thermal_throttling_logging(9)

💅 thermal_throttling_logging(9) — or, how your GPU stops itself from melting

okay so bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual ✨ this one's all about thermal_throttling_logging(9), and it's lowkey the reason your laptop doesn't turn into a grill 🍳

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So like, thermal throttling literally pulls down the clock frequency, and that means it pulls down your performance too 😭 but honestly? It's a super useful mechanism for protecting the chip from overheating 🔥 so we stan a self-care queen.

Since it does impact performance, you (the user) get to control whether it's enabled — and if it is, the log frequency. main character energy, honestly 👑

Reading back the file shows you the status (enabled or disabled) plus the interval (in seconds) between each thermal logging 🎀

Writing an integer to the file sets a new logging interval, in seconds. The value should be between 1 and 3600. And the edge cases, because there always are some:

• If the value is less than 1, thermal logging is disabled.
• Values greater than 3600 are ignored — literally just vibes, they do nothing 💀

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Kernel file ./drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/amdgpu_pm.c — that's the spot, iykyk ✨

and the whole friend group, no cap:

• 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_state(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)
• 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)

okay that's the whole thing, go read the docs bestie 🫶 this page came straight out of ./drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm, dated October 2026, and it's thermal_throttling_logging(9) signing off 💖✨🎀