1. Optimize Performance and Power Consumption With TuneD and PowerTOP
  2. PowerTOP Command Reference

9 PowerTOP Command Reference

The following table provides an overview of the powertop command and the options that can be used with it.

Action Command Description
Run PowerTOP in interactive mode. sudo powertop

PowerTOP is started in interactive mode with a tabbed interface. Tabs include Overview, Idle stats, Frequency stats, and Tunables.

Generate an HTML report. sudo powertop --html=filename

A HTML report is created in the current directory. If a file name is not specified, then the default name powertop.html is used.

Generate a CSV report. sudo powertop --csv=filename

A CSV report is created in the current directory. If a file name is not specified, then the default name powertop.csv is used.

Generate HTML reports by running a specified number of tests (iterations) at specified time intervals (seconds) sudo powertop --html=filename --iteration=iterations --time=seconds

A HTML report is created for each iteration. Each HTML file is named using the name format filename-yyyyMMdd-hhmmss.html, for example: mypowertop-20250129-132713.html.

Generate CSV reports by running a specified number of tests (iterations) at specified time intervals (seconds) sudo powertop --csv=filename --iteration=iterations --time=seconds

A CSV report is created for each iteration. Each CSV file is named using the name format filename-yyyyMMdd-hhmmss.csv, for example: mypowertop-20250129-133102.csv.

Using PowerTOP in Interactive Mode

Use PowerTOP in interactive mode by running the powertop command without any options.

To start PowerTOP in interactive mode, run the following command:

sudo powertop

PowerTOP starts in interactive mode with a tabbed interface, with the Overview tab active, as illustrated in the following sample output:

Overview   Idle stats   Frequency stats   Device stats   Tunables   WakeUp                            

Summary: 1937.4 wakeups/second,  0.0 GPU ops/seconds, 0.0 VFS ops/sec and 18.2% CPU use

                Usage       Events/s    Category       Description
            119.9 ms/s     1088.4	Process        [PID 52069] /usr/libexec/qemu-kvm...
             52.2 ms/s     663.9        Process        [PID 52068] /usr/libexec/qemu-kvm -name ...
              1.2 ms/s      60.4        Process        [PID 1793] /usr/libexec/platform-pyth...
              3.5 ms/s      24.7        Timer          apic_timer_fn
             80.0 µs/s      18.8        Process        [PID 962] [xfsaild/dm-0]
             60.1 µs/s      18.8        Process        [PID 1459] [xfsaild/dm-1]
             34.4 µs/s      10.9        Process        [PID 15] [rcu_sched]
             66.8 µs/s       9.9        kWork          kvmclock_update_fn
            670.7 µs/s       7.9        Timer          tick_sched_timer
...	     			
              2.0 pkts/s                Device         nic:vnet0
              1.0 pkts/s                Device         nic:virbr0
              6.8 pkts/s                Device         Network interface: enp0s5 (virtio_net)
...

By default, the data is refreshed every 20 seconds. To change the refresh rate, press the letter s on the keyboard, enter a new integer value, and then press Enter.

You can navigate between the tabs by using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, and scroll vertically and horizontally by using the Arrow keys.

The following list summarizes the purpose of each tab in the interactive mode interface.

Overview

The Overview lists processes and components in descending order based on CPU and resource usage. The Overview tab contains the following columns:

  • Usage

    Shows the resource usage of each process or component in the system.

    Process usage is shown in CPU time allocated per second (for example 119.9 ms/s) whilst network interface usage is indicated by the rate at which packets are processed (for example 2.0 pkts/s).

  • Events/s

    The number of wakeup events per second. The higher the number of wakeups, the greater the power consumption.

  • Category

    Describes the type of component. For example, a process, timer, or a device.

  • Description

    Describes the component. For example, a network interface might be described as follows: Network interface: enp0s5 (virtio_net).

Idle Stats

The Idle stats tab displays the time the CPU components spend in different C-States.

A C-State of C0 corresponds to an active component, whilst all other C-States, C1, C2...Cn, correspond to idle sleep states (the higher the C-number, the deeper the sleep mode). The C-States available depend upon the processors being used in the system.

