vt(4) vs. sc(4) graphics card temperature/fan control

[Scott Bennett]

Andriy Gapon <avg at FreeBSD.org> wrote:

> On 20/02/2017 11:49, Scott Bennett wrote:
> >      I haven't seen anything on this list for quite a while about this, but
> > has there been any progress made on finding out why Xorg's temperature/fan
> > speed control doesn't work if vt(4) is in use but does still work properly
> > with sc(4)?  I'm still tied to sc(4) in order to keep the noise down on a
> > pair of Radeon HD 3270x2 cards, but it is really a drag not being able to
                       ^
                       |---- should have been an "8" as in "3870x2"

> > get back to the console if Xorg is exited or crashes.
>
> Just curious, what do you use for fan speed control when it works?
>
     I don't "use" anything.  Once X starts up, the noise dies down.  When
a GPU has a bunch of work to do, the fans surge for two or three seconds,
then slow down again.  That's with sc(4).
     With vt(4), the fans continue to run full blast from the reboot on.
Starting X has no effect on the fans.  Load on a GPU has no effect on the
fans; they continue to run full bore.
     I don't have any way to see the actual GPU temperatures or the current
drawn in different situations.  The only inputs I have regarding this are the
noise levels.  As far as I can tell, only the graphics card fans are affected
and probably only on the card that is connected to a monitor.  Although the
two cards are connected together by a Crossfire cable, X.org does not support
coordinated GPU activites, so really only one of the four GPUs ever does
anything once the r600 driver has been loaded into them.


                                  Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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