Nvidia Optimus on 14.04 overheating, screen tearing

Question

When stressing the cpu and gpu with games, the cpu temp holds steady at about 97. When using windows, it is about 50.

Also, my external monitor has some strange triangle shaped screen tearing.

What driver should I use to fix the overheat and screen tearing?

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

For intel support run the following commands to install the opensource intel-graphics-installer

If you don't have gdebi I recommend installing deb packages with gdebi to fix dependency issues that may arrise:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gdebi

now download the installer from 01.org

wget https://download.01.org/gfx/ubuntu/14.04/main/pool/main/i/intel-linux-graphics-installer/intel-linux-graphics-installer_1.0.6-0intel1_amd64.deb

make the deb executable and install using gdebi:

sudo chmod +x intel-linux-graphics-installer_1.0.6-0intel1_amd64.deb
sudo gdebi intel-linux-graphics-installer_1.0.6-0intel1_amd64.deb

Now, to run the installer just use the following command:

intel-linux-graphics-installer

reboot for your changes to take effect.

More info about Intel Open Source Technologies can be found here

https://01.org

and here

https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads/2014/intelr-graphics-installer-1.0.6-linux

The following is mostly adapted from http://www.webupd8.org/2014/04/prevent-your-laptop-from-overheating.html

Next, for Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs, you can enable intel pstate:

gksu gedit /etc/default/grub

And for "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=" , add "intel_pstate=enable", like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_pstate=enable"

Make sure to update grub before you reboot:

sudo update-grub

To check to see if it's running after reboot, use the following command:

cpupower frequency-info

If Intel Pstate is not enabled after following the steps above, it most probably means that your CPU doesn't support intel_pstate so you should disable it (simply remove "intel_pstate=enable" from /etc/default/grub and run "sudo update-grub").

Linux Thermal Daemon (thermald) is a tool developed by Intel's Open Source Technology Center which monitors and controls the CPU temperature, preventing it from overheating. To install thermald just use the following command:

sudo apt-get install thermald

thermald supports Sandy Bridge and newer chipsets but may not properly support Haswell

More info:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/PowerManagement/ThermalIssues

https://01.org/linux-thermal-daemon/documentation/introduction-thermal-daemon

http://www.webupd8.org/2014/04/prevent-your-laptop-from-overheating.html

Another tool you can use to help prevent overheating and to save power on battery is TLP. More info on TLP can be found here http://www.webupd8.org/2013/04/improve-power-usage-battery-life-in.html

To install TLP just add the PPA and run the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw

Configuration for TLP is at /etc/default/tlp to edit this file, use your favorite text editor like gedit

sudo gedit /etc/default/tlp

To start TLP the first time, just run

sudo tlp start

or

sudo service tlp start

TLP can be used in combination or along with intel_pstate and thermald

Additionally, make sure your hardware sensors are detecting temperatures properly.

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors

Then, run the following command to detect sensors and follow the instructions carefully.

sudo sensors-detect

To check your sensors run the following command

watch sensors

There is also a very useful appindicator related to lmsensors that provides realtime temps called psensor that can be installed with the following commands (however, lmsensors must be set up first)

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:jfi/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install psensor

More info on psensor can be found here

http://wpitchoune.net/blog/psensor/ubuntu-integration/

Furthermore, the prime-indicator will allow you to switch from nvidia to intel or intel to nvidia with the click of a mouse http://www.webupd8.org/2014/01/prime-indicator-lets-you-quickly-switch.html

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install prime-indicator

or download the deb from here http://ppa.launchpad.net/nilarimogard/webupd8/ubuntu/pool/main/p/prime-indicator/

I also recommend using synaptic to search for all the openGL support available for your setup (nvidia and intel) there are hundreds of packages not included with the standard installation that provide the hardware acceleration you are currently missing without the directx support received from windows. Just pay attention to any packages "to be uninstalled" when you are applying changes to make sure you don't break your installation by inadvertently removing something you need.