Power-Modes-and-Performance - blame None

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5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	1	# Power Modes & Performance
			2	This guide is supposed to show how the performance of the APU changes on various power levels and to help you pick the optimal power mode for your Strix Halo system.
			3
d849bc	deseven	2025-07-05 01:58:15	4	All tests were run at fixed fans speed of 80% to make sure that cooling level is constant, CPU temp never exceeded 75 °C. For GPU becnhmarks please note that the GPU was in a passthrough mode to the Windows VM and only 12 CPU cores were passed as well, so there is at least 5% of a performance drop. In general, look at the percentage changes (relative to the base 55W result).
5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	5
f793a6	deseven	2025-07-06 15:44:19	6	Everything single-threaded is omitted here, since a single core could never use the full power limit even on the lowest 55W value.
5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	7
			8	### CPU - PassMark
			9	Details:
			10	- [PassMark PerformanceTest for Linux](https://www.passmark.com/products/pt_linux/download.php), version 11.0.1002
f793a6	deseven	2025-07-06 15:44:19	11	- Average of 5 medium tests for CPU, to lower the influence of the initial power boost (`pt_linux_x64 -i 5 -d 2`)
5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	12
			13	\| Metric \| [55W](https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V11/display.php?id=509787657486) \| [85W](https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V11/display.php?id=509787842837) \| [120W](https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V11/display.php?id=509787902430) \|
			14	\| ----------------------------------- \| ------- \| ------- \| ------- \|
d6bb57	deseven	2025-07-05 01:22:58	15	\| CPU Mark \| 49 635 \| 58 042 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+16.9%</sup> \| 62 805 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+26.5%</sup> \|
			16	\| Integer Math (MOps/s) \| 193 409 \| 222 270 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+14.9%</sup> \| 233 483 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+20.7%</sup> \|
			17	\| Floating Point Math (MOps/s) \| 107 679 \| 127 114 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+18.0%</sup> \| 138 255 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+28.4%</sup> \|
			18	\| Find Prime Numbers (MPrimes/s) \| 263 \| 286 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+8.7%</sup> \| 302 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+14.8%</sup> \|
			19	\| Random String Sorting (kStrings/s) \| 71 735 \| 88 253 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+23.0%</sup> \| 98 842 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+37.8%</sup> \|
			20	\| Data Encryption (MB/s) \| 33 582 \| 40 310 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+20.0%</sup> \| 44 246 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+31.8%</sup> \|
			21	\| Data Compression (KB/s) \| 539 857 \| 683 287 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+26.6%</sup> \| 777 048 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+43.9%</sup> \|
			22	\| Physics (Frames/s) \| 4 802 \| 5 477 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+14.1%</sup> \| 5 806 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+20.9%</sup> \|
			23	\| Extended Instructions (MMatrices/s) \| 38 464 \| 49 404 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+28.4%</sup> \| 58 761 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+52.8%</sup> \|
386b81	deseven	2025-07-05 01:18:37	24
			25	\* All percentage values are relative to the base 55W result
5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	26
			27	### CPU - Geekbench
			28	:::info
			29	# Notice
386b81	deseven	2025-07-05 01:18:37	30	Geekbench does NOT test the system under full load, a lot of the tests don't even utilize all of the available cores, consider these results to be a reflection of an average daily lite usage with no substantial load
5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	31	:::
			32
			33	Details:
			34	- [Geekbench for Linux](https://www.geekbench.com/download/), version 6.4.0
			35	- 1 test on every power mode with a 3 minute delay
			36
			37	\| Metric \| [55W](https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/12718643) \| [85W](https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/12718729) \| [120W](https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/12719008) \|
