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Power Saving Guide

This document outlines a minimal, efficient power saving setup for DE-independent standalone arch linux evironments.

Components:

  • thermald manages fans to keep the CPU within safe temp limits
  • auto-cpufreq reduces battery drain through dynamic CPU scaling
  • tlp manages system-level power configurations to optimize battery life
  • zram-generator provides a user-friendly setup for managing zram devices
  • brightnessctl manages display brightness on newer-generation laptops

Installation

pacman -S tlp thermald brightnessctl zram-generator
yay -S auto-cpufreq

Configuration

thermald

systemctl enable --now thermald

auto-cpufreq

auto-cpufreq --install

tlp

tlp conflicts with auto-cpufreq if both are set to manage CPU scaling. It's recommended to use the latter as it can dynamically adjust frequences and governors in real time compared tlp's static configuration.

Disable tlp CPU scaling by adding these parameters to /etc/tlp.conf:

CPU_SCALING_GOVERNOR_ON_AC=none
CPU_SCALING_GOVERNOR_ON_BAT=none
systemctl enable --now tlp

Optional: tlp provides a high degree of power saving customizability for various system components. They can be configured via /etc/tlp.conf or the external tlpui GUI frontend.

yay -S tlpui

zram-generator

A zram device represents a compressed block device in RAM that can be used as swap. By compressing memory pages, it increases effective RAM capacity and reduces disk I/O under heavy load. This helps improve system responsiveness and power efficiency, especially on laptops or memory-constrained systems.

To configure zram, create the /etc/systemd/zram-generator.conf file to customize device parameters:

[zram0]
zram-size = ram / 2
compression-algorithm = zstd
priority = 100
sudo systemctl start systemd-zram-setup@zram0.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Ending Remarks

At last, restart the device to ensure services are properly loaded:

reboot

Use systemctl to verify service status:

systemctl is-active thermald auto-cpufreq tlp

Use swapon to verify zram status:

swapon --show

This setup can reduce overall energy consumption to roughly 4-6 W at idle and around 7-9 W under typical workloads, improving battery life and lowering heat output.