Dynamic Boost Failing on Notebook

Graphics / Linux Linux
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1

Here it shows my gpu support Dynamic Boost but in powerd it show the error

╰─❯ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0/power
Runtime D3 status:          Enabled (fine-grained)
Video Memory:               Off

GPU Hardware Support:
 Video Memory Self Refresh: Supported
 Video Memory Off:          Supported

S0ix Power Management:
 Platform Support:          Supported
 Status:                    Enabled

Notebook Dynamic Boost:     Supported
╰─❯ systemctl status nvidia-powerd.service
● nvidia-powerd.service - nvidia-powerd service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nvidia-powerd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2025-06-18 18:53:40 EDT; 9h ago
 Invocation: b152dbdc034a4fc287110330182d3a78
   Main PID: 734 (nvidia-powerd)
      Tasks: 5 (limit: 18567)
     Memory: 1.5M (peak: 9.3M, swap: 3.2M, swap peak: 3.3M)
        CPU: 28.192s
     CGroup: /system.slice/nvidia-powerd.service
             └─734 /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd

Jun 18 18:53:40 syntist-pc systemd[1]: Started nvidia-powerd service.
Jun 18 18:53:40 syntist-pc nvidia-powerd[734]: nvidia-powerd version:2.0 (build 1)
Jun 18 18:53:40 syntist-pc nvidia-powerd[734]: DBus Connection is established
Jun 18 18:53:40 syntist-pc nvidia-powerd[734]: ERROR! Client (presumably SBIOS) has requested to disable Dynamic Boost DC controller

image
image1920×1440 217 KB

Here is the only option in my bios showing that if I enabled 3.0 it will disable Nvidia Dynamic Boost.

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (343.4 KB)

2

Hi @Syntist , thanks for reporting this issue.
Do you see Dynamic Boost failing even when the laptop is plugged in? Or is the failure just seen on battery?

3

Hi @vanditd Thanks for replying

I am getting the same error in both cases, Plugged and Unplugged.
I didn’t got this issue in 565 Release I guess.

4

Thanks @Syntist , could you attach a bug report for the 2 cases, once when the laptop is plugged in, and another on battery :

  1. systemctl stop nvidia-powerd → Connect AC adapter → systemctl start nvidia-powerd → take bug report
  2. systemctl stop nvidia-powerd → Remove AC adapter → systemctl start nvidia-powerd → take bug report
5

Bug Report

1- Connect AC Adapter
nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (355.7 KB)

2- Remove AC Adapter
nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (371.1 KB)

Here’s the bug report for both scenerio

6

Thanks @Syntist for the reports.

‘Connect AC Adapter’ Bug report :

Current Power Limit               : 35.00 W
Requested Power Limit             : 35.00 W
Default Power Limit               : 35.00 W

‘Remove AC Adapter’ Bug report :

Current Power Limit               : 35.00 W
Requested Power Limit             : 35.00 W
Default Power Limit               : 35.00 W

To confirm power limits are working properly, could you help to upload bug reports for both the cases with any GPU intensive application running when you take the reports?
Running any game or benchmark which is GPU intensive should work, eg, SOTTR. You can check if the GPU Power Readings are changing using the command nvidia-smi --query | grep Limits.

7

Thanks, @vanditd

Connect AC Adapter + Dota 2
nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (1.3 MB)

Remove AC Adapter + Dota 2
nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (1.3 MB)

I think i am hitting my max watt that is 45 watt when i am connected to battery
But I am not sure why i am getting that error in powerd

8

Thanks @Syntist for the logs.
Based on the nvidia-smi output, the feature is working in both AC and DC. The system’s EC/BIOS mandates the dynamic boost behavior and disables the controller in certain conditions - like for example when the battery has low residual charge. The error print comes in syslog in such cases and the dynamic boost gets disabled.

1 Like
9

@vanditd Thanks

I been playing out for a while, and I have notice some weird behavior, Before I guess the older version maybe 570..
My power setting was working correctly and as soon I start the game my laptop gpu max out watt, but now It takes a bit of time to rampup to 45 watt, sometime it just dont go that point. And I loose hell lot of performance compared to earlier release, but once it reach it max power then it works good

10

Hi @Syntist ,
Could you help to answer a few questions :

  1. Do you have a driver version after which you started noticing this issue?
  2. Does this happen on AC, DC, or both? Please take a bug report and attach it here when this happens.
  3. Are you seeing this in a particular game or is it seen across games?
11

I am also facing this issue. I have Windows 11 and Arch Linux dual-booted on my laptop with an RTX 3050. On Windows11 the power goes up to 75W (as it should), whereas on Linux it is stuck at 60W as below:-

nvidia-smi -q -d power

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp                                 : Sat Jul 26 23:32:44 2025
Driver Version                            : 575.64.05
CUDA Version                              : 12.9

Attached GPUs                             : 1
GPU 00000000:01:00.0
    GPU Power Readings
        Average Power Draw                : N/A
        Instantaneous Power Draw          : 56.34 W
        Current Power Limit               : 60.00 W
        Requested Power Limit             : 60.00 W
        Default Power Limit               : 60.00 W
        Min Power Limit                   : 1.00 W
        Max Power Limit                   : 75.00 W
    Power Samples
        Duration                          : Not Found
        Number of Samples                 : Not Found
        Max                               : Not Found
        Min                               : Not Found
        Avg                               : Not Found
    GPU Memory Power Readings
        Average Power Draw                : N/A
        Instantaneous Power Draw          : N/A
    Module Power Readings
        Average Power Draw                : N/A
        Instantaneous Power Draw          : N/A
        Current Power Limit               : N/A
        Requested Power Limit             : N/A
        Default Power Limit               : N/A
        Min Power Limit                   : N/A
        Max Power Limit                   : N/A

The above data was collected when I stress-tested my RTX 3050 with Furmark.

