RealFeedApp GPU clock drops to 780 MHz on Linux
Linux runs on the RTX Spark laptop with GPU acceleration via Nvidia's open driver, but the GPU clock throttles to roughly 780 MHz on Linux instead of 2 GHz on Windows. This firmware issue reduces token generation speed to around 14 tokens per second for a 120 billion parameter model, compared to over 65 tokens per second on Windows.
- Field
- hardware and chips
- What they did
- Researchers found that on Nvidia RTX Spark laptops running Linux, the GPU operates at a clock speed of roughly 780 MHz instead of 2 GHz or higher, reducing token generation speed from 65 to 14 per second due to a power management firmware bug.
- Why it matters
- This helps explain why Linux cannot effectively use hardware acceleration on new Nvidia laptops and points to the need for a firmware update to enable proper operation.
#nvidia#linux#gpu#inference#firmware
