The Linux Kernel Power Problems On Older Desktop Hardware

World of Padman would hang when running it with the Linux 2.6.32 kernel, but with Linux 2.6.33 it still does indicate that these older releases are quite bad for this older hardware in terms of excessive power consumption.

The frame-rate for this free software OpenGL game does not change much across the tested kernels and would not be playable by Linux gamers with the vintage hardware.

In terms of the 2.6.35 and 2.6.38 major power regressions that I have been tracking for many weeks, with this Intel Pentium 4 "Northwood C" + Radeon 9200PRO setup there is increased power consumption under the expected kernels when the system is idling. The regressions that have been plaguing mobile users with sharply decreased battery life, also appears to be affecting desktop systems too. Under load, there is not much of a power difference due to these regressions, which may be due to this older hardware not supporting EIST SpeedStep and other power management features found on modern processors and other computer hardware components.

The only other interesting finding to note from this Linux desktop power testing is the sharply worse power consumption on pre-2.6.34 kernels for this Pentium 4 desktop. The idle power consumption with the tested 2.6.32/2.6.33 was as high as the 2.6.34+ kernels when they were under a full load.

Unrelated to the power testing but worth noting from the tests is the compute performance improvements made in the Linux 2.6.34 kernel.

More power tests will be on Phoronix shortly seeing how newer desktop hardware is going through power and as we go in for the kill with the major power regressions. For further analysis and investigation, these results can also be compared and looked at on OpenBenchmarking.org.