I tuned my GPU on Linux with an app that does what Windows won’t

Overclocking (and as of late, undervolting) has always been an easy way to get some free performance out of your PC. While Windows has had GUI apps for the task (such as MSI Afterburner) for quite some time now, Linux has been a bit lacking in this area overall.

That’s not to say that it isn’t possible to tune on Linux — far from it, really, and there are some rather fantastic command-line tools available on the platform, many of them offering far greater control when compared to Windows.

Still, nothing beats the ease of a GUI app, and this is where something like LACT comes into play. It’s a very comprehensive Linux application that lets you tweak your GPU, and it works well with the trifecta of AMD, Nvidia, and Intel.

I ditched overclocking for undervolting and my PC got faster, quieter, and more stable

Undervolting is underrated — here’s how it can improve performance while cutting down power and temperatures.

Installing LACT and enabling it on a PC

Installing LACT is pretty straightforward. It’s available in most Linux distributions as the “lact” package. Make sure to consult your distro’s package manager for more information. For Arch-based distributions, you’ll have to run the following command in a terminal to grab it from the AUR’s Extras repository.

sudo pacman -S lact

After LACT is installed, you’ll have to enable its service daemon. This involves copying and pasting another command into the terminal.

systemctl enable –now lactd.service

Executing the command above immediately enables the LACT service, making the program available for use. For all intents and purposes, this is what you need to do — except for AMD GPU users, who will need to complete an additional step.

AMD GPUs are usually not unlocked out of the box, which means you can’t tweak TDP limits or undervolt the card. You’ll have to append a specific parameter to the boot options in your bootloader.

For Grub, it is under /etc/default/grub and within the default kernel command line. Regardless of which bootloader you use, you’ll want to add this line at the tail end of the boot options.

amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff

Reboot, and you should have full access unlocked. Alternatively, if you don’t feel like messing with the terminal, you could always use LACT’s own configuration tool to do it for you. It’s as simple as clicking a button (and waiting for the process to complete).

Either way, make sure to do a reboot before you start tweaking.

The LACT UI isn’t just for undervolting and overclocking

It’s packed full of useful features

LACT has a refreshingly simple interface. There are no fancy effects, animations, or even skins, which could be off-putting for some, but I honestly kind of like it. The minimal design and no-frills approach are very much appreciated.

That doesn’t mean that it is lacking in features. Far from it, in fact.

For starters, LACT lets you pick from multiple GPUs (including onboard, integrated graphics) if you happen to have them. Select a GPU, and you should be immediately taken over to the Overclocking page, which has a handy stats overview up top to keep track of.

Below it, you can set the card’s max TDP, power profiles, and finally, overclock and undervolt both its VRAM and GPU clocks, which are unlocked without any restriction.

This is followed by the Thermals tab right below, which (as you guessed it!) lets you adjust the fan speeds and the threshold temperature at which they kick in. You can even set custom fan curves.

There are also the Software and Hardware Info tabs, which detail the card’s capabilities. It’s also a good way to check which Mesa version your card uses and identify any missing extensions that might need to be installed.

And to top it all off, we have user profiles, which can be configured to switch through automatically. You could set a regular, low-TDP profile for day-to-day tasks and a high-TDP profile with max fan speeds for gaming, for example.

Corectrl is a solid alternative for AMD users

LACT isn’t the only program that can tune GPUs in Linux. Far from it, and there are a handful of programs that even manage to do a better job at it. Still, a lot of them aren’t as intuitive as LACT. Some of them do not come with a graphical user interface at all, and a CLI might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Another GPU tuning utility I would personally recommend is Corectrl. Unlike LACT, it also features CPU tuning baked in, which means you could potentially use it as one application for both your CPU and GPU.

It also supports multiple profiles and includes the full set of tweaks from LACT, all presented in a much more appealing user interface. Unfortunately, Corectrl works best with AMD CPUs and GPUs, in my experience, and the project has been in maintenance mode for quite some time now, which might not make it as appealing.