Bonum Certa Men Certa

Intel and AMD Power Management is a Stinking Mess as Intel Makes Death Rattles



Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer.

There’s simply no other way to describe it.



Even if you turn on all of the power management the hardware is capable of, it’s not terrific.



The x86 processors are known for being brute force energy hogs.



Buying x86 processors and expecting good power management is like trying to hypermile a Chevy Suburban.



(As big as a house and half as aerodynamic.)



There’s just so far you can take it.



The other architectures usually have better power management because people are using them on cell phones where they’re going to be really mad if the thing kills out 5 times a day.



This is essentially why Intel had no luck with mobile processors. The things that it makes are simply too broken and full of bugs to actually work properly if you’re going to run out of power at some point.



Sure, x86 has power management. Really, really terrible power management. It’s almost like an afterthought.



And thanks to Intel’s incompetence you risk data corruption and system crashes if you turn the wrong part of it on, and thanks to the “design” of modern Intel chips being more like SoCs, you need all or basically all of it on or else the one thing that isn’t powering down does a horrific amount of damage to the overall consumption of the system.



Intel and AMD power management and ACPI (which is full of Microsoft-isms and is the x86 power management and device description system of the PC) are so bad that Microsoft doesn’t even stop to figure them out on Windows.



It just turns parts off and you have to live with 3-4 hour battery life on a computer that could theoretically get 6-8 hours.



To get any decent amount of runtime you pretty much have to run Linux, and override it all to turn on and figure out if it actually corrupts anything or causes the system to become unstable.



I’ve been lucky with my two Lenovo laptops that turning it all on at boot with the powertop –autotune systemd service on Linux just happens to work and doesn’t appear to screw anything up.



Nevertheless, I think it should be embarrassing that Microsoft and Intel and AMD talk about “designing chips for Windows” where something as basic as good power management doesn’t even work on Windows, and rather than investigating it, they declared that you bought it and they’re not going to make more money off you soon, so have fun with broken power management, on the chip designed for Windows, under Windows.



Hell, you’re lucky if this thing even continues booting at all and doesn’t suddenly start crashing and saying “Unsupported Processor” because you installed a Windows update.



The recent Windows “Unsupported Processor” incident actually does happen once in a while, and Microsoft expects users to install newer UEFI firmware that may never come to keep getting Windows updates.



I never update my system firmware unless it’s doing something horrific because Linux doesn’t block you from installing operating system updates and throw bizarre panic errors if it worked okay to begin with, and system firmware updates gone wrong can mean a working computer becomes a dead one. So throwing it in the user’s lap just means that they risk a broken computer, trying to make Windows operable again.



Microsoft absolutely should be responsible and work around whatever the error is, because Windows worked on these systems before the update. So what the hell did they put in there, and why does it make a previously working computer “Unsupported”?



The owner of the machine didn’t do something wrong. Microsoft, Intel, and their OEM screwed up and now the user gets to suffer.



As for Intel, oh Intel…. Bailout Biden gave them billions of dollars to expand production in America with the “Chips and Science Act”, which is totally not at all like Communism.



No sir, not one bit.



If it was Communism, then perhaps the government officials would expect to see new factories going up instead of thousands of layoffs [1] [2] [3]….(and a cafeteria stabbing).



Oh, and since they lost the Apple contract, because their chips are too bad for even Apple (who dabbled with AMD chips internally and then called it on x86 and moved to ARM), the cuts affected Intel’s GPU division too, so expect performance of integrated GPUs to flatline after anything they already have in the pipeline.



Recently, Biden signed an executive order to limit Chinese access to all this Intel junk.



Last year, Intel said that the Chinese didn’t currently (in 2022) have anything that overtook the raw performance of the Intel chips, but they almost certainly will within 4 years.



As another disaster at Intel recently unfolded, Chinese regulators blocked Intel’s $5.4 billion dollar acquisition of Tower Semiconductor, causing Intel to have to pay $353 million for breach of contract and walk away with nothing.



Intel is a comically badly managed company and they and Microsoft deserve to die on the same hill.



(The Microsoft layoffs and hiring freezes continue, but Roy Schestowitz has covered this angle well enough, I think.)



You add all this up, and I mean, it’s not an emergency but I do want off x86 and onto something that runs Linux on ARM eventually.



Raspberry Pi Imager seems to have a Flatpak for non-Ubuntu users to create SD cards with various OS software and game emulators for the thing, and I think I could tolerate deploying this to crank out some OS images if I decide to pick one up.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
 
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025