power_dpm_state(9)

💖 NAME 💖

power_dpm_state — the legacy sysfs knob for picking a power state on amdgpu, bestie. It's old. Like, only here for backwards compatibility old. But she still ate, so let's talk about her 💅

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so first things first, queen: the power_dpm_state file is a legacy interface and is only provided for backwards compatibility. That's not me being shady, that's literally what the docs say 🫶

The amdgpu driver provides a sysfs API for adjusting certain power related parameters, and the file power_dpm_state is what you use for that. It accepts the following arguments:

• battery
• balanced
• performance

That's the whole menu, no secret items iykyk 🍓

🔋 battery

On older GPUs, the vbios provided a special power state for battery operation. Selecting battery switched to this state. This is no longer provided on newer GPUs, so the option does nothing in that case. 😭 (yes, really, it's giving "pressed the elevator button but the elevator was never installed")

⚖️ balanced

On older GPUs, the vbios provided a special power state for balanced operation. Selecting balanced switched to this state. This is no longer provided on newer GPUs, so the option does nothing in that case. 😭

🔥 performance

On older GPUs, the vbios provided a special power state for performance operation. Selecting performance switched to this state. This is no longer provided on newer GPUs, so the option does nothing in that case. 😭

fr fr: all three of these are no-ops on newer GPUs. Do not come for me, I'm just the messenger 💀

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

The whole crew, no cap — go read these next:

• Kernel file ./drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/amdgpu_pm.c
• amdgpu_pm_dev_state_check(9), amdgpu_pm_get_access(9), amdgpu_pm_get_access_if_active(9), amdgpu_pm_put_access(9)
• power_dpm_force_performance_level(9)
• pp_table(9), pp_od_clk_voltage(9), pp_features(9)
• pp_dpm_sclk pp_dpm_mclk pp_dpm_socclk pp_dpm_fclk pp_dpm_dcefclk pp_dpm_pcie(9)
• pp_power_profile_mode(9)
• gpu_busy_percent(9), mem_busy_percent(9), vcn_busy_percent(9)
• pcie_bw(9), unique_id(9)
• thermal_throttling_logging(9), apu_thermal_cap(9)
• gpu_metrics(9)
• smartshift_apu_power(9), smartshift_dgpu_power(9), smartshift_bias(9)
• board(9), baseboard_temp(9), gpuboard_temp(9)
• cur_node_power_limit(9), node_power(9), npm_status(9), global_ppt_resid(9), max_node_power_limit(9)
• baseboard_power(9), baseboard_power_limit(9)
• pm_policy(9), hwmon(9), fan_curve(9)
• acoustic_limit_rpm_threshold(9), acoustic_target_rpm_threshold(9), fan_target_temperature(9), fan_minimum_pwm(9), fan_zero_rpm_enable(9), fan_zero_rpm_stop_temperature(9)

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okay that's the whole page, periodt 💜 this icon lives in the Kernel API Manual, sourced straight from ./drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm, and she was last touched in October 2026. go be great, bestie 🦋✨🎀