in Linux. The setup is a Proxmox host with SR-IOV, and a Linux VM running light enc/dec and Vulkan workloads.

\w 32.0.101.6979 -- 3-8W reported power -- constant high fan noise, despite low reported RPM (I believe this is a different, known bug)
\w 32.0.101.8306 -- 22+W reported power -- saner fan behavior, but higher temps

I have verified several times that the card firmware is the only difference by updating it using Windows.

The power usage is not a reporting problem: whole system power usage monitoring confirms the difference.

Details:

Proxmox host -- i7-12700K -- Asus W680 -- 6.17.4-2-pve kernel
- Latest BIOS / ME
- SR-IOV
- ASPM enabled
- Setting pcie_aspm to powersave doesn't make a difference
Linux guest -- 6.17.13+deb13 kernel (VF passed through)

Re:Arc B50 32.0.101.6979 -> .8306 idle power consumption regression

JedG_Intel — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 05:43:25 GMT

Hello mag1024,

Thank you for posting on Intel Community Forum.

I understand that you’re seeing a power usage regression, and the details you’ve shared so far are very helpful. I’ll review everything and get back to you as soon as I have an update.

Best regards

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re: Arc B50 32.0.101.6979 -> .8306 idle power consumption regression

JedG_Intel — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 01:14:56 GMT

Hello mag1024,

I'm reaching out to get some information that will help with our investigation. Please see below.

1. Does the power regression occur even when the Linux VM is shut down or only when the VM is running?

2. Have you tried the latest stable kernel 6.18 and firmware?

3. Is the issue also happening on support Linux OS Ubuntu* 22.04?

I look forward to your response.

Best regards

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:Arc B50 32.0.101.6979 -> .8306 idle power consumption regression

JedG_Intel — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:36:31 GMT

Hello mag1024,

I wanted to check if you had the chance to review the questions I posted. Please let me know at your earliest convenience so that we can determine the best course of action to resolve this matter.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re: Arc B50 32.0.101.6979 -> .8306 idle power consumption regression

mag1024 — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 21:06:21 GMT

Thanks for your response!

The power usage only goes up when the VM that is running an intermittent/light inference workload is running. I was not able to test newer kernels, but I did try the linux-firmware from git, in combination with my existing 6.17.4 kernel.

Before: xe/bmg_guc_70.bin version 70.49.4, xe/bmg_huc.bin version 8.2.10

After: xe/bmg_guc_70.bin version 70.55.3, xe/bmg_huc.bin version 8.2.10

This helped a lot.

The power is no longer pegged at 22+W, and fluctuates more similarly to how it did with the .6979 firmware.

It still seems higher on average, but I don't have a conclusive data for this.

I guess I'll wait for the newer kernels to come to Proxmox.

Re:Arc B50 32.0.101.6979 -> .8306 idle power consumption regression

JedG_Intel — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 04:48:09 GMT

Hello mag1024,

Thank you for keeping me posted. I’m glad to hear that trying a different firmware resolved the issue.

I’d also like to share that Intel Arc graphics currently support Ubuntu only and it may contribute to the issue you are experiencing. Other Linux distributions are not supported at this time.

You may also find this article helpful: Where Can I Find Linux Drivers for Intel® Arc™ Graphics?

I look forward to your response.

Best regards

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:Arc B50 32.0.101.6979 -> .8306 idle power consumption regression

JedG_Intel — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 01:32:55 GMT

Hello mag1024,

I have not heard back from you so I will close this inquiry now. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re: Re:Arc B50 32.0.101.6979 -> .8306 idle power consumption regression

Tony5617 — Tue, 05 May 2026 19:07:06 GMT

Hello guys,

I'm actually experiencing exactly the same situation with my Intel Arc Pro B50 as reported by user @mag1024 . There seems to be inconsistent power idle behavior (most probably caused by firmware).

