The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    How will having a Nvidia 650M graphics card in laptop effect power consumption?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by silentassasin, Nov 29, 2012.

  1. silentassasin

    silentassasin Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hi,
    this is my first post,
    Today I bought a Dell 17 inch laptop that has an i5-3210m, 6GB RAM and Nvidia 650M graphics. It around £550 over at the Dell website, good price I think.



    Will having the 650M card in the laptop increase the idle power consumption of the laptop?

    Or does the 650M use 0 watts unless when I use it for games etc.

    I want to get the power consumption as low as possible and use the card only when playing Fifa 13.


    I would appreciate sharing any of your knowledge
     
    silentassasin, Nov 29, 2012
    #1
  2. MrDJ

    MrDJ Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    2,594
    Messages:
    10,832
    Likes Received:
    363
    Trophy Points:
    501
    welcome to nbr

    does it have intergrated graphics as well as the nvidia 650 dedicated graphics?

    actually could you post a link to it and then we can advise.
     
    MrDJ, Nov 29, 2012
    #2
  3. silentassasin

    silentassasin Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hi
    Inspiron 17R Special Edition laptop details | Dell UK

    the i5 processor has intel integrated graphics 4000
     
    silentassasin, Nov 29, 2012
    #3
  4. alexUW

    alexUW Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,524
    Messages:
    2,666
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    56
    It most likely has nvidia Optimus, which allows you to use the Intel graphics as the default, switch over to the GT 650m when it is needed.
     
    alexUW, Nov 29, 2012
    #4
  5. MrDJ

    MrDJ Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    2,594
    Messages:
    10,832
    Likes Received:
    363
    Trophy Points:
    501
    thanks for the link.
    couldnt see intel HD4000 mentioned but if it has got that then as Alex mentioned it will have optimus so every day use will be with intel with much longer battery life and as soon as you start doing something demanding it will switch to the nvidia.
     
    MrDJ, Nov 29, 2012
    #5
  6. DirtyTrickster

    DirtyTrickster Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    370
    Messages:
    627
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I'm not sure the difference between the 650M and 680M power wise, but I can tell you this. I have a MSI with 3610 CPU and 680M GPU and 15.6 inch screen. When sitting idle on Intel 4000 it pulls about 30 watts and when 680M is engaged is jumps up to 55-60 watts.
     
    DirtyTrickster, Nov 30, 2012
    #6