Intel’s work on developing a PCIe Cooling Driver for Linux users has reached a significant milestone. According to a report published byPhoronix, the driver is ready to merge with the upcoming Linux 6.13 kernel. That means Linux systems packing PCIe storage with thermal challenges should handle better when the updated OS becomes available sometime in November. Such measures will probably become all the more important with PCIe 6.0 on the horizon.
We previously reported that Intel’s dev team was preparing this PCIe Cooling Driver for Linux in May, and now we have the first harvestable fruit from their labor.Tom’s Hardwarereaders will be aware of the ramp-up in thermal issues with the move from PCIe 3.0 to the current pinnacle of PCIe 5.0 storage. Thebest SSDsavailable for PCs and consoles, likethe PS5,use PCIe 5.0 technology – but cooling needs to be considered.
With the latest PCIe storage devices, heatsink-laden andactively cooled SSDshave become standard fare. However, driver software can also play an important role—hence Intel’s efforts to prepare the PCIe Cooling Driver for Linux.
The PCIe Cooling Driver will work in several ways. The first releases will help keep thermals under control by reducing the PCIe link speed. In other words, according to the driver description, it “implements PCIe cooling mechanism through bandwidth reduction for PCIe devices. " Maybe the driver should be dubbed the ‘PCIe Throttling Driver’ instead, but throttling is a dirty word in tech.
With the advent of PCIe 6.0 interfaces and devices, Phoronix reckons the Intel PCIe Cooling Driver could go further. It hints that future-tech PCIe 6.0 storage will also be thermally tamed by reducing the PCIe link width when deemed appropriate by the driver.
The source report says that Intel’s PCIe Cooling Driver has been queued into the PCI subsystem’s ‘next’ branch, ready to be submitted among the PCI updates prepared for the Linux 6.13 merge window. When the updated OS goes mainstream, enabling the new PCIe Cooling Driver will be simple via a new ‘PCIE_THERMAL’ Kconfig switch. As we mentioned above, expect the Linux 6.13 kernel in November.
The PCIe 6.0 specification was finalized in 2022, and prototype controllers and physical interfaces weredemonstrated in 2023. Commercial PCIe 6.0 devices are still expected to become available before the end of 2024.
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom’s Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
