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u/Harish273

▲ 30 r/ZephyrusG14

Why Drivers from AMD increase Battery Drain compared to stock OEM drivers

First let me be clear, this post is to inform fellow G14 owners of what I found to be causing this extra battery drain when you manually update to Drivers from AMD directly via WHQL driver.

The main reason I have updated in the first place is to get all the newer fixes for general use as ASUS last update is from a year ago at this point. My experience is as follows:

  • Run AMD CleanUp Utility before doing anything [I recommend running in regular mode other than safe mode as windows won't let you log in to safe mode if you are using Microsoft Account PS: Microsoft Bugs]
  • Reboot the laptop and now install the latest WHQL driver from AMD for AMD Ryzen AI HX 370
  • After the installation is done reboot and you might notice a few things now.
    • Laptop feels snappier and might fix some issues you were having
    • When you diconnect the charger now display won't go black for a sec rather it seamlessly switches refresh rate to 60Hz from 120Hz.
  • Now here comes the part where you notice the battery drain when you are on 60Hz is not the same or anywhere near what you had on OEM driver.
  • I had 6-8w drain when I'm on battery and display at 60Hz, I noticed something interesting on the new driver under Windows Settings> Display> Advanced Display
  • You can see that Display information shows refresh rate at 60Hz but Active Signal Mode at 120Hz , This is the reason you notice that extra smoothness even on 60Hz and why you see more battery drain.
  • The reason for this is:
    • When the newer generic driver drops your refresh rate to 60Hz, it only changes how many frames the iGPU transmits per second. However, it leaves the physical eDP link trained at 120Hz bandwidth (using higher voltage and maximum lane clock speeds).
    • The Drain: Because the physical link speed never drops, the iGPU's Display Core Next (DCN) engine, the physical transmitter layers (PHYs), and the OLED panel's internal scaler chip are forced to stay awake in a high-frequency power state. They are burning power just to maintain that massive, empty bandwidth link.
    • The "Power Down Shift" (OEM Driver):
      • When you drop to 60Hz, it physically cuts the link speed in half.
      • This allows the iGPU to shut down unneeded data lanes and drastically lower the pixel clock voltage.
      • The OLED panel’s internal receiver chip can then enter its own low-power state.
  • Also don't be fooled by Dynamic Refresh Rate being Available on AMD Driver as it won't function as it should, Just keep it turned OFF.

I am trying to create a ASUS only settings .reg file to install on top of AMD drivers to fix these issues and tune the latest driver for our specific model. When it's done I'll link it up here.

Hope this answers people questions about why Newer AMD drivers drain more battery comapred to OEM Drivers.

EDIT: Fixed the Massive Battery Drain on AMD WHQL Driver 26.5.2
Do not copy my values as my G14 is GA403WR model, check with your own OEM driver entries for stock optimizations and compatibility, this was just a fun way for me to fix the ASUS being late to update their drivers issue.

I had to do quite a few clean installs or OEM and AMD drivers and got the backups from registry editor of both OEM and AMD drivers, and started comparing the ASUS Optimizations and checking if they exist or not on AMD driver registry entries, if they do what are their values and how they differ.

Here are my findings and the stripped down version of OEM driver registry entries only targeted towards our model, save the following registry content to a .reg file and run it then reboot your system. Device should fix all the above mentioned issues in the post and get back to your sweet low battery drain while running the newer AMD driver with their fixes applied.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001]
"DriverDesc"="AMD Radeon(TM) 890M Graphics"
"PP_GfxOffControl"=dword:00000001
"EnableUlps"=dword:00000001
"DalLowerHBR3PHYSSC"=dword:00000001
"DalDisableReplayInAC"=dword:00000002
"DalMinBrightnessMillinits"=dword:00001388

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL2_DATA__2_0]
"default"=hex:64
"All_displays"=hex:30,3b,31,3b,32,3b,33,3b,34,3b,35,3b,36,3b,37,3b,38,3b,39,3b,\
  31,30,3b,31,31,3b,31,32,3b,31,33,3b,31,34,3b,31,35,3b,31,36,3b,31,37,3b,31,\
  38,3b,31,39,3b,32,30,3b,32,31,3b,32,32,3b,32,33,3b,32,34,3b,32,35,3b,32,36,\
  3b,32,37,3b,32,38,3b,32,39,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL2_DATA__2_0\DisplayPath_0]
"default"=hex:64
"All_edids"=hex:45,44,49,44,5f,38,33,34,43,5f,34,31,39,43,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL2_DATA__2_0\DisplayPath_0\EDID_834C_419C]
"default"=hex:64