			38	\| --------------------- \| ------- \| ------- \| ------- \|
d6bb57	deseven	2025-07-05 01:22:58	39	\| Multi-Core Score \| 17 328 \| 17 544 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+1.2%</sup> \| 17 516 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+1.1%</sup> \|
			40	\| File Compression \| 11 184 \| 12 063 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+7.9%</sup> \| 12 197 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+9.1%</sup> \|
			41	\| Navigation \| 13 578 \| 13 050 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-3.9%</sup> \| 13 322 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-1.9%</sup> \|
			42	\| HTML5 Browser \| 16 030 \| 17 040 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+6.3%</sup> \| 15 610 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-2.6%</sup> \|
			43	\| PDF Renderer \| 25 044 \| 24 893 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-0.6%</sup> \| 26 726 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+6.7%</sup> \|
			44	\| Photo Library \| 25 989 \| 27 260 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+4.9%</sup> \| 27 099 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+4.3%</sup> \|
			45	\| Clang \| 42 312 \| 44 101 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+4.2%</sup> \| 44 315 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+4.7%</sup> \|
			46	\| Text Processing \| 3 723 \| 3 714 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-0.2%</sup> \| 3 667 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-1.5%</sup> \|
			47	\| Asset Compression \| 30 848 \| 31 534 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+2.2%</sup> \| 32 421 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+5.1%</sup> \|
			48	\| Object Detection \| 13 032 \| 13 075 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+0.3%</sup> \| 12 545 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-3.7%</sup> \|
			49	\| Background Blur \| 12 406 \| 12 308 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-0.8%</sup> \| 12 207 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-1.6%</sup> \|
			50	\| Horizon Detection \| 20 156 \| 19 947 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-1.0%</sup> \| 19 792 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-1.8%</sup> \|
			51	\| Object Remover \| 18 049 \| 18 382 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+1.8%</sup> \| 18 796 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+4.1%</sup> \|
			52	\| HDR \| 13 929 \| 13 775 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-1.1%</sup> \| 13 791 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-1.0%</sup> \|
			53	\| Photo Filter \| 14 335 \| 13 066 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-8.9%</sup> \| 13 849 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-3.4%</sup> \|
			54	\| Ray Tracer \| 38 300 \| 40 547 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+5.9%</sup> \| 38 962 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+1.7%</sup> \|
			55	\| Structure from Motion \| 22 188 \| 22 210 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+0.1%</sup> \| 21 352 <sup style="color: red; font-size: 0.8em;">-3.8%</sup> \|
386b81	deseven	2025-07-05 01:18:37	56	\* All percentage values are relative to the base 55W result
f793a6	deseven	2025-07-06 15:44:19	57	Details:
			58	- sysbench - 1.0.20, `sysbench cpu run --threads=32 --time=30`
			59	- cpubench1a - 5.0, `cpubench1a -bench -nb 3 -duration 30`
			60	- 7-Zip - 16.02, `7z b`
			61
			62	### CPU - Various Benchmarks
			63	\| Benchmark (Metric) \| 55W \| 85W \| 120W \|
			64	\| -------------------------- \| --- \| --- \| ---- \|
			65	\| sysbench (Events/s) \| 85 160 \| 96 139 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+12.9%</sup> \| 99 218 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+16.5%</sup> \|
			66	\| cpubench1a (MT Score) \| 3 483 \| 4 288 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+23.1%</sup> \| 4 790 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+37.5%</sup> \|
			67	\| 7-Zip (Compressing MIPS) \| 120 759 \| 135 008 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+11.8%</sup> \| 140 471 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+16.3%</sup> \|
			68	\| 7-Zip (Decompressing MIPS) \| 103 110 \| 124 170 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+20.4%</sup> \| 135 859 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+31.8%</sup> \|
			69
5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	70
			71	### GPU - Various Benchmarks
