What are the implications of disabling intel_pstate?

[luni3359]

I saw in the readme that if one has problems with CPU frequencies and is running under intel_pstate then one ought to disable it.

I will gladly disable it, but I don't know what I will be missing out if I do. I looked online and couldn't find whether or not this would also affect me while dualbooting Windows.

[AdnanHodzic]

You can always enable it back to intel_pstate if you're not happy with things are on acpi-cpufreq.

[luni3359]

I've tried it out and it works like a charm, but that's not what I was asking for. I was afraid of having to change grub every time I wanted to reboot. I did some very unscientific testing yesterday and I couldn't really notice whether or not this affected Windows. I've come to the conclusion that GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT only applies to Linux booting.

Thank you for making this software, I think it really should be included in the kernel by default one way or another, especially with the upcoming release of the Steam Deck.

[AdnanHodzic]

I've tried it out and it works like a charm, but that's not what I was asking for. I was afraid of having to change grub every time I wanted to reboot. I did some very unscientific testing yesterday and I couldn't really notice whether or not this affected Windows. I've come to the conclusion that GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT only applies to Linux booting.

Of course it doesn't affect Windows, you're editing Linux settings here.

Thank you for making this software, I think it really should be included in the kernel by default one way or another, especially with the upcoming release of the Steam Deck.

Most welcome, please consider donating to the project and sharing the word!

[mueslimak3r]

I'm also interested in details about the implications of having intel_pstate enabled/disabled. I couldn't find much info elsewhere.
From reading about intel_pstate here:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.19/admin-guide/pm/intel_pstate.html

it looks like intel_pstate interacts with cpufreq and, similar to other applications like TLP, powertop, and power-profiles-daemon, could interfere with/overwrite any changes auto-cpufreq attempts to make.

Is that an accurate assessment of why disabling intel_pstate is recommended?

[AdnanHodzic]

It's not recommended to disable intel_pstate, it's simply suggested as an option if you're encountering problems as described in Troubleshooting section.