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL2_DATA__2_0\DisplayPath_0\EDID_834C_419C\Adjustment]
"default"=hex:64
"All_nodes"=hex:63,6f,6c,6f,72,5f,64,61,74,61,3b,72,65,67,61,6d,6d,61,5f,64,61,\
  74,61,00
"color_data"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"regamma_data"=hex:00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,b6,0e,a9,18,75,20,9c,26,40,2a,\
  61,2e,1e,32,8f,34,c2,37,c1,3a,00,3d,43,3f,d1,41,42,44,99,46,da,47,06,4a,1f,\
  4c,27,4e,1f,50,09,51,e5,52,b5,54,79,56,32,58,e1,59,87,5a,24,5c,b8,5d,44,5f,\
  c8,60,45,62,bc,63,2b,65,95,66,00,67,56,68,ae,69,01,6b,4f,6c,98,6d,dd,6e,1d,\
  70,59,71,90,72,c4,73,f4,74,00,76,48,76,6d,77,8e,78,ac,79,c7,7a,df,7b,f4,7c,\
  06,7e,15,7f,21,80,2b,81,32,82,36,83,38,84,38,85,35,86,30,87,28,88,1f,89,13,\
  8a,06,8b,f6,8b,e4,8c,00,8d,bb,8d,a3,8e,8a,8f,6f,90,52,91,33,92,13,93,f1,93,\
  ce,94,a9,95,82,96,5a,97,30,98,05,99,d8,99,aa,9a,7b,9b,4a,9c,18,9d,e5,9d,b0,\
  9e,7a,9f,43,a0,0b,a1,d1,a1,96,a2,5a,a3,1d,a4,df,a4,9f,a5,5f,a6,1d,a7,db,a7,\
  97,a8,52,a9,0c,aa,c6,aa,fc,ab,35,ad,ec,ad,a1,ae,55,af,09,b0,bc,b0,6d,b1,1e,\
  b2,ce,b2,7d,b3,2b,b4,d9,b4,85,b5,31,b6,dc,b6,86,b7,30,b8,d8,b8,80,b9,27,ba,\
  ce,ba,73,bb,18,bc,bc,bc,60,bd,02,be,a4,be,46,bf,e6,bf,86,c0,26,c1,c4,c1,62,\
  c2,00,c3,9d,c3,39,c4,d4,c4,6f,c5,09,c6,a3,c6,3c,c7,d4,c7,6c,c8,04,c9,9a,c9,\
  31,ca,c6,ca,5b,cb,f0,cb,84,cc,17,cd,aa,cd,3c,ce,ce,ce,60,cf,f0,cf,81,d0,10,\
  d1,a0,d1,2f,d2,bd,d2,4b,d3,d8,d3,65,d4,f1,d4,7d,d5,09,d6,94,d6,1e,d7,a8,d7,\
  32,d8,bb,d8,44,d9,cc,d9,54,da,dc,da,63,db,ea,db,70,dc,f6,dc,7b,dd,00,de,85,\
  de,09,df,8d,df,10,e0,93,e0,16,e1,98,e1,1a,e2,9b,e2,1c,e3,9d,e3,00,e4,00,e4,\
  1d,e4,9c,e4,1b,e5,9a,e5,18,e6,96,e6,13,e7,90,e7,0d,e8,8a,e8,06,e9,82,e9,fd,\
  e9,78,ea,f3,ea,6e,eb,e8,eb,62,ec,db,ec,54,ed,cd,ed,46,ee,be,ee,36,ef,ae,ef,\
  25,f0,9c,f0,13,f1,89,f1,00,f2,75,f2,eb,f2,00,f3,00,f3,4a,f3,bf,f3,33,f4,a7,\
  f4,1a,f5,8e,f5,01,f6,73,f6,e6,f6,58,f7,ca,f7,3c,f8,ad,f8,1e,f9,8f,f9,00,fa,\
  00,00,b6,0e,a9,18,75,20,9c,26,40,2a,61,2e,1e,32,8f,34,c2,37,c1,3a,00,3d,43,\
  3f,d1,41,42,44,99,46,da,48,06,4a,1f,4c,27,4e,1f,50,09,52,e5,53,b5,55,79,57,\
  00,59,e1,59,87,5b,24,5d,b8,5e,44,60,c8,61,45,63,bc,64,2b,66,95,67,00,68,56,\
  69,ae,6a,01,6c,4f,6d,98,6e,dd,6f,1d,71,59,72,90,73,c4,74,f4,75,00,77,48,77,\
  6d,78,8e,79,ac,7a,c7,7b,df,7c,f4,7d,06,7f,15,80,21,81,2b,82,32,83,36,84,38,\
  85,38,86,35,87,30,88,28,89,1f,8a,13,8b,06,8c,f6,8c,e4,8d,00,8e,bb,8e,a3,8f,\
  8a,90,6f,91,52,92,33,93,13,94,f1,94,ce,95,a9,96,82,97,5a,98,30,99,05,9a,d8,\
  9a,aa,9b,7b,9c,4a,9d,18,9e,e5,9e,b0,9f,7a,a0,43,a1,0b,a2,d1,a2,96,a3,5a,a4,\
  1d,a5,df,a5,9f,a6,5f,a7,1d,a8,db,a8,97,a9,52,aa,0c,ab,c6,ab,7e,ac,35,ad,ec,\
  ad,a1,ae,55,af,09,b0,bc,b0,6d,b1,1e,b2,ce,b2,7d,b3,2b,b4,d9,b4,85,b5,31,b6,\
