Ubuntu MATE heats my laptop

Thoughts & Feedback
#1

Ubuntu MATE heats my laptop.

I cannot find out why.

By heats my laptop I mean:

  1. Laptop is noisy
  2. there is hot air from CPU cooler
  3. the aluminium case is little bit warm (on top of the cooler)
  4. the cpu temperature is ok, and case temperature too (but I don't like noise and whatever)

On literarilly every other operating system the behaviour is different:

  1. laptop is quiet
  2. there is COLD air from CPU cooler
  3. the aluminium case is cold, you could say it is chilly (on top of the of cooler)
  4. the cpu temperature is ok, and case temperature too AND THERE IS NO NOISE

By every other system which works ok for me I mean:
Ubuntu based:
-Ubuntu 22.04, 22.10
-Xubuntu 22.04, 23.04
Mate systems:

  • Debian with MATE .iso
  • Siduction with MATE testing .iso
  • Linux Mint Mate
  • Solus MATE
  • Manjaro Community MATE (my main choice Manjaro 22.1)
  • EndeavourOS with MATE
  • Fedora MATE+Compiz spin
  • !!! Older edition of Ubuntu MATE (but don't remember exactly which but older than 22.04)

The only other system which heats my laptop is MX Linux (which really heats it, cpu temperature numbers are not ok)

I tried Ubuntu MATE in 3 ways and Ubuntu MATE heats up in all 3 cases

  1. Installed Xubuntu 23.04, then installed apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop and rebooted to MATE
  2. Installed Ubuntu MATE 23.04
  3. Installed Ubuntu MATE 22.04.2

In all 3 cases Ubuntu MATE heated my PC

I tried to disable compositor so:

  1. In Settings > Windows disabled software compositing
  2. In Mate Tweak chose to use Marco without compositor

observed that MATE heats up little bit less...
BUT STILL heats up

Then I disabled mate-power-manager from Startup Applications and restarted...

in this case it is a win, cause laptop doesn't heat up when idle(by idle I mean using only Aisleriot to play a game and nothing else)
Also it is a win, cause browsing with firefox without watching background videos doesn't heat up my laptop.

but when browsing (by browsing I mean watching a video 1080p fullhd in Firefox Snap and browsing the net)
it still heats up

with disabled compositor and mate power manager my pc is still:

  1. noisy
  2. there is still hot air
  3. the aluminium case is cold, but not chilly (on top of cooler)
  4. the cpu temperature is ok, and case temperature too (but I don't like noise and whatever)

Mate System Monitor shows that there are only 3 apps which eat PC:

  1. mate system monitor
  2. firefox containers
  3. Xorg -> which constantly eats cpu (up to 20% at times)

? So my question is how Ubuntu MATE is configuring MATE ?

? And how to configure MATE myself so it works like in any other distro ?

p.s:
I use a laptop from 2015 with discrete GPU

  • Intel core i5 broadwell
  • AMD southern islands gpu R7
1 Like
#2

Welcome @rustamdocstranslator to the community!

#3

If I understand correctly, you have conducted tests on various distributions with MATE and have arrived at the conclusion that MATE is the root cause of the overheating issue. Have you looked into the possibility of using non-free drivers as a potential solution to the problem? Perhaps you need the appropriate drive for your AMD gpu.

#4

I am afraid that that is very bad advise. Never ever use the AMD non-free drivers unless you desperately need OpenCL. The days of FGLRX are over, the regular AMD drivers are full GPL now.
The open drivers are faster and more stable than the non-free drivers.

Non-free drivers in general are a great source of compatibility problems, which rear their ugly head every kernel update.

The appropriate driver is already loaded because it is, just like Inteldrivers, part of the kerneltree, thanks to AMD who are working closely with the kerneldevelopers.

The only thing he could try is a newer/older kernelversion.

AMD is not nVidia and Linux is not Windows, that means that proprietary drivers are almost always a bad choice when you can have open drivers (which are generally also way better in quality, especially with AMD and Intel). The legendary compulsary MS-Windows-widdershins-driver-dance is therefore something that only burdens MS-Windows victims. :slight_smile:

(Even the Nouveaudrivers are qualitatively better than the proprietary nVidiadrivers, the only things that the proprietary nVidia driver has going for it is speed and CUDA.)

I am pretty sure that it has nothing to do with the driver but probably a lot with some background task that eats resources for breakfast. He should use the system monitor or top / htop to find the culprit.

1 Like
#5

Thank you for the thoughtful and patient explanation. You have clarified a number of doubts I didn't even knew I had.

1 Like
#6

Have you used htop to see if anything is churning away and sucking up power?

I assume when you state that you tried U-MATE 22.04.2 you meant a fresh install.

#7

I didn't conduct any tests on various distributions.
I am just a simple user who has a 8 years old laptop which desktop of choice is MATE,
and which during 8 years had used a lot of distros (including Ubuntu MATE in the past).
and who noticed that Ubuntu MATE for some reason heats my pc,
while every other distro doesn't (including Ubuntu & Xubuntu of same version)

And me as a user couldn't find out the issue, cause every process looks normal.
and nothing in Control Center to fix my issues.

#8

yes in all 3 cases it was a fresh install.

#9

I think you should open MATE System Monitor (or top command), then, arrange processes by CPU usage, and check what's going on.