As you can see below, on Windows 11, the power goes up to 72W and sometimes reaches 75W.

Screenshot 2025-07-26 191955
Screenshot 2025-07-26 191955483×523 177 KB

My configuration

GPU: RTX 3050 75W
CPU: AMD 5600H
RAM: 24GB
OS: Arch Linux
Driver Version 575.64.05 (Proprietary)

Dynamic Boost is supported on my laptop as seen below:-

cat /proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0/power
Runtime D3 status:          Enabled (fine-grained)
Video Memory:               Active

GPU Hardware Support:
 Video Memory Self Refresh: Supported
 Video Memory Off:          Supported

S0ix Power Management:
 Platform Support:          Not Supported
 Status:                    Disabled

Notebook Dynamic Boost:     Supported

on running systemctl status nvidia-powerd.service i get the following:-

nvidia-powerd.service - nvidia-powerd service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nvidia-powerd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-07-26 20:21:53 IST; 2h 9min ago
 Invocation: c9aeff35e5c74989aa1c3732b03c73b1
   Main PID: 5299 (nvidia-powerd)
      Tasks: 5 (limit: 27642)
     Memory: 3.6M (peak: 5.6M)
        CPU: 3.445s
     CGroup: /system.slice/nvidia-powerd.service
             └─5299 /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd

Jul 26 20:21:53 yuvraj-arch systemd[1]: Started nvidia-powerd service.
Jul 26 20:21:53 yuvraj-arch nvidia-powerd[5299]: nvidia-powerd version:2.0 (build 1)
Jul 26 20:21:53 yuvraj-arch nvidia-powerd[5299]: DBus Connection is established
Jul 26 20:21:53 yuvraj-arch nvidia-powerd[5299]: ERROR! DC power limits table is not supported
Jul 26 20:21:53 yuvraj-arch nvidia-powerd[5299]: ERROR! Failed to get SysPwrLimitGetInfo!!
Jul 26 20:21:53 yuvraj-arch nvidia-powerd[5299]: ERROR! Client (presumably SBIOS) has requested to disable Dynamic Boost DC controller

As seen above nvidia-powerd has clearly stopped.

On running nvidia-smi -q -d PERFORMANCE, we can see there is a “SW Power Cap” active.

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp                                 : Sat Jul 26 23:38:09 2025
Driver Version                            : 575.64.05
CUDA Version                              : 12.9

Attached GPUs                             : 1
GPU 00000000:01:00.0
    Performance State                     : P0
    Clocks Event Reasons
        Idle                              : Not Active
        Applications Clocks Setting       : Not Active
        SW Power Cap                      : Active
        HW Slowdown                       : Not Active
            HW Thermal Slowdown           : Not Active
            HW Power Brake Slowdown       : Not Active
        Sync Boost                        : Not Active
        SW Thermal Slowdown               : Not Active
        Display Clock Setting             : Not Active
    Clocks Event Reasons Counters
        SW Power Capping                  : 599526396 us
        Sync Boost                        : 0 us
        SW Thermal Slowdown               : 0 us
        HW Thermal Slowdown               : 0 us
        HW Power Braking                  : 0 us
    Sparse Operation Mode                 : N/A

If I unplug my laptop the power do decrease as expected:-

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp                                 : Sun Jul 27 01:01:40 2025
Driver Version                            : 575.64.05
CUDA Version                              : 12.9

Attached GPUs                             : 1
GPU 00000000:01:00.0
    GPU Power Readings
        Average Power Draw                : N/A
        Instantaneous Power Draw          : 6.87 W
        Current Power Limit               : 30.00 W
        Requested Power Limit             : 30.00 W
        Default Power Limit               : 60.00 W
        Min Power Limit                   : 1.00 W
        Max Power Limit                   : 75.00 W
    Power Samples
        Duration                          : Not Found
        Number of Samples                 : Not Found
        Max                               : Not Found
        Min                               : Not Found
        Avg                               : Not Found
    GPU Memory Power Readings 
        Average Power Draw                : N/A
        Instantaneous Power Draw          : N/A
    Module Power Readings
        Average Power Draw                : N/A
        Instantaneous Power Draw          : N/A
        Current Power Limit               : N/A
        Requested Power Limit             : N/A
        Default Power Limit               : N/A
        Min Power Limit                   : N/A
        Max Power Limit                   : N/A

I have the required acpi profiles set as seen below:-

cat /sys/firmware/acpi/platform_profile_choices
cool quiet balanced performance

cat /sys/firmware/acpi/platform_profile
performance

All the tests have been conducted on the NVIDIA proprietary driver. I did not test the open source driver.