  dc,b6,86,b7,30,b8,d8,b8,80,b9,27,ba,ce,ba,73,bb,18,bc,bc,bc,60,bd,02,be,a4,\
  be,46,bf,e6,bf,86,c0,26,c1,c4,c1,62,c2,00,c3,9d,c3,39,c4,d4,c4,6f,c5,09,c6,\
  a3,c6,3c,c7,d4,c7,6c,c8,04,c9,9a,c9,31,ca,c6,ca,5b,cb,f0,cb,07,cd,17,ce,aa,\
  ce,3c,cf,ce,cf,60,d0,f0,d0,81,d1,10,d2,a0,d2,2f,d3,bd,d3,4b,d4,d8,d4,65,d5,\
  f1,d5,7d,d6,09,d7,94,d7,1e,d7,a8,d7,32,d8,bb,d8,44,d9,cc,d9,54,da,dc,da,63,\
  dc,ea,dc,70,dd,f6,dd,7b,de,00,df,85,df,09,e0,8d,e0,10,e1,93,e1,16,e2,98,e2,\
  1a,e3,9b,e3,1c,e4,9d,e4,1d,e5,9d,e5,1d,e6,9c,e6,1b,e7,9a,e7,18,e8,96,e8,13,\
  e9,90,e9,0d,ea,8a,ea,06,eb,82,eb,fd,eb,78,ec,f3,ec,00,ed,00,ed,62,ed,db,ed,\
  54,ee,cd,ee,46,ef,be,ef,36,f0,ae,f0,25,f1,9c,f1,13,f2,89,f2,00,f3,75,f3,eb,\
  f3,60,f4,d5,f4,4a,f5,bf,f5,33,f6,a7,f6,1a,f7,8e,f7,01,f8,73,f8,e6,f8,58,f9,\
  ca,f9,3c,fa,ad,fa,1e,fb,8f,fb,00,fc,00,00,b6,0e,a9,18,75,20,9c,26,40,2a,61,\
  2e,1e,32,8f,34,c2,37,c1,3a,00,3d,43,3f,d1,41,42,44,99,46,da,48,06,4b,1f,4d,\
  27,4f,1f,51,09,52,e5,53,b5,55,79,57,32,59,e1,5a,87,5c,24,5e,b8,5f,44,61,c8,\
  62,45,64,bc,65,2b,66,95,67,f8,68,56,6a,ae,6b,01,6d,4f,6e,98,6f,00,70,1d,71,\
  59,72,90,73,c4,74,f4,75,20,77,48,78,00,79,8e,79,ac,7a,c7,7b,df,7c,f4,7d,06,\
  7f,15,80,21,81,2b,82,32,83,36,84,38,85,38,86,35,87,30,88,28,89,1f,8a,13,8b,\
  06,8c,f6,8c,e4,8d,d0,8e,bb,8f,a3,90,8a,91,6f,92,52,93,33,94,13,95,f1,95,ce,\
  96,a9,97,82,98,5a,99,30,9a,05,9b,d8,9b,aa,9c,7b,9d,4a,9e,18,9f,e5,9f,b0,a0,\
  7a,a1,43,a2,0b,a3,d1,a3,96,a4,5a,a5,1d,a6,df,a6,9f,a7,5f,a8,1d,a9,db,a9,97,\
  aa,52,ab,0c,ac,c6,ac,7e,ad,35,ae,ec,ae,a1,af,55,b0,09,b1,bc,b1,6d,b2,1e,b3,\
  ce,b3,7d,b4,2b,b5,d9,b5,85,b6,31,b7,dc,b7,86,b8,30,b9,d8,b9,80,ba,27,bb,ce,\
  bb,73,bc,18,bd,bc,bd,60,be,02,bf,a4,bf,46,c0,e6,c0,86,c1,26,c2,c4,c2,62,c3,\
  00,c4,9d,c4,71,c5,a8,c6,6f,c7,09,c8,a3,c8,3c,c9,d4,c9,6c,ca,04,cb,9a,cb,31,\
  cc,c6,cc,5b,cd,f0,cd,84,ce,17,cf,aa,cf,3c,d0,ce,d0,60,d1,f0,d1,81,d2,10,d3,\
  a0,d3,2f,d4,bd,d4,4b,d5,d8,d5,ca,d6,e3,d7,7d,d8,09,d9,94,d9,1e,da,a8,da,32,\
  db,bb,db,44,dc,cc,dc,54,dd,dc,dd,63,de,ea,de,70,df,f6,df,7b,e0,00,e1,85,e1,\
  09,e2,8d,e2,10,e3,93,e3,16,e4,98,e4,1a,e5,9b,e5,1c,e6,9d,e6,1d,e7,9d,e7,1d,\
  e8,9c,e8,1b,e9,9a,e9,18,ea,96,ea,13,eb,90,eb,0d,ec,8a,ec,06,ed,82,ed,fd,ed,\
  78,ee,f3,ee,6e,ef,e8,ef,62,f0,db,f0,54,f1,cd,f1,46,f2,be,f2,36,f3,ae,f3,25,\
  f4,9c,f4,13,f5,89,f5,00,f6,75,f6,eb,f6,60,f7,d5,f7,4a,f8,bf,f8,33,f9,a7,f9,\
  1a,fa,8e,fa,01,fb,73,fb,e6,fb,58,fc,ca,fc,3c,fd,ad,fd,1e,fe,8f,fe,00,ff,01,\
  00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL2_DATA__2_0\DisplayPath_0\Option]
"default"=hex:64
"All_nodes"=hex:42,65,73,74,56,69,65,77,4f,70,74,69,6f,6e,00
"BestViewOption"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,08,00,00,\
  00,00,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL3_DATA]
"default"=hex:64