The following output provides an example of the type of information displayed:

           Pkg(HW)  |            Core(HW) |            CPU(OS) 0   CPU(OS) 64
                    |                     | C0 active   0.0%        0.0%
                    |                     | POLL        0.0%    0.0 ms  0.0%    0.0 ms
                    |                     | C1          0.0%    0.0 ms  0.0%    0.0 ms
C2 (pc2)   52.0%    |                     | C1E         0.0%    0.5 ms  0.0%    0.0 ms
C3 (pc3)    0.0%    | C3 (cc3)    0.0%    |
C6 (pc6)    0.0%    | C6 (cc6)   92.4%    | C6         99.9%   59.4 ms100.0%  134.7 ms
C7 (pc7)    0.0%    | C7 (cc7)    0.0%    |
...

Frequency Stats

The Frequency stats tab displays the frequency statistics for the processor components. Lower frequency statistics can often reflect lower power consumption. The following output provides an example of the type of information displayed: 

            Package |             Core    |            CPU 0	   CPU 64
                    |                     | Average   3.2 GHz     1.7 GHz
Idle                | Idle                | Idle
 800 MHz            |  800 MHz            |  800 MHz
3.40 GHz            | 3.40 GHz            | 3.40 GHz

                    |             Core    |            CPU 1	   CPU 65
                    |                     | Average   1.9 GHz     2.0 GHz
                    | Idle                | Idle
                    |  800 MHz            |  800 MHz
                    | 3.40 GHz            | 3.40 GHz
...

Tunables

The Tunables tab lists power-tuning settings with a status value of Good or Bad. The following output provides an example of the type of information that's displayed: 

PowerTOP 2.15     Overview   Idle stats   Frequency stats   Device stats   Tunables   WakeUp                            

>> Bad           Enable SATA link power management for host1                                                            
   Bad           Enable SATA link power management for host2
   Bad           Enable SATA link power management for host3
   Bad           VM writeback timeout
   Bad           Enable SATA link power management for host0
... 
   Good          Autosuspend for USB device UHCI Host Controller [usb2]
   Good          Autosuspend for USB device UHCI Host Controller [usb4]
   Good          Autosuspend for USB device EHCI Host Controller [usb1]
...

To switch between Bad and Good, move the cursor to the setting, using the Arrow keys, and hit the Enter key.

Note:

Changes made in the Tunables tab are only intended for testing purposes, so they are not preserved between reboots.

Wakeup

The WakeUp tab lists devices with their wakeup settings (Enabled or Disabled). The following output provides an example of the type of information displayed: 

>> Disabled      Wake status for USB device usb3                                                                        
   Disabled      Wake status for USB device usb1
   Disabled      Wake status for USB device 1-1
   Disabled      Wake status for USB device usb4
   Disabled      Wake status for USB device usb2

To switch between Disabled and Enabled, move the cursor to the setting using the Arrow keys and hit the Enter key.

Note:

Changes made in the WakeUp tab are only intended for testing purposes, so they are not preserved between reboots.

Using PowerTOP to Generate CSV Reports

Use PowerTOP to generate CSV reports for reporting and data analysis.

To generate a CSV report, run the powertop command with the --csv option. For example, to generate a CSV report called my_csv_report.csv in the current directory, run the following command: 

sudo powertop --csv=my_csv_report.csv

If you don't specify a file name, then the report is named powertop.csv by default.

You can also use the --iteration and --time options to generate a particular number of reports at a specified interval. For example, to generate three new CSV reports at a 60 second interval, run the following command: 

sudo powertop --iteration=3 --time=60 --csv=my_csv_report.csv

The output is similar to the following:

...
Loaded 0 prior measurements
RAPL device for cpu 0
RAPL device for cpu 0
...
Preparing to take measurements
Taking 3 measurement(s) for a duration of 60 second(s) each.
PowerTOP outputting using base filename my_csv_report-20250117-135852.csv
PowerTOP outputting using base filename my_csv_report-20250117-135952.csv
PowerTOP outputting using base filename my_csv_report-20250117-140052.csv
...