Is my Video card fried

When my e1705 is connected to a power source every thing runs fine but as soon as i unplug it and try to watch a movie or play a game my FPS drop by at least 25. I have tried all drivers newest and stock and this make no difference. i am running vista 32. I also tried to put my power plan on high performance this dose not help. o yeah i have a 7900gs

 

if it works fine when plugged into the mains, its def not fried! But it sounds like its just not getting enough power from the battery to keep it running smoothly! Can you borrow a battery from your mates to test it?

If not, then you'll prob have to call DELL and ask for a replacement battery to be sent!

 

It definitely a battery problem...either the battery is half dead or worse the battery connector is damaged.

 

Have you tried setting PowerMizer up to not DOWNCLOCK the GPU when on battery?

 

It's not fried, and it's normal for the GPU to down clock on battery mode.

7900GS is a power hog is all.

 

I just tried the battery from my dads 1705 and that didn't help at all. I dont see how this could be normal at all. I guess i got to make the call to dell really dont want to.

Have you tried setting PowerMizer up to not DOWNCLOCK the GPU when on battery? Where is the option for this

 

First off, PowerMizer slider is not avaiable on Vista (its a fixed value in the registry). If you have XP, right click the desktop and choose the nvidia control panel.

 

It is in nVidia Control Panel.... I've seen it under XP but not sure under Vista though....

 

So basically i just have to accept the fact i cant play games or watch HD movies on the battery.

 

With the 100.14.19 64 bit driver, my 1700 gets about the same FPS whether on battery or AC. However, when switching to battery, the FPS will drop to 50 (from 75) for a short time as the GPU senses the load and increases the clocks. Once that's over, it's back to 75.

 

your battery might be dying

 

You can just use notebook hardware control to run your system at max performance at all times, but this still won't make the system perform like it is with actual AC power in games.

Like I said, it's normal. Remember the system is desktop replacement system. It's meant to be plugged in at most of the time, and to perform as it should, it needs AC power.

 

wow, just wow

 

Do you have Vista? If you do have vista, when u get a driver from laptopvideo2go, you can change the registry key settings before installing it...i'm sure you can also edit ur exisiting key values, although i am not sure what keys they are......

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15599&hl=vista++powermizer

yeah this thread is a little cheesy......but i think starsheep is being stupid

*edit: registry keys for powermizer

 

OP: If it runs all fine while plugged in, but not so good on battery. Obviously the battery isn't feeding the machine enough to keep up. I've encountered this on all my laptops while gaming. Although not as severe as you have. They usually just stutter a bit.

Drain you're battery completely, the recharge it completely, that should 'help'. If it doesn't, then get a new battery I guess or just don't game on battery.

Do note though video cards have 2 clock sets, for battery and AC. And on battery they down clock a few 100mhz or so. So that contributes to the poor performance.

The 7 series cards were pretty demanding so that doesn't help. My 7950GTX in my Alienware left scars on my lap..and warped the chassis of the machine from getting so hot :S

Cheers

 

Even if you manage to run it at full speed, I highly doubt that your battery would last even an hour.