Asus G73JH 5870m & PowerPlay, what it does and doesn't do

This thread is to show how PowerPlay works with the Asus G73JH and ATi 5870m.​

-PowerPlay is a dynamic clocking feature in your ATi Catalyst Control Center. The only two clock settings that the G73 PowerPlay currently supports are 700core/1000memory or 300core/1000memory. I believe these clocks are in the VGA BIOS, but I have not pulled a copy to verify that yet. If you have your core OC or UC (say using the AMD GPU Clock Tool), PowerPlay will not downclock regardless of setting or switching to battery use. Even if you change the memory clock, an OC or UC by AMD GPU Clock Tool overides PowerPlay and is permanent until you reboot or click the 'Restore Default Clocks' button.

-The PowerPlay does not dynamically adjust the GPU clocks according to the application you're using. It adjusts between a 700x1000 and 300x1000 based on three settings/actions:

1) Battery vs. Plugged In
2) CCC selections for Maximum Power or Maximum Battery Life when on Battery or Plugged In
3) Power Options settings for Turn Off the Display

-This two part video will show you how you can call for these operations including automatic function examples.

-Disclaimer: I was very tired from some insomnia making these videos, so I stumble over my own tongue and thoughts a couple times. I use text in the video to correct some things. In part 1 I didn't get a correction in text, the 46.5C temp undoubtedly came from the downclock to 300MHz and not so much from the display just being off, but logic and experience dictated a little of my opinion that way since I have noticed the display coming back on with lower temps when using Fn+F7 before the Power Options/Turn Off the Display kicked in to downclock.

PART 1:

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JU7qjFKvGsQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JU7qjFKvGsQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='640' height="385"></embed>

PART 2:

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bGB9hmgkV9Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bGB9hmgkV9Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='640' height="385"></embed>

Q

 

wow thanks +1 rep

 

thanks for the work!

 

BTW: Thanks DvDL41 & xxbbb

I've run my first (likely only) battery duration test using PowerPlay.

Settings:
PowerPlay Battery: Maximize Battery Life (300x1000 GPU clocks)
Power Options: (Windows) Power Saver Plan

Usage:
Multitab, multibrowser internet.
Minimum 30 minutes 480p video viewing with sound (10 minutes full screen)
380MB download
Keyboard light low

Results:
1hr 39min before 10% notification
1hr 46min 7% notification, videos got choppy (CPU throttling?) and recieved plug in requests
Stopped videos and made two more Youtube post before plugging in

NOTE: If you enable or disable PowerPlay, you need to reboot before it takes effect.

Q

 

I created a support ticket yesterday asking ATi why the memory does not downclock on our G73 when using PowerPlay. While they did not get as detailed as I hoped, they did a great job in response time and answered my question, so I see no reason to respond to the ticket other than a thank you.

ATi engineers are finding the middle ground and just playing it safe so as not to create problems for users; they should be considered the authority on their hardware. However, these are the same engineers/techs who would also cite stability reasons if we OC'd our cards, and they would be right, but as well informed/experienced PC users, we know we don't always have to play by their rules, but we do it at our own risk.

" Dear Customer,

Your service request : SR #{ticketno:[8200306027]} has been reviewed and updated.

Response and Service Request History:

I understand you notice a difference in GPU status while using PowerPlay and would like to know why the memory stays the same.

The PowerPlay feature only applies to the GPU which uses the most amount of power on your video card. Downclocking video card memory would not significantly effect the power consumption and would also hender performance.



In order to update this service request, please respond, leaving the service request reference intact.

Best regards,

AMD Global Customer Care"

GDDR5 is not a power hungry VRAM, it was designed to use less power while supplying at least equal to greater bandwidth over GDDR3 which uses more power. There is a lot to read using google on the subject, but now that nVidia has moved to GDDR5, it seems to be over. Games are bandwidth hungry and now both teams are using the less power hungry tech to supply that bandwidth demand.

Here's a Toms Hardware article, it's old, but a good read: Toward Faster Memory

ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5870 GPU Specifications

Q

 

Has anyone else noticed that when you uncheck power play your GPU VOltage goes down?