nVidia

nvidia-smi -pl `nvidia-smi --query-gpu=power.max_limit --format=csv,noheader,nounits`

This runs nvidia-smi to get the maximum power level for the GPU as a number alone, then runs it again and sets the power level to that number. This will work as long as you have only one nvidia GPU in your system. Otherwise take a look at the -i option information in nvidia-smi --help.

nVidia corp has emerged as the de facto standard for both 3d graphics and GPGPU (today, mostly "AI") for a variety of reasons including performance and ease of development. But they are irritating in multiple ways, and I've just discovered another one that probably everyone knew about but me.

I have been using PlayOnLinux to manage wineprefixes on my Devuan system and decided to branch out and try using Lutris today. I have been having trouble with it since I installed CUDA (plus the accompanying nvidia drivers) from deb files instead of just using the run file.

I wanted a nice way to simply see whatever statistics I could gather from my GPU — ye olde PNY XLR8 1070 slightly-pre-overclocked model, which I bought used and which has been surprisingly solid so far — and for some reason the information I want to see isn't in the default output from the nvidia-smi command included with the nvidia driver, and I don't get anything in lm-sensors. Noodling around a bit led me to the idea of using the --query-gpu option, which lets you pull any specific information you want, as long as you are willing to deal with it in CSV format. I was, and here we are.

If you have a very old nvidia card, you will want to use the FOSS nvidia driver (nouveau) as it is likely the only thing that will work for you. But realistically, if you have nvidia graphics on your system, you will want to use the binary driver. This is a quick guide to that. The nvidia driver is in the non-free repo, so make sure you have that added to your sources.list. Then you can do the following various things (as root, or sudo as necessary)

Hey, nVidia, what has happened to your drivers lately? They seem to have all the quality I expect from ATI drivers. I have new problems I didn't have before my last Linux driver upgrade. What, exactly is wrong over there, and what can I do to help short of buying a $600 graphics card from you? Sincerely, formerly a rabid pro-nVidia, anti-AMD Linux user.

If you install nvidia-glx-195 drivers from Nvidia Vdpau Team PPA then you may have trouble removing them later due to packaging failure ;) Actually, the problem will crop up when you try to reinstall nvidia-glx-185. I had to do this because my GT 240 is unsupported under all versions of the driver, and while it works it locks up hard on anything later than -185.