Massive Slowdown 2.4MBP [bootcamp]

Okay, so I did not really notice this until I started trying to play games while running under battery power. I am using the 163.44 Nvidia Drivers on the 8600M GT 256MB. While running under AC adaptor power everything runs great, but as soon as the power is removed it becomes terrible - this can be immediately remedied by reapplying AC power. I assume that this is caused by the GPU switching to LowPower 3D, the question is how can I stop this. (Nvidia "PowerMizer" is already disabled)

 

This is by design - these GPU's aren't designed to run at full power on battery. If you were to do it, you'd be looking at 30 minutes to an hour of battery life.

This isn't unique to the MBP either.

 

You can disable GPU and CPU underclocking in Windows power settings and the nVidia control panel. However, that is not recommended, as your battery life will be reduced to, as Zadillo stated, around 30 mins. as opposed to 3-4 hours.

 

Here is what I did, testing battery life now. So far the estimated life is 2hr 20mins from a 97% charge.

1) Open rivatuner 2.02
2) Install Nstrap Driver
3) Change PCIID to a regular 8600GT

Now it will not throttle the 3d settings, and it appears to revert to 2d clocks when not playing a game.

 

Estimated settings don't mean much (and that estimate is almost definitely not factoring using the GPU at full speed).

There is no way you'll get anything even remotely close to 2 hours and 20 minutes of gaming on battery.

-Zadillo

 

Yeah, gaming battery life is about ~1hr. However, games like the Bioshock Demo etc were totally unplayable with low power throttling, and non 3d battery life seems to be the same. The 2hr 20 min estimate was while not playing games (just browsing etc) and that seems solid as of now.