[gorgonzola66]

Hello everyone,

I worry about odd power consumption statistics of my media computer (AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e+ & Nvidia 8300 onboard) in connection with the latest stable version of XBMC.

.deb package source(PPA): https://launchpad.net/~team-xbmc/+archive/jaunty-ppa
version 9.04.1-jaunty1(r20654 Compiled: May 2009)
My operation system is not Ubuntu but the big bro Debian Linux. It's version is the current (testing) squeeze date is Fri Jul 31 16:11:05 CEST 2009.
Kernel: 2.6.26-2-686
I use PM3.HD as my skin.
By the way my gpu drivers are NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.14.

XBMC not running (idle): 50 - 60 W
SD videos: 65 - 70 W
720p videos: 65 - 75 W
1080p videos: 78 - 85 W

So far, so good. Here comes the strange thing I worry about:

Menu/paused video: 78 - 88 W

I think that's pretty high, a paused video or the menu use as much power as 1080p video playing (and sometimes even more)?


I already read this posts:
http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=43773
http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=32159
... but they didn't seem to help in my case.


Appreciate any help.

Ciao

[gorgonzola66]

It's sad that this thread doesn't seem to attract the interest of anybody - are the electricity tariffs that low in the U.S. ? (here in Germany, we pay at least twice the U.S. amount)

I am definitely not the only one with that problem, I got some answers in a german XBMC board from people having just the same rising power consumption when pausing videos or entering the menu.


I would be glad, if some developer could give us a clue or just a "we know this issue and try to fix it".

[CrashX]

Try playing with vsync settings and see if it makes a difference ?

[gorgonzola66]

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately the vsync settings doesn't make any difference.

Current value:
Menu/paused video: 86 W regardless of which setting

[CapnBry]

What frame rate are you running the GUI at? Turn on the Settings -> System -> Enable debug logging and it gives you a frame rate counter on top.

Chances are you're seeing high power usage because your gui is running at 60 or 100fps-- 100 if vsync is off or broken, 60 because that's generally the refresh rate of the display.

You may also want to turn on OnDemandVBlankInterrupts and UseEvents in your xorg.conf, but I think that's more for idle power usage. Been a while since I added them.

[CapnBry]

It's sad that this thread doesn't seem to attract the interest of the original poster, given the cost of electricity in Germany.

[tingelchen]

I'm not the original poster, but at the moment I search a media center. That posting is very interessting.

At the moment, XBMC in the last version is running under VM Ware Player on my Intel Core 2 Quad. The VM has 1,5GB RAM with two CPU's. The OS is Kubuntu 9.04.

XBMC is very slow.

FPS: ~11
CPU-XBMC: 88% - 98%
CPU0: around 40% - 98%
CPU1: around 0% - 40%

This are the values for Idle-Mode. I do nothing at the moment and XBMC is greyed out. When it is minimized, the CPU Usage is around 0%.


It is possible that XBMC redraw the complete view every frame? Is there a Caching option? Videos are like a dia show... the same video in vlc in the vm runs normal and syncron to sound.


Edit:

given the cost of electricity in Germany

The cost is different between the providers. But there are some list to compere. This is one it

1 USD (United States Dollar) = 0,70492 EUR (Euro)

[motd2k]

under VM Ware Player

perhaps try XBMCLive

[tingelchen]

hmm...that's an idea. But not tonight. It's time for Guardian of the Spirit Tomorrow I try it with a new installation of debian or ubuntu without kde.

[tingelchen]

Soui.... a new Kubuntu installation without KDE desktop and XBMC-Live. But nothing. The CPU usage is always hight. The same as yesterday.


XBMC-Live is not VMWare Player compatible. My Screen is in a nice black. So I can see nothing

[vikjon0]

XBMC-Live is not VMWare Player compatible

Never say die. Delete the guisetting.xml and reboot.

[rrambo]

you people do know you can't run xbmc in vmware and expect any usable performance, right? at least not in the foreseeable future...

[vikjon0]

Yes, I know that. and why would anyone want to?
I use it to test the installation and create a template with remastersys.

[rrambo]

Yes, I know that. and why would anyone want to?
I use it to test the installation and create a template with remastersys.

Why? because someone asked why they were getting poor performance..

I'm not the original poster, but at the moment I search a media center. That posting is very interessting.

At the moment, XBMC in the last version is running under VM Ware Player on my Intel Core 2 Quad. The VM has 1,5GB RAM with two CPU's. The OS is Kubuntu 9.04.

XBMC is very slow.

FPS: ~11
CPU-XBMC: 88% - 98%
CPU0: around 40% - 98%
CPU1: around 0% - 40%

This are the values for Idle-Mode. I do nothing at the moment and XBMC is greyed out. When it is minimized, the CPU Usage is around 0%.

[vikjon0]

Ok. I know it was off topic. I though I could just drop him a line since he for some reason obviously wants to start it in vmware.
Sorry. Please dont answer. I will leave this topic alone now.