Optimal Game Play Question

You'll have to forgive me if this thread is in the wrong section.

I have a Samsung Series 7 laptop, here is the configuration for my model:

Intel Core i7-2675QM 2.2GHz
Memory Size
6GB
Hard Disk
750GB
Graphics Card
AMD Radeon HD 6490M Graphics
Video Memory
512MB DDR5
CPU Support
6MB L3 Cache
Max Turbo Frequency 3.1 GHz

I am trying to setup my laptop so it can run efficiently when playing Diablo 3 and Steam games that use the Source engine.

My first attempts did not turn out so well, as I was getting low FPS in Counter Strike Source and in Diablo 3. Last night, I tried plugging in my battery charger and set my laptop to high performance. I ran both Counter Strike and Diablo 3 again, only this time around the performance of my laptop was significantly better.

I do not play games often on my laptop, maybe once in awhile. I was wondering if playing games on my laptop with the high performance settings could possibly damage my laptop? What are the best settings that I can use without risking damage?

 

Unless your cooling system is horrible, changing the settings should not damage your laptop. It is normal to see improved performance on AC power than on battery - components (specifically, the GPU) are generally set to run slower when operating on battery.

What I would do is play Diablo/CSS at the settings you find acceptable, while running something like HWMonitor in the background. Play for 30 mins to an hour, and check what is reported as the maximum temperature of the CPU and GPU cores. This will tell you if there is a problem. Ideally, anything under 85 is just fine, and occasional spikes to the high 80s or low 90s are nothing to really worry about.

 

The whole idea behind high performance is you actually can use 100% of the parts in your laptop. It was on balanced or battery saver before to get better battery life. So don't expect good settings while gaming on battery because it automatically switches. Make sure you're always on high performance when plugged in.