Fun and Tweaks with the G73JH

Fun and Tweaks with the G73JH

1)Battery life, heat, and noise
stock clocks and powersave
700/1000 (stock AC): 1:40-1:50 (right fan stays at level 2)
300/1000 (stock battery): don't know (someone post and I'll put it in)
100/200 (custom clocks): 2:40-2:50 (right fan alternates between off and level 1, even on power)

you need:
techPowerUp! :: Download AMD GPU Clock Tool v0.9.26.0 For HD 5870
Free Delay Run Download


Note that dropping straight down to 100/200 will GSOD you; you need to step down to 300/300 first.

1)Unpack AMDGPUclocktool for the 5870
2)make 3 shortcuts to it with the following options
-eng=700 -mem=1000 (mine says 800/1100 because I run overclocked when gaming)
-eng=300 -mem=300
-eng=100 -mem=200
name them high to low power, respectively

3)Make sure you have reasonable battery settings


Full disclosure (1 minute spindown is because I replaced one of the 500GB drives with an SSD, and the other is storage, so it's set to 1 minute cause I want it off)
The power difference from this is probably small anyway.

Here's how it works.
OK:
low->mid
mid->high
low->high
low<-mid
mid<-high

NOT OK:
high->low


Ok, so now to set the G73JH to boot with 100/200 clocks. If you want to play a game, simply click on the high power shortcut. To go back down, click on medium, wait a few secs, then low.
1)open your start menu
2)go to all programs
3)right click on startup folder
4)open
5)copy midpower shortcut into the folder
6)unpack delayrun
7)make delayrun.ini look like this:
"
3
C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD GPU Clock Tool\AMDGPUClockTool.exe
c:\
-eng=100 -mem=200
"
8)change the path if you have AMDGPUClockTool somewhere else
9)add a shortcut to delayrun to your startup folder

TEST 300/300 to 100/200 BEFORE YOU SET IT TO DO IT AUTOMATICALLY


------------

2)Hard Drive I/O

Large Cache
off: 8MB software cache
on: can use all available physical memory (on a G73, that's huge)

more info: LargeSystemCache: Core Services

regedit:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System \CurrentControlSet \Control \Session Manager \Memory Management \LargeSystemCache=1]

Disable Paging file
Seriously, you have 8GB of ram (or 6 for your BB people)
1)Start
2)right click on computer
3)Properties
4)Advanced System Settings
5)Advanced Tab
6)Performance settings...
7)Advanced Tab
8)Change
9)Set it to no paging file on all drives
10)Restart

---------------------
3)Stuttering in games, especially online: like Bad Company 2
You'll see issues like jittery movement and difficulty switching weapons (like they immediately switch back to the previous gun)

Disable Core Parking
You'll have to google this because it's wildly different depending on your power settings. As far as I know you can't disable it in P4GH power settings (I have it only set to stop parking on AC power)

----------------------
4)Network I/O
TCP Latency, throughput, and CPU usage
cmd.exe (as admin)
netsh
int
tcp
set global chimney=enable
set global dca=enable
set global congestionprovider=ctcp
set global ecn=enable BAD COMPANY 2 IS BUGGY SO DON'T DO THIS LAST ONE IF YOU PLAY BC2

LAN Throughput
Read up on the Size variable here.
LargeSystemCache: Core Services

-----------------------

Other notes: kubuntu 10.04 activates the lighted keyboard by itself, which is nice for night programmers like myself.

I'll edit this as I remember other tweaks I did.

 

Nice tip on the Large Cache thing.

 

I believe disabling the PageFile is a bad idea.

 

There are pros and cons to it, and the debate is open about whether it's a bad idea or not. I've disabled mine on my SSD and have had no issues.

I think it's better to say that anyone considering it should do some reading up on the subject. I'd argue about core parking and disabling it in the same way. It's potentially beneficial in some battery/power saving options and arguably not an issue most of the time.

Anyway, decent guide.

 

http://www.computingunleashed.com/2009/06/speed-up-windows-7-ultimate-guide-to.html

How to Control the Delay of the Start Menu Display

And a nice list of services, what's safe to disable, etc:

Black Viper's Web Site

As far as the paging file is concerned, it was designed to bolster systems with low amounts of ram [obviously not an issue on the G73]. I personally keep mine off completely, but the best ADVICE I've seen is to leave about 25MB JUUUUUST in case some finicky program demands it. Happy tweaking ^^

 

This is correct. If you understand how windows power works, you can only disable it for AC power.

(There are 2 settings per power plan in the registry, one is for AC, one is for battery)

Windows has you covered, if a program demands pagefile, and you have it disabled, windows just maps it to RAM

 

I'm seeing people disable it across the board though when I google. How are you able to discern which registry entry to change of the 3?

 

You have to guess by looking at the values for the other settings in the same category, and then matching those to the power plan settings. (like setting never turn off the monitor, and then looking for that value).

They have descriptions in the registry entries, it's just been a while since I did it.

