Adaptive Mode

Adaptive Mode

Adaptive Mode tunes the CPU while it runs instead of applying one fixed preset. It polls temperature and load a few times a second and nudges the power limit up or down to keep the chip as fast as it can be without going over the temperature you set. It can also tune the Curve Optimiser, the iGPU clocks, the ASUS power profile and an NVIDIA dGPU at the same time.

This is the Linux port of the Adaptive Mode from the original Universal x86 Tuning Utility, so the behaviour matches what Windows users are used to.

For fixed presets, see Custom Presets. For the config.ini keys, see Configuration.

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Getting to the tab

Open the Adaptive Mode tab (press 3, or click it).

Requirements: your CPU must be detected as Amd_Apu or Amd_Desktop_Cpu. The Curve Optimiser and iGPU sections only do anything on hardware that supports them; the iGPU section is skipped on desktop CPUs without an integrated GPU. The ASUS and NVIDIA sections only appear when an ASUS laptop or an NVIDIA dGPU is detected.

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The interface

The tab works like the Custom Preset editor: a top bar for managing presets, and collapsible sections of settings below it.

Top bar

• Saved Presets - a dropdown of your saved adaptive presets. Picking one loads it.
• New preset name - the name to save under.
• Four buttons:

Button	What it does
Save	Saves the current settings under the name in the box. If Adaptive Mode is already running that preset, the new values are applied live.
Duplicate	Saves a copy under a new auto-numbered name, leaving the original untouched.
Delete	Deletes the preset chosen in the dropdown (asks to confirm). If you delete the running preset, Adaptive Mode stops.
Start	Starts Adaptive Mode with the current settings. The button turns into Stop while it runs.

You need a preset selected or a name entered before you can start.

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Settings

Basic Adaptive Mode Settings

Setting	Default	Description
Polling Rate	2 s	How often Adaptive Mode reads sensors and adjusts, in seconds. Clamped to 1-8.
Max Temperature Limit	85 °C	The temperature Adaptive Mode aims to stay under. It backs off the power limit as the CPU approaches this.
Max Power Limit	28 W	The highest power limit Adaptive Mode is allowed to set. It ramps up toward this when there's thermal headroom and load to use it.
Curve Optimiser	off	Enables adaptive all-core Curve Optimiser tuning.
Max Curve Optimiser Limit	30	The largest negative Curve Optimiser offset Adaptive Mode is allowed to set when the toggle above is on.

Turbo Boost Overdrive iGPU Settings

Setting	Default	Description
Turbo Boost Overdrive iGPU	off	Enables adaptive iGPU clock tuning.
Maximum iGPU Clock Limit	2000 MHz	The highest iGPU clock Adaptive Mode is allowed to set.
Minimum iGPU Clock Limit	400 MHz	The lowest iGPU clock Adaptive Mode is allowed to set.
Minimum CPU Clock Limit	1200 MHz	When the CPU clock drops below this, Adaptive Mode starts throttling the iGPU clock to hand power back to the cores.

ASUS Power Profile

Only shown on ASUS laptops.

Setting	Description
ASUS Power Profile	When on, Adaptive Mode keeps the chosen ASUS profile applied.
Profile	Silent, Balanced or Turbo.

NVIDIA GPU Tuning

Only shown when an NVIDIA dGPU is present.

Setting	Default	Description
NVIDIA GPU Tuning	off	When on, Adaptive Mode keeps the GPU clock settings below applied.
Max GPU Clock	4000 MHz	The maximum point on the GPU's frequency/voltage curve. Lowering this below the rated boost clock undervolts the GPU; raise the core offset to claw the lost clock back. Set it to the slider maximum to reset.
GPU Core Offset	0 MHz	Clock offset for the GPU core.
GPU Mem Offset	0 MHz	Clock offset for the GPU VRAM.

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How it works

Each polling tick the daemon reads the sensors and decides what to apply:

• Power limit. It compares CPU load and temperature against your limits and moves the power limit in small steps - up when there's headroom and the cores are busy, down as the temperature gets close to the limit. For the first couple of ticks it runs a short warm-up at a slightly lower floor so it settles instead of overshooting.
• Curve Optimiser (if enabled) is tuned toward your Max Curve Optimiser Limit based on load.
• iGPU clocks (if Turbo Boost Overdrive iGPU is enabled) are adjusted between your min and max, and pulled back when the CPU clock falls below the Minimum CPU Clock Limit.
• ASUS profile and NVIDIA clocks (if enabled) are re-applied every tick, so a desktop environment or driver can't quietly undo them.

While Adaptive Mode runs, the reapply loop and the AC/battery Automations monitor pause, and applying a preset by hand from the Premade or Custom tabs is blocked - stop Adaptive Mode first. Stopping it reverts to your saved preset.

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Starting automatically

Turn on Auto start adaptive mode in the Settings tab (7) to have the daemon start your saved adaptive preset on its own every time the service starts, including after a reboot.

With that setting off, Adaptive Mode still survives a daemon restart while the machine stays up (a crash, or Restart from the Settings tab) - it picks up where it left off. It does not come back after a full reboot unless auto-start is on.

The selected preset and the polling rate are stored in config.ini under [Adaptive]; the preset values themselves live in adaptive.json. See Configuration.