			72	Details:
f793a6	deseven	2025-07-06 15:44:19	73	- UNIGINE Superposition - DirectX, 1080p Extreme preset
386b81	deseven	2025-07-05 01:18:37	74	- 3DMARK Steel Nomad Light - Vulkan, 1080p
			75	- 3DMARK Time Spy - 1080p
5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	76
			77	\| Benchmark \| 55W \| 85W \| 120W \|
			78	\| ------------------------ \| --- \| --- \| ---- \|
d6bb57	deseven	2025-07-05 01:22:58	79	\| PassMark 2D Mark \| 621 \| 706 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+13.7%</sup> \| 758 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+22.1%</sup> \|
			80	\| PassMark DirectX 10 \| 59 \| 65 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+10.2%</sup> \| 78 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+32.2%</sup> \|
			81	\| PassMark DirectX 11 \| 112 \| 134 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+19.6%</sup> \| 148 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+32.1%</sup> \|
			82	\| PassMark DirectX 12 \| 63 \| 67 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+6.3%</sup> \| 80 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+27.0%</sup> \|
			83	\| PassMark GPU Compute \| 6 229 \| 6 777 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+8.8%</sup> \| 7 311 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+17.4%</sup> \|
			84	\| UNIGINE Superposition \| 5 247 \| 6 103 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+16.3%</sup> \| 6 522 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+24.3%</sup> \|
			85	\| 3DMARK Steel Nomad Light \| 8 494 \| 9 883 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+16.4%</sup> \| 10 608 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+24.9%</sup> \|
			86	\| 3DMARK Time Spy \| 8 891 \| 10 230 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+15.1%</sup> \| 10 710 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+20.5%</sup> \|
386b81	deseven	2025-07-05 01:18:37	87	\* All percentage values are relative to the base 55W result
5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	88
			89	### GPU - Gaming
386b81	deseven	2025-07-05 01:18:37	90	Details:
f793a6	deseven	2025-07-06 15:44:19	91	- all games use pre-defined presets and built-in benchmarks
			92	- all values are average FPS
			93	- for Metro Exodus ray tracing was additionally set to `normal`
			94	- for GTA5 the value is an average FPS of 5 different benchmarks
			95
			96	\| Game \| 55W \| 85W \| 120W \|
			97	\| ---------------------------------------------- \| --- \| --- \| ---- \|
			98	\| Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p low) \| 61 \| 70 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+14.8%</sup> \| 73 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+19.7%</sup> \|
			99	\| Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p high) \| 53 \| 62 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+17.0%</sup> \| 66 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+24.5%</sup> \|
			100	\| The Talos Principle (1080p ultra) \| 102 \| 113 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+10.8%</sup> \| 117 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+14.7%</sup> \|
			101	\| Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (1080p ultra) \| 51 \| 59 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+15.7%</sup> \| 63 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+23.5%</sup> \|
			102	\| Red Dead Redemption 2 (1080p high) \| 55 \| 58 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+5.5%</sup> \| 66 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+20.0%</sup> \|
			103	\| Grand Theft Auto V Enchanced (1080p very high) \| 105 \| 118 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+12.4%</sup> \| 137 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+30.5%</sup> \|
			104	\| Black Myth: Wukong (1080p high) \| 71 \| 78 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+9.9%</sup> \| 84 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+18.3%</sup> \|
386b81	deseven	2025-07-05 01:18:37	105	\* All percentage values are relative to the base 55W result
			106
			107	### GPU - LLM
f31b63	deseven	2025-07-05 01:57:17	108	Details:
			109	- koboldcpp, Vulkan, full GPU offloading
			110	- Q5_K_M
			111
			112	\| Model (Metric) \| 55W \| 85W \| 120W \|
			113	\| ------------------------------------------- \| --- \| --- \| ---- \|
			114	\| Gemma 3 27B (Prompt Processing, Tokens/s) \| 77 \| 89 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+15.6%</sup> \| 95 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+23.4%</sup> \|