 

I understand the need to maximize the available space in a SSD, they're not cheap and space is a premium. But, I wonder if we can all agree that if you do use a PageFile, the following is true:

• The PageFile should be set to a static value.
• If available, the PageFile should be moved to a 2nd, none OS, drive.
• Optionally, on the 2nd drive a slightly larger partition created to reduce fragmentation and optimize location.

The recommended PageFile values have not changed in all these years. For Windows 7, regardless of memory size, it's still 1.5 times. Which is why the recommended value is 12172MB (~1.5x), the current is 8116MB and the minimum is 16MB. The reason for that was so the entire memory could be safely dumped should the need arise. The minimum provides space should the system crash, which is why I said disabling the PageFile is a bad idea.

Because I think disabling the PageFile and allowing Windows to manage it, are both bad. What I did instead is set the size of the PageFile to the way I use the computer. Since nothing I have uses more than 4GB of memory, I set both minimum and maximum to 4100MB (with a little extra to spare). And, if I had a second hard drive, I would have moved and created a partition for the PageFile.

 

In all honesty, I can't see anyone dumping all their memory to the HD unless they're trying to do something really unusual.

 

Right now I got a desktop and my G73 set to let Windows decide. I got 4 gigs of DD2 on desktop and of course the 8 gigs on the G73.

I play a lot of games on both. What do you guys recommend I set min/max to?

 

I say disable it on the laptop and set it to a static value on the desktop if that doesn't have an SSD.

4GB of page would be fine on the desktop.

 

What would be safe increments to see how high/low the laptop can go? I just tried setting it to 50/100 and the screen started kind of artifacting. I could see me move my mouse around but programs weren't responsive. Eventually GSOD and then black screened and hard rebooted.

 

the GSOD means you too your core too low, and the artifacting means you took the RAM too low.

Try starting at 300/300 and dropping one of them in 25 increments until it crashes, then reboot and set it at the value before it did that and then repeat with the other one.

 

What's interesting is I start getting artifacts at anything below 475 mem, and GSOD anytime I try to jump up from below 300 core to stock. As a result, I really don't mess with it outside of allowing power schemes to downclock it to 300.

 

I guess it's different for each card, which is why ASUS had difficulties setting the clocking.

If my clocks don't work, then figure out what yours are and set them appropriately =V

 

I'm trying to reduce the noise made by the fans so I just tried the first suggestions in the first page. I created the 3 profiles stated there, and I can set the medium profile (300/300) without any problem. My PC starts with eng=700 and mem=1000, so if I try to set the high profile after booting I have no problems. However, If I try to set the high profile (700/1000) or the low profile (100/200) after setting the medium one, I get a grey screen with vertical lines, a blue screen with vertical lines or a black screen. I know I'm probable downclocking it too much by setting it to 100/200, but I don't understand why I'm getting the GSOD if I set the High profile after setting the Medium one....

Any thoughts/suggestions?

 

As Xeven put it, it's the lousy Asus vBIOS b0rking on you. I had that happen once too, so I disabled PowerPlay to bump it up instead which didn't crash.

 

By PowerPlay you mean Power4Gear Hybrid right? How do you disable it?

 

No, I mean PowerPlay in ATI CCC.

 

Chastity you are too quick for me!

 

I disabled Powerplay and tried overclocking to 700/1000 after downclocking to 300/300 and I got a GSOD

 

add in a 400/700 or something and use that when clocking up. It looks like all the chips are wildly different.

 

The lowest I can underclock to without getting GSOD after trying to OC back to stock clocks is 250/450

 

then set that as your mid level and use that before going back to full clocks?

 

Slightly unrelated but how do you overclock the CPU on the G73JH? Is it just the turboboost stuff?

 

SetFSB for the CPU and AMD GPU Clock Tool for the GPU. The Turbo button is mostly useful for single core applications. Most of the time you want it off.

 

The turbo button is only useful for heavily multithreaded apps, it hurts single-threaded apps due to conflicting with Intel Turbo.

I do use setfsb to OC my CPU when I feel the need (the need for speed) :V

 

Will this have issues with Turboboost? I'll probably keep my turbo button off

 

keep your turbo off, unless you need extra speed running something heavily multithreaded (video encoding, etc)

 

Multi-threaded applications work better with it off, not on. When all four cores are under a full load, the higher frequency will cause the multiplier to go lower. Only when all four cores are not under full load will it go higher. So, if you have an video encoder that can take advantage of all four cores, you want it off, not on. Since most things can take advantage of all four cores, Turbo mode becomes rather useless.

 

single threaded no turbo is 133x21=2.8GHz
single threaded turbo is 142x18=2.53GHz (It lowers the multiplier due to intel TDP (Turbo) control)

3-8 thread no turbo is 133x12=1.6GHz
3-8 thread turbo is 140x12=1.68GHz (because intel turbo can't lower the multiper further than that)

 

My laptop is currently crunching a protein for FAH using all four cores under full load. My results are:

8 threads no Turbo is 1.73 GHz (x13)
8 threads Turbo on is 1.70 GHz (x12).

Instead of FAH, but a multi-threaded encoder, the encode would take less time with Turbo off. So, it's working exactly like I described above.