PCIe Link State Power Management - Turn On or Off in Windows

How to Turn On or Off PCIe Link State Power Management in Windows​

   Information

The Link State Power Management is a part of PCI Express Active State Power Management (ASPM). The link State of a PCIe Device is converted from L0 (on) to L1 (off) when the link is not transferring data. The hardware is automatically converted to L0 again when data is available to transfer across the link.

There are basically 2 levels of power management in the PCI Express options. The difference between these 2 options are the power savings versus the Latency (Time to recover from the Sleep state).

• If you select Off, there is no power savings, and the current will run regardless of what state the laptop is in. (depending on if your laptop is plugged in or not).
  • On battery: Off = PCI Express will communicate even when using battery power.
  • Plugged in: Off = PCI Express will communicate when plugged in as well.

• If you select Moderate Power Savings, the power savings are less, but the time to recover from the Sleep state (latency) is much shorter.

• If you select Maximum Power Savings, the power savings are greater, but the time to recover from the Sleep state (latency) is much longer.

Sometimes this mechanism cause a bit trouble during power transitions, specially during sleep. So it may be wanted to turn the Link State Power Management off, if necessary.

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This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off the PCI Express Link State Power Management in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

How to Do it:


1. Open your advanced power plan settings in Vista/Windows 7 or Windows 8.

2. Scroll down and expand PCI Express and Link State Power Management. (see screenshots under step 5)

3. Do step 4 or 5 for what you would like to do.

4. To Turn Off PCI Express Link State Power Management
A) Under Setting (no battery) or On battery and Plugged in, open the drop down menu, select Off, and click/tap on OK.
5. To Turn On PCI Express Link State Power Management
A) Under Setting (no battery) or On battery and Plugged in, open the drop down menu, select either Moderate power savings or Maximum power savings for what you want, and click/tap on OK.

Related Tutorials

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• How to Add or Remove PCIe "Link State Power Management" in Power Options in Windows
• How to Select a Power Plan in Windows 7
• How to Change the Power Plan Settings in Windows 7
• How to Change Power Plan Settings in Windows 8
• How to Restore the Default Power Plan Settings in Windows 7

 

[hreinart]

It's maximum saving (or middle saving) option or I can set it to "off".

But the thing ist that I don't find the mentioned option:
Link State Power Management
not at all.

In the manual screenshot you see it directly.

Why don't I?

 

[Arc]

Click on the link, and let us see the resulting options by supplying another screenshot.

 

[hreinart]

New Screenshot

Hi,

I turned it off, see new screenshot.

Now the poercfg returns 3 errors.

Error #1 = Processor at work (no problem for me)

Error #2 = PCI Express-ASPM ist off (it's true, I configured it)

Error #3 = PCI Express-ASPM (Active-State Power Management) is deactived (by the system) because of
incompatiblewurde Computerhardware.



And now?

 

[Arc]

Actually what are you wanting to do?

 

[NoN]

Hi,

I turned it off, see new screenshot.

Now the poercfg returns 3 errors.

Error #1 = Processor at work (no problem for me)

Error #2 = PCI Express-ASPM ist off (it's true, I configured it)

Error #3 = PCI Express-ASPM (Active-State Power Management) is deactived (by the system) because of
incompatiblewurde Computerhardware.



And now?

When i do use the command "powercfg" same as you, it does returns me exactly the same results (Error #3).

I think the Operating System disable it in a kind of automatic mode and is a normal behavior when launching the "powercfg -energy -output %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\Energy_Report.html" command

 

[Jameswhatever]

I have a power meter that counts tenths of Watt on my PC.
I see no difference at all between off, moderate and maximum.
When is it supposed to kick in when monitor goes on standby ?

 

[Jameswhatever]

Tested on monitor standby it has 1.5 Watt consumption drop.
Again 100% irrelevant if it's on off,moderate or maximum.
I suggest, unless you have a laptop that may benifit somehow....or not, to put that on Off.

 

[Brink]

Hello James,

Here's a bit more info from Microsoft for this.

:ar: Link state power management | Microsoft Docs