			115	\| Gemma 3 27B (Generation Speed, Tokens/s) \| 6 \| 6 <sup style="font-size: 0.8em;">+0.0%</sup> \| 6 <sup style="font-size: 0.8em;">+0.0%</sup> \|
			116	\| Qwen3 30B A3B (Prompt Processing, Tokens/s) \| 92 \| 95 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+3.3%</sup> \| 95 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+3.3%</sup> \|
			117	\| Qwen3 30B A3B (Generation Speed, Tokens/s) \| 25 \| 29 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+16.0%</sup> \| 29 <sup style="color: #1fea00; font-size: 0.8em;">+16.0%</sup> \|
			118	\* All percentage values are relative to the base 55W result
5bcff3	deseven	2025-07-04 20:54:06	119
4c9af9	deseven	2025-07-06 15:48:13	120	### Conclusions
cf05a6	deseven	2025-07-07 10:17:29	121	Let's look on the average increase between different modes for each category:
8534bc	deseven	2025-07-06 17:03:14	122
			123	\| Category \| 55W -> 85W \| 85W -> 120W \| 55W -> 120W \|
			124	\| ------------------------ \| ---------- \| ----------- \| ----------- \|
			125	\| CPU - PassMark \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+19.0%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+11.8%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+30.8%</span> \|
			126	\| CPU - Geekbench \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+1.0%</span> \| <span style="color: red;">-0.1%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+0.9%</span> \|
			127	\| CPU - Various Benchmarks \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+17.0%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+8.5%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+25.5%</span>
			128	\| GPU - Various Benchmarks \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+13.3%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+11.7%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+25.0%</span> \|
			129	\| GPU - Gaming \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+12.3%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+9.3%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+21.6%</span> \|
			130	\| GPU - LLM \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+8.7%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+2.0%</span> \| <span style="color: #1fea00;">+10.7%</span> \|
			131	\* for example, in case of Passmark we have a 19% performance increase when going from 55W to 85W budget and additional 11.8% increase relative to the original 55W performance when going from 85W to 120W, or a 30.8% in total
f793a6	deseven	2025-07-06 15:44:19	132
db9be3	deseven	2025-07-07 10:58:09	133	Or represented on the chart:
			134
			135	![](./PowerModesvsPerformance.png)
			136
f793a6	deseven	2025-07-06 15:44:19	137	A classic situation of diminishing returns, where 85W mode seems to be the sweet spot and a good compromise between performance gain and power consumption.
			138
db9be3	deseven	2025-07-07 10:58:09	139	The 55W mode is only suitable if you don't fully utilize your system resources (especially when you don't leverage all cores) or aren't concerned about performance loss. Geekbench results reflect that perfectly. With that said, 55W limit is absolutely enough for the APU in general.
f793a6	deseven	2025-07-06 15:44:19	140
			141	The 120W mode generally doesn't make much sense unless you aim to extract the absolute maximum from your system, with one exception - certain games respond more positively to this increase. My theory is that CPU-heavy games might slightly starve the GPU, so increasing the overall power budget alleviates this issue. Additionally, if you're just shy of reaching 60 fps at 1080p (a reasonable target for this system), this extra power might provide the necessary boost.
			142
			143	For LLMs, memory bandwidth (which APU's power limit doesn't affect) appears to play a more significant role than raw computing power, so again, exceeding 85W offers diminishing benefits.
f31b63	deseven	2025-07-05 01:57:17	144
f793a6	deseven	2025-07-06 15:44:19	145	In summary:
			146	- 55W for light loads (background services, office work, multimedia)
			147	- 120W for intensive gaming sessions
			148	- 85W for mixed workloads and everything else
085a9e	deseven	2025-07-07 10:09:25	149
fdd688	deseven	2025-07-10 15:08:59	150	There is also a way to control power limits more gradually, [[read more here\|Guides/Power-Mode-and-Fan-Control#fine-tuning-power-limits]].
			151
085a9e	deseven	2025-07-07 10:09:25	152	### Relevant Pages
			153	- [[Hardware/Boards/Sixunited-AXB35]]
fdd688	deseven	2025-07-10 15:08:59	154	- [[Guides/Power-Mode-and-Fan-Control]]