HOWTO: build newest nvclock and use automated fan control

[Jons_Collasius]

this howto allows you to build nvclock from cvs and use automated fan control with a demonized perl script.

sorry, my english is a bit rusty...

get, configure, make and install nvclock from cvs

first we make sure, that no nvclock package is installed and install needed packages.

sudo aptitude remove nvclock
sudo aptitude install cvs automake

you need to get, configure and make the newest nvclock source from cvs.

cd /usr/local/src
sudo cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@nvclock.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/nvclock co -P nvclock
cd nvclock
sudo sh autogen.sh
sudo ./configure
sudo make

test nvclock

./src/nvclock -i
./src/nvclock -F 100 -f

if these two commands work, install nvclock

sudo make install

some times the installation fails. in this case just cp nvclock by hand

sudo cp /usr/local/src/nvclock/src/nvclock /usr/bin/nvclock

use automated fan control

we use automated fan control with a litle perl script.
touch a new file and chmod it.

sudo touch /usr/bin/auto_fan
chmod 755 /usr/bin/auto_fan

insert this code in the new file, with a text editor of your choice

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

my $nextDown = time();

while(1) {
  my ($tempGPU, $speedFan) = (qx(nvclock -i) =~ /GPU temperature: (\d+)C.*Fanspeed: (\d+)/s);
  my $newSpeed = $tempGPU * 2 - 100;
  $newSpeed = 20 if($newSpeed < 20);
  $newSpeed = 100 if($newSpeed > 100);
# print "GPU: $tempGPU°C   Board: $tempBoard°C   OldFan: $speedFan%   NewFan: $newSpeed\n";
  if($speedFan < $newSpeed) { 
    system("nvclock -F $newSpeed -f > /dev/null");
  } else {
    if($nextDown < time()) {
      system("nvclock -F $newSpeed -f > /dev/null");
      $nextDown = time()+30;      
    }      
  }
  sleep(2);
}

the line my $newSpeed = $tempGPU * 2 - 100; controls the fan speed settings. with this settings fan speed will be 20%@60°C and 100%@100°C. my fan runs 34%@64°C GPU in almost every game. in idle (listening ogg files in the evening, while loading new oggs ) the fan slows down to 20%.

you should nice auto_fan to 15, else it lags in games, when auto_fan is running

nice -n 15 auto_fan

you can demonize this perl with start-stop-daemon.
start auto_fan

start-stop-daemon --start --oknodo --nicelevel 15 --pidfile /var/run/auto_fan.pid -m -b --exec /usr/bin/auto_fan

stop auto_fan

start-stop-daemon --stop  --oknodo --pidfile /var/run/auto_fan.pid

i inserted this two lines in /etc/init.d/gdm
find log_begin_msg "Starting GNOME Display Manager..." and insert the start command after it.

find log_begin_msg "Stopping GNOME Display Manager..." and insert the stop command after it.

have fun and a whispering quit nv card.