Software:

Ubuntu linux 26.04
Kernel: 7.0.0-15-generic (newest one, but also tested other recent kernels)
Driver: xe
linux-firmware: latest from git
- bmg_guc_70.bin (70.60.0)
- bmg_huc.bin (8.2.10)
- bmg_dmc.bin (v2.6)

Case 1 – No monitoring tools (baseline - card is completely idle)

GPU idle power usage: ~20–22W stable, no spikes up or down
Fan: normal / quiet ~1100rpm
GPU temperrature ~ 45-49°C

Case 2 – With nvtop (or similar GPU polling)

GPU power: drops to ~5-6W - stable, no spikes (confirmed by my power wattmeter)
GPU temperature drops to 34°C
BUT:
- GPU fan ramps up to very high speed (audibly ~100%) - it literally sounds like starting jet engine
- but nvtop reports 0 RPM
This state persists as long as monitoring is active
similar situation with sensors (lmsensors)

3. Fan behavior indicates failsafe mode

When low power state is reached (via nvtop/polling):
- fan ramps up aggressively
- RPM reporting becomes inconsistent (nvtop shows 0 RPM)
This looks like a failsafe cooling mode triggered by missing/invalid thermal control

dmesg also shows this:

xe 0000:05:00.0: [drm] *ERROR* PCODE Mailbox failed: -6 Illegal Command
xe 0000:05:00.0: [drm] Thermal mailbox not supported by card firmware

Here are also the values from my monitoring script on idle system (polling interval 2s):

when using "nvtop" on second terminal, then values are rather different, but dont't be fooled by those low fan rpm readings, the actual fan rpm was at 100% and fan sounded like perfectly started jet engine!

Here's the code of my "intel_top.sh" script:

#!/bin/bash GPU_PATH=$(ls -d /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:05:00.0/hwmon/hwmon*) RT_PATH=$(ls -d /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:05:00.0) E1="$GPU_PATH/energy1_input" E2="$GPU_PATH/energy2_input" T2="$GPU_PATH/temp2_input" T3="$GPU_PATH/temp3_input" F1="$GPU_PATH/fan1_input" RT="$RT_PATH/power/runtime_status" ST="$RT_PATH/power_state" prev_time=$(date +%s.%N) prev1=$(cat "$E1") prev2=$(cat "$E2") echo "Xe GPU monitor (W / temps / fan / runtime)" echo "-------------------------------------------" while true; do # sleep 2 # runtime=$(cat "$RT" 2>/dev/null) # state=$(cat "$ST" 2>/dev/null) cur_time=$(date +%s.%N) dt=$(awk "BEGIN {print $cur_time - $prev_time}") cur1=$(cat "$E1") cur2=$(cat "$E2") d1=$((cur1 - prev1)) d2=$((cur2 - prev2)) # µJ -> W w1=$(awk "BEGIN {printf \"%.2f\", $d1 / 1000000 / $dt}") w2=$(awk "BEGIN {printf \"%.2f\", $d2 / 1000000 / $dt}") temp2=$(awk "BEGIN {printf \"%.1f\", $(cat $T2)/1000}") temp3=$(awk "BEGIN {printf \"%.1f\", $(cat $T3)/1000}") fan=$(cat "$F1" 2>/dev/null) sleep 2 runtime=$(cat "$RT" 2>/dev/null) state=$(cat "$ST" 2>/dev/null) printf "Runtime: %-9s | State: %-5s | GPU: %6s W | PKG: %6s W | Temp: %s°C / %s°C | Fan: %4s RPM\n" \ "$runtime" "$state" "$w1" "$w2" "$temp2" "$temp3" "$fan" prev1=$cur1 prev2=$cur2 prev_time=$cur_time done

So the expected behavior is GPU should be able to enter low idle power (~5 W) and maintain correct fan curve / thermal control
Monitoring tools should NOT trigger fan runaway, but the actual behaviour: there are two mutually exclusive states:

~20 W idle, correct fan behavior, higher temps

~5-8 W idle, broken fan control (max fan = jet engine), lower temps.

Do you guys experience the same issue?

many thanks,

Antonin