Try to add some structure to The Saga

1 files changed, 31 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/guides/sysadmin/machines/amdahl30/killing-time.org b/guides/sysadmin/machines/amdahl30/killing-time.org
index 0b70791..67cf47c 100644
--- a/guides/sysadmin/machines/amdahl30/killing-time.org
+++ b/guides/sysadmin/machines/amdahl30/killing-time.org
@@ -29,10 +29,8 @@ No idea WTF, those areas ran fine before.
 Well then.
 * CPU frequency scaling?
 (Hey 👋 A warning: this was the first rabbit hole I burrowed into.
-Spoiler alert: nothing I learned here solved the problem.  Feel free
-to skip to the next section if you want to know how this ends
-{{{narrator(he wrote\, furiously hoping against hope that he would
-indeed see the end of this someday)}}})
+Spoiler alert: nothing I learned here solved the problem.  Chronicled
+the journey anyway since I wandered through interesting spots)
 
 Started by noticing that the Plasma "Power Management" tray widget
 says "Power Profile" is "Not available".  Not sure whether that was
@@ -207,6 +205,22 @@ No.  No it does not; no discernible difference in FPS nor vibes.
 Will assume this new baseline cannot hurt - OT1H "overclocking" is
 scary, OTOH Linux now has a finer handle on the CPU and hopefully will
 not overwork it to death?
+
+-----
+
+Chronologically, the events of the following addenda were weaved
+together with those of the next section; figured I would append them
+here to give the reader some closure on this shaggy dog subplot.
+** Addendum Ⅰ — CPPC Considered Harmful, apparently
+[[https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/what-fixed-stuttering-and-random-framerate-spikes-in-games-for-me.327264/][aska33j proclaims]] that /disabling CPPC/ "fixed stuttering and random
+framerate spikes in games for [them]" so… roundtrip to UEFI, disabling
+that.  The =amd_pstate= warning is back; the "Power Profile" slider is
+no longer accessible in the systray widget; no discernible effect
+in-game anyway.
+** Addendum Ⅱ — BIOS update
+For the modest price of [[file:maintenance.org::*Our protagonist sets forth][breaking Secure Boot]], the =amd_pstate= driver
+now manages to initialize successfully without me having to mess with
+{{{glitch(Overclocking Settings)}}}.  Welcome back =amd_pstate= 🤝
 * Sᴇᴠᴇʀᴀʟ Wᴇᴇᴋꜱ Lᴀᴛᴇʀ
 - [[https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/5475/page=1/][ridge reports]] "bad frame pacing on ADMGPU",
   - when vsync is turned off: a non-factor in my testing,
@@ -263,11 +277,13 @@ clang-devel python3-ply rust rust-bindgen rust-cbindgen~.
     Configuration" when searching for "VRR",
   - mystery solved by ~kscreen-doctor -o~: =Vrr: incapable= 🤷
 
-- [[https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/what-fixed-stuttering-and-random-framerate-spikes-in-games-for-me.327264/][aska33j proclaims]] that /disabling CPPC/ "fixed stuttering and random
-  framerate spikes in games for [them]" so…  roundtrip to UEFI,
-  disabling that.  The =amd_pstate= warning is back; the "Power
-  Profile" slider is no longer accessible in the systray widget; no
-  discernible effect in-game anyway.
+- (FTR: chronologically, this is the point where I found that forum
+  post about leaving CPPC disabled to fix stuttering—see addendum Ⅰ in
+  the previous section.
+
+  That did not work for me, but I left it disabled at this point since
+  enabling it never had an effect in the first place, and I was keen
+  on restoring every "variable" to their original state)
 
 - Looking at Steam forums, [[https://steamcommunity.com/app/1145350/discussions/1/596260472619121965/][some folks]] do report FPS drops /shortly
   after the update/:
@@ -324,6 +340,12 @@ clang-devel python3-ply rust rust-bindgen rust-cbindgen~.
 - [[https://old.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/1gzy0xd/amdgpu_regression_on_kernel_612_choppy/m1dn05z/][Some folks]] report =amdgpu.dcdebugmask=0x10= (≡ =DC_DISABLE_PSR=)
   fixing "choppy performance".  No effect here.  Could try setting
   [[https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.13/gpu/amdgpu/module-parameters.html#dcdebugmask-uint][other values]]…
+
+- (FTR: chronologically, this is the point where I caved—not sure why,
+  I think seeing the amount of unhappy kernel noises in journalctl got
+  to me—and grabbed the latest BIOS from msi.com, flashed it, breaking
+  Secure Boot & restoring =amd_pstate= 🤷 see addendum Ⅱ in the
+  previous section)
 * This is insane
 Selected subset of moving parts; "testability" considering ease of
 clean reverts: