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Witek
Asked: 2017-06-29 02:38:46 +0800 CST

How to set "Performance" instead of "Powersave" as default?

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When I start my Unity desktop the CPU indicator shows only one bar and it is set to Powersave. When I switch to Performance I have to enter an admin users password.

But after system restart my CPU is back in Powersave. How to set Performance as the default, so I don't have to switch it after every restart?

17.04

3 Answers

  1. Performance and Powersave Governor Policies

    There are various options for setting CPU governor policy described in Ask Ubuntu and other websites:

    Keep in mind most websites suggest leaving CPU governing at Powersave. I'm on a laptop and found using Intel's ThermalD and P-State technologies coupled with TLP power management has best result for frequencies, fan speed and temperature.

    Summarizing above links

    To summarize achieving your goal from the above answers use:

    Install cpufrequtils:

    sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils

    Then edit the following file (if it doesn't exist, create it):

    sudo nano /etc/default/cpufrequtils

    And add the following line to it:

    GOVERNOR="performance"

    Save and exit.

    For changes take effect, run:

    sudo systemctl restart cpufrequtils

    Then you can run cpufreq-info to see informations about your cpu frequency, governor and more:

    $ cpufreq-info
    current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 3.90 GHz.
              The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
              within this range.

    As per this Q&A: Set CPU governor to performance in 18.04

    If you want performance governor all the time you need to edit /etc/rc.local and insert these lines before the last line containing exit 0:

    sleep 120 # Give CPU startup routines time to settle.
cpupower frequency-set --governor performance

    To setup /etc/rc.local in 18.04 see: How to Enable /etc/rc.local with Systemd

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  2. I cannot comment because I have low reputation but I want to add the accepted answer. You will also need to run 

    sudo /etc/init.d/cpufrequtils restart

    for this to take effect on your system. You should then see your frequencies hovering around the max listed and 

    current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 3.90 GHz.
              The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
              within this range.

    When you type cpufreq-info

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  3. I'm on Xubuntu 18.04.02 LTS and installing cpufrequtils by sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils, made it possible to reduce the max CPU-speed. A nice option to have as the fan has stopped working.

    After looking at the info by cpufreq-info, I created a file by sudo nano /etc/default/cpufrequtils, and wrote into it as in picture below. I found out it was of use to also set a value for min speed.

    enter image description here

    Lastly the command to make the change take action sudo /etc/init.d/cpufrequtils restart, resulting in this output from cpufreq-info:

    enter image description here

    To be clear - this is off course not my own findings, only a result of conclusions made from other earlier questions, comments, and answers on this forum. Especially the answer in this very question from WinEunuuchs2Unix.

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