I see a control in Alsamixer called "Dynamic" in the XFCE volume mixer it's known as "Dynamic-Power-Control", what does this do? Is this like "Dynamic" power saving seen on laptops?

i don't see it in mine.
must be hardware related.

fwiw, i have many controls in alsamixer that i don't know what they're doing.
i only use master and pcm.

I have an 'SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: VT1708S Analog [VT1708S Analog]', it's an onboard 'AC97' chip? I have come across things in Alsamixer that I don't understand.(Alsamixer was really hard to understand on my Proforma 6400). In this case, if this is a power saving thing I want to use it. First I want to make sure that's what it is and would like to know if they are side effects. Could it be this I wonder?:

https://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/DAPM. The only odd thing is, this is a desktop but they could be using a laptop chip.

could be something similar.
i know it's possible to tell the kernel sound module t cut power to the sound chip, something i've done on a server.

however, in your case - if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

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Hmm, it probably would not save that much power so I think I'll leave it off, under the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it!' idea.

The terminology sounds a bit like AGC, aka automatic gain control, which wouldn't have much for power savings.

If you're interested in saving power probably best to not use the soundcard at all and unload the modules for it. It used to be that the modules for sound wouldn't even load until you accessed the soundcard. Unfortunately for most distros, that happens when mixer settings are restored at boot time. These days you'd probably have to setup a dummy soundcard to accomplish that, which alsa has modules for iirc. Although a lot of power can be saved by not using pulseaudio, relative to alsa natively. Plus turning down screen brightness, and using ethernet instead of wifi. The less you use the CPU, the less you'll have to power a fan to cool it, and other tricks. TBH, just get a power pack or a computer with better battery life if that's a concern. All those little tricks might get you 50% more life, where different hardware could get you 400% more usage from battery under full load.

https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/late...tml#via-codecs

I agree. I don't think you're going to notice much difference on a desktop.

No, VT1708S is not an AC97 chip. It conforms to the newer "High Definition Audio" standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_...finition_Audio

The same audio codecs are often used on laptops and desktops. My laptop and desktop both have Realtek ALC892.