M17xR3 power usage/battery issue after driver update

I have an M17xR3 with a Radeon 6970. Recently after Skyrim came out, i was having graphical issues (textures stuck at low no matter what the options said) so I updated the drivers. I uninstalled the original ones, then used driver cleaner to make sure I wiped everything and then reinstalled the latest drivers from the Dell website.

This fixed the Skyrim issue but instead caused another bigger problem with the power draw of the laptop. Before I updated the graphics drivers, I could get maybe an hour and a half of casual usage with the 6970 active, but when I switched to the default intel graphics driver I could get at least 3 and a half hours, sometimes four. The problem now is that when i switch to the intel driver, I've been noticing that my usage time has dramatically decreased, in facts its draining at the same speed as if the Radeon 6970M were still active. However the graphics card is at least nominally not operating since the fan does not spin and the temperature of the card area is cool to the touch.

Is it possible that the video card is actually still on and drawing full power even though not in use that is decreasing the battery life and if so, does anyone have a remedy?