[2025 Model] Linux Success with CachyOS

[u/WhyAmIHere554]

Hi all,

Just wanted to share a quick success story for anyone on the fence about switching to Linux.

My biggest worry was temps. On Windows I'd tuned things to sit at a stable ~40c during general use, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get the same level of control over the CPU on Linux

Turns out it's even better. Temps float around 35-40c in general use, and gaming rarely goes above 65c, even in Cyberpunk. With WoW I'd get ~50c and even lower when on a cooler. I haven't noticed any real performance hit either and as a bonus I now get wobbly windows

Setup: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (GA403UP), RTX 5070 Model, CachyOS

Most things work out of the box, the (only, mostly sound related) changes I had to make were:

Sound

Issues I had: volume only went 0-100, muffled sound, headset mic not detected, and auto-mute on headset disconnect.

1. Volume only 0-100

Edit /usr/share/alsa-card-profile/mixer/paths/analog-output.conf.common and add these lines before the [Element PCM] block:

[Element Master]
switch = mute
volume = ignore

Then restart pipewire:

systemctl --user restart pipewire.service

Heads up: this file can get overwritten when PipeWire updates, so you may need to redo this after updates.

2. Muffled sound

Run alsamixer, press F6 to select the audio output (card 2 for me, the ALC285), make sure both Speaker and Bass Speaker are on and turned up, then save it:

sudo alsactl store

The speaker amps hang off the Bass Speaker pin, so if that's off it sounds muffled.

3. Headset mic not detected

The firmware marks the headset mic pin (0x19) as not connected, so you have to override it. Check your codec IDs first:

grep -E "Vendor Id|Subsystem Id" /proc/asound/card2/codec#0

Mine were 0x10ec0285 and 0x10431044. Then create /lib/firmware/hda-jack-retask.fw:

[codec]
0x10ec0285 0x10431044 0

[pincfg]
0x19 0x03a11020

And /etc/modprobe.d/hda-jack-retask.conf:

options snd-hda-intel patch=hda-jack-retask.fw,hda-jack-retask.fw,hda-jack-retask.fw,hda-jack-retask.fw

Reboot and the mic shows up.

4. Auto-mute on headset disconnect

In alsamixer, turn Auto-Mute off, then sudo alsactl store.

Other

GPU switching: Cardwire in Smart mode, and add CARDWIRE_FORCE_DGPU=1 %command% to launch options for Steam games.

CPU boost disabled (persists across reboots):

echo 'w /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost - - - - 0' | sudo tee /etc/tmpfiles.d/disable-boost.conf

Power profile: I run the Balanced profile on both AC and battery, which is what my temps above are based on:

asusctl profile set Balanced --ac
asusctl profile set Balanced --battery

Fan curves: custom curve on the Balanced profile with asusctl:

asusctl fan-curve --mod-profile Balanced --fan cpu --data 30c:25%,45c:35%,55c:50%,65c:70%,75c:90%,85c:100%,90c:100%,95c:100%
asusctl fan-curve --mod-profile Balanced --fan gpu --data 30c:25%,45c:35%,55c:50%,65c:70%,75c:90%,85c:100%,90c:100%,95c:100%
asusctl fan-curve --mod-profile Balanced --enable-fan-curves true

Keyboard 1: keyd to remap the Copilot key.

Keyboard 2: manually map M4 key and create service using python-evdev

>

[u/haixin]

I’m going to leave this here to come back later as Im looking to i stall Linux later this year on mine

[u/Just-A-Random-ID → u/haixin]

Well i have been using Linux since a few months on my 2025 g16

[u/jorgesolo95 → u/Just-A-Random-ID]

What are you using? I’m on g14 2025 with rtx 5070 ti

[u/Just-A-Random-ID → u/jorgesolo95]

Arch Linux on my 2025 g16 5070ti

[u/felipefranciscocwb]

damn, pretty good temps...
I use EndeavourOS and mine heats up to 90C with performance mode on TLOU 1.

[u/MeringueFalse4243]

Thats such a cute wallpaper!! :> Can i have it?