A couple of questions about underclocking.

Hello guys and happy new year!

I have some questions about underclocking. They might sound stupid, so please don't laugh at me, because I know little about PCs ( but enough ).

So, here are my questions ( if needed, my laptop's specifications are in my signature ) :

1) Would underclocking, harm in ANY way the GPU or the CPU?
2) Would it be safe to underclock the GPU from 650MHz/800MHz to 100MHz/100MHz?
3) If I underclock to the levels on 2), would there be a significant battery life increase?
4) How can I underclock the CPU?
5) Is there a way to, kind of, disable CPU cores? I mean, to only use 2, instead of 4 ( for example )?
6) Would all these steps increase the battery life significantly?
7) If I follow these steps, will I be able to watch movies normally? ( not Full HD )

I ask this, because 2011 will be a very travel-intensive year, and I want to make the battery life higher than now, to have something to do while on the plane


Thank you and Happy Holidays!

 

1) Not any way I know of, the worst thing that could happen would probably be your system feeling sluggish if you go too low
2) Yes, but by default your HD 5730 should downclock to about 150/150 when idle, verify with GPU-Z
3) Yes, but your GPU should be doing it already
4) I'd guess using an overclocking tool and simply moving the slider the other way, this guide might prove helpful as you probably want to undervolt it too
5) Not sure on this one, from a quick Google search it doesn't look too easy in laptops without a BIOS hack
6) Yes
7) Probably

 

Buy a $200 netbook instead. Your laptop is not meant for mobility.

 

Netbooks are great for watching movies while traveling. I carry my Asus 1005HA with my normal notebook. Thing gets like 9 hours of battery life.

 

my only issue is that screen size is too low..Phistachio, i suggest you underclock your GPU and using the power saving power4gear profile , underclock CPU too... you might get 2-3 hours battery life.

Panther214