Underclocking X200m - opinions

Having been able to fiddle with the speed of my X200m I decided to underclock it from the default 378Mhz it came at down to 309, it's lowest setting. As I don't play any games or use any graphics intensive software I was hoping this would reduce heat output and generally make for better and more stable usage. So far I have had no problems. My ram clock has been left well alone.

So, is an underclock from the default a bad idea for any reason and will it reduce heat and increase lifespan?

 

Underclocking is never a bad idea really, it will reduce heat and in turn increase the lifespan, however you wont have as great performance while doing graphics intensive things (which you have already stated you dont so dont worry)....

 

Great, that's what i wanted to know! Thanks. I can't say I've noticed any difference in performance, she still flies!

 

Paws what program did you use to downclock. When downclocking, dont forget to have a good mem/core ratio. What I mean is not speeds like 325.25 and 278.75 but 322/376.

Downclocking does not harm your hardware unless you downclock to extreme low clocks. Your speeds look good, but I think you can go even further. A great article made my a forum member: http://www.thegamebooks.com/powerplay-vs-underclocking-t146.html

By the way: I am not responsible for any damage.

Charlie

 

I used powerstrip, which I don't think adjusts anything other than the gpu or in this case igp. It seems to work, i tried an overclock up to 450Mhz and my 3dmark score went up, not by anything drastic, but it did go up by about 10% so this obviously works.

I wouldn't want to underclock anything else, I know this sounds a bit funny considering the specs, but I am a fan of Toshiba because they always seem to get the best out of hardware and this thing is absolutely flying!

 

The x200 is an integrated chip, with 2 pixel pipelines, its just not worth the effort.

 

I asked for an opinions on positive or negative effects of underclocking an x200m, not a gpu based inferiority complex in words, thanks.

 

Wow, I guess Toshiba had it really ramped up. You should be fine, as both of mine are running at 301MHz, and I've had zero problems.

 

Great, thanks! 378Mhz was at the top of the green scale on powerstrip, so I'm assuming thats ok. It's the non-dedicated version of the x200m so maybe that's why the clock