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.

    Omega vs Catalyst: Battery Life

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by yan, Oct 7, 2006.

  1. yan

    yan Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    194
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Simple question, does the Omega driver automatically underclock/undervolt my video card when I'm runnng on batteries?

    If not, how can I manually do so, and will it be as effective as ATI Powerplay in terms of saving power?

    Manually underclocking is easy - I'm primarily concerned with undervolting here.
     
    yan, Oct 7, 2006
    #1
  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    7,197
    Messages:
    28,842
    Likes Received:
    2,173
    Trophy Points:
    581
    I'm using the Omega driver and the Power Management is still ATI PowerPlay. Various other components are also ATI. Give it a try.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Oct 7, 2006
    #2
  3. TwilightVampire

    TwilightVampire Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    362
    Messages:
    1,376
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Yea, theres still powerplay in the ATI control pannel. You'll still have powerplay to extend the life.
     
    TwilightVampire, Oct 7, 2006
    #3
  4. Mark

    Mark Desktop Debugger

    Reputations:
    1,288
    Messages:
    4,172
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Another option is to not use powerplay, and have a bunch of different clock setting profiles. For example on my ATI x300 I have three setting...one for battery, one for normal use, and then one for gaming. Powerplay has always caused issues for me so I just diabled it. Just another solution to the problem....
     
    Mark, Oct 7, 2006
    #4
  5. Notebook Solutions

    Notebook Solutions Company Representative NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    461
    Messages:
    1,849
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    A question:

    Does Powerplay underclock your videocard? I didnt know that!? I checked my clocks with ATI Tray Tools and they are the same?!

    Charlie :)
     
    Notebook Solutions, Oct 7, 2006
    #5
  6. Qhs

    Qhs Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    40
    Messages:
    666
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Sorry for hijacking your thread yan, but how does Omega driver's compare to ATI's drivers? What are the pros of the Omega ones?
     
    Qhs, Oct 7, 2006
    #6
  7. Flav_cool

    Flav_cool Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    39
    Messages:
    259
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Powerplay does more than underclock the card...it undervolts it too and maybe even more. I use it everday and have no problems. I actually always have it on except for gaming cause it keeps the temperature down, and the fans off :)

    To the thread hijacker: Omega's are more optimized drivers made by a great guy a lot of people trust. Search the forums, the question has been asked many of times.
     
    Flav_cool, Oct 8, 2006
    #7
  8. TwilightVampire

    TwilightVampire Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    362
    Messages:
    1,376
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Hitman, you should be able to access a screen like the one in the attached image from the video control pannel that comes with Omegas. It controls powerplay. Powerplay does undervolt the video card to I believe just a few volts. But I'm not sure on that.
     

    Attached Files:

    TwilightVampire, Oct 8, 2006
    #8
  9. yan

    yan Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    194
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Ok, I just did some testing. I switched PowerPlay off and manually underclocked my card to PowerPlay's battery frequencies, and NHC tells me that I'm not saving as much power as when I used PowerPlay.

    Conclusion: PowerPlay does undervolt your graphics card in addition to underclocking it.

    -----

    The Omegas are more stable in the Battlefield 2142 Demo. That's the reason I switched to it. The game crashed all the time when I used the Catalyst drivers, now it rarely crashes.

    Although I do get 30 less 3dMark05s with the Omega drivers. Not much of a difference... Whatever.
     
    yan, Oct 8, 2006
    #9
  10. jterp7

    jterp7 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    12
    Messages:
    717
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    the last time i ran it all the way down i got 3:40 with omega's..this is with no powerplay or underclocking/volting
     
    jterp7, Oct 8, 2006
    #10
  11. TwilightVampire

    TwilightVampire Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    362
    Messages:
    1,376
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Read this PDF It does undervolt the video card.

    And

     
    TwilightVampire, Oct 8, 2006
    #11