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL3_DATA\common]
@=hex:64

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL3_DATA\freesync_aupi]
@=hex:64
"FSprodID"=hex:35,30,00,00
"FSmanuID"=hex:55,43,00,00
"FSFWChkSum"=hex:10,fc,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL3_DATA\freesync_v1]
@=hex:64

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL3_DATA\freesync_v1\EDID_33612_16796_ATNA40CU05-0 _0]
@=hex:64
"userenable"=hex:00,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\DAL3_DATA\power_v1]
@=hex:64

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001]
"DalVirtualizedRefreshRateSupport"=dword:00000000
"DalFeatureEnablePsrSU"=dword:00000000
"DalSupportExternalPanelDrr"=dword:00000001
"DalPSRAllowSMUOptimizations"=dword:00000000
"DalReplayAllowSMUOptimizations"=dword:00000000
"PP_WaitOnRegisterTimeout"=dword:00002710
"PP_UserVariBrightLevel"=dword:00000003
"Dal_UserVariBrightLevel"=dword:00000003
"KMD_EnableVpeRTPM"=dword:00000000
"KMD_EnableVcnRTPM"=dword:00000000
"SmartDCDefMode"=dword:00000000
"ProblemReportUrl"="hide"
"ReportAnalytics"=dword:00000000
"DisableCNShortcut"="1"
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u/Harish273 — 4 days ago