Idle power consumption has not decreased despite enabling ASPM and updating drivers

[Stubbly3343]

Dear Intel Arc Engineer,

Hello! I have a GUNNIR A750 Photon 8G. I followed the official instructions to enable ASPM on both the motherboard and Windows system, and updated the drivers to the latest version, but the idle power consumption did not decrease and remains around 40-43W, even if the screen refresh rate is set to 60Hz. Is there a solution to this problem? Thank you.

Best regards,

Stubbly3343

[Stubbly3343]

Is it possible that the firmware of GUNNIR is not in compliance with the official Intel standards? Recently, I have noticed some third-party vendors (such as ASRock) addressing this issue by upgrading their graphics card firmware. If GUNNIR's firmware does not support ASPM, would Intel consider urging them to provide a firmware update? Thank you.

[LynxRufus]

I just discovered that lowered/decreased idle power consumption is also no longer working for me ..

In my case, it used to work back in february/march,

when I  tested it after changing my mobo and set all required options accordingly:

Gigabyte X570S UD , AMD Ryzen 5600 Bios Version I believe was F4,

Arc driver I no longer know, one of those that were released in the month of February 2023

windows 10pro, also whatever patch was most up to date back then.. ASPM enabled / set to L0s & L1 I believe, and PCIe Link-State PowerManagement set to maximum energy savings

this way, it would draw  significantly less power,  maybe 20-30W, even after idling just a few seconds of inactivity on desktop, (not windows sleep/hibernate or such)

I was able to confirm this with tools like HWiNFO64, CPU-Z or even arc control, in addition to a cheap power meter measuring total system idle power consumption on the PSU power cord)

now, a few months later, it is no longer working,

..  before, power consumption would drop down to single-digit values or low dual-digit numbers, maybe ranging from 8-16W I guess, now it is permanently ~33-45W in idle again..

no clue why low power consumption is broken again now...

windows has seen a few updates ofc,

and also there were many new intel arc driver releases meanwhile.

even updated MB bios once, from F4 to F5a..

apart from that, I only remember that I once plugged the DP cable from one connector (eg.port 1) into another (eg. port2)on the back of the GPU, and once I enabled FreeSync for a specific game title I don't remember (have freesync disabled again, and running @ fixed 60Hz again with normal vsync)

@Stubbly3343what hardware/OS are you running your arc on, meaning  mainboard / bios version , and windows version ?

also, unfortunately there are mainboard manufacturors that may have ASPM settings in their UEFI bios , but it wont set the necessary variables/flags needed for windows and/or the driver and the GPU, even when you set it to 'enabled' .

[LynxRufus]

€: I could fix it in my case (Intel Arc A770 16GB LE) by reverting from driver *.4335 via DDU (display driver uninstaller tool) in win save mode, downgrading to older *.4146

(the last one that has ~1GB in size instead of the ones that followed after, which are only ~600MB, no idea why (dropped support for older iGPU perhaps?)

I wanted to try this one anyway because someone mentioned newer ones are 'broken' regarding perfomance in hogwarts legacy in another thread.

for the last drivers inbetween 4146 to 4335 I never used DDU and always chose fresh/clean install..

well either newer drivers are 'broken' indeed as such, or it's 'only' a broken install routine perhaps..

anyways, appears something went wrong along the way, but it's working now after clean uninstall / fresh install (downgrade).

~20 to 25W less in idle, total 'idle' system consumption now back to ~65W instead of 88W or so..

tools report 7-10W for the GPU again, instead of  over 30W before

[Jean_Intel]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for posting on the Intel️® communities. We would be more than glad to help you.

There is no problem with high power consumption as there is no ideal target for power consumption. However, future drivers and firmware updates might optimize the hardware power draw.

Best regards

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Stubbly3343]

I understand that high idle power consumption does not necessarily result in perceptible or performance differences during usage. However, I am concerned about the potential for unnecessary energy consumption and increased electricity costs over the long term. Additionally, I feel it is somewhat unfair that third-party versions produced by other manufacturers do not have the power-saving features enabled. Even when following the official instructions for configuration, the idle power consumption does not decrease, unlike the official version.

I hope that this issue will be resolved someday, and I can only rely on you for that. Thank you for your response.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Stubbly3343,

Thanks for the information provided.

We will do further research on this matter and post the response on this thread once available.

Best regards

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Stubbly3343]

Thank you for your efforts, respectfully await your reply. Furthermore, I would greatly appreciate it if you could also look into this unresolved issue.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Stubbly3343,

Thanks for waiting for a response.

As we previously mentioned, there is no ideal power consumption when Idle. However, we would like to recommend you contact your card manufacturer (GUNNIR) for more information on their hardware implementation.

About your second thread, we apologize for the inconvenience, we will take a look at the thread and continue the support to help you with your problem.

Best regards

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Stubbly3343]

I understand your point, I am not attempting to demand anything forcefully. As a first-generation product, I comprehend and accept that there may be certain deficiencies in the product, but I still hope that Intel can continue to optimize it. This would narrowing the gap with competitors and enhancing competitiveness, while also providing a better user experience for Intel's supporters.

Furthermore, I am uncertain about the available channels to contact GUNNIR, as their official website does not provide any contact information for region outside of mainland China, such as email.

Lastly, I express gratitude for your attention to the additional question and thank you for your response.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Stubbly3343,

We appreciate you took the time to share your feedback to improve our products to enhance the experience for Intel's supporters. We are always working to boost our products, and your feedback is always welcomed.

We also understand the situation you mentioned with GUNNIR; however, as we mentioned previously, the best course of action is to contact them for further information/recommendations for this matter. Therefore, we are considering closing this thread; however, we would like to confirm whether or not you agree with us to close the thread.

Best regards

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Stubbly3343,

We hope you are doing fine.

We have not heard back from you. So we will close this thread. If you need any additional information, submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards.

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician.