CPU Temperature is Higher using Qubes OS with KDE Plasma

User Support
1

Hi!

I have relatively old laptop, but not that old as far as I got it reading the forum. I used arch before that and my laptop was 44-50 degrees celsius on mid load.
I installed and used Qubes for around week now and even with no load at all, simply with sys-* vms running I’m getting above 55 degrees. And I can feel that heat. It’s very annoying.
I enabled SMT, but it didn’t affect CPU temp at all.
Under mid load its get hot with aroun 65-75 degrees, and under heavy load it just melt with 85+.

Do you have the same?
Can I do something software-wise to reduce the temp?
I really don’t mind to reduce the power of the cpu a bit if this would help.

P.S. I prefer to not disclose the model of the CPU if it’s ok.

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2

How could anyone compare anything based on technical understanding or experience without knowing what your hardware is?

No. But security.

I don’t mean to sound rude. However, someone who enables SMT while at the same time being afraid of “disclosing” the CPU type seems a bit inconsistent to me.

As long as there is no further information, I recommend reading the documentation:

As far as cooling is concerned: If your machine is older, check the cooling paste and clean the fan(s) of dust.

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3

No, but I do not consider the Librem 14 a relatively old laptop for Qubes OS.

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4

It will be difficult to help with no specific information, but:

  • Does the HCL have any similar hardware? Read the details for power management issues.
  • In dom0, xentop can give information about running VMs.
  • In the sys-* and other VMs, ‘top’ can also give some clues.
  • Look for powe management messages in dom0 boot message log.
  • Are all the fans running?

It seems unlikely that there is no sign of a process causing extra heat.

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5

Another question to ask yourself:

  • Are you sure you are comparing data from the same sensors?

https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/cpu-temperature-sensors-in-qubes-4-1/

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6

It seems like the cause was KDE Plasma, because when I switched to XFCE there was no issue.
But I absolutely can’t stand XFCE. I’ve been running KDE since forever.

The most sad part is that there’s no specific indications for what is actually causing it, I didn’t use any third party widgets nor did I run any 3rd party software in dom0 vm, however the plasmashell was spiking occasionally up to 10-15%.

I’m running the latest stable release of Qubes with KDE installed as stated in the docs.
Is it still supported?

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7

Based on your information, it sounds like it is supported fine.

8

@FranklyFlawless is correct… based on the very limited information we have.

My experience of Plasma vs XFCE is the exact opposite, and I haven’t touched Plasma for years, but I do remember a lot of graphical eye-candy, or visual effects, to be more polite.

Is it possible that you have excess CPU use because your graphics card driver is not installed/not working, and the rendering is done by the CPU?
OTOH, I would expect to see a lot of forum posts about it, but I only found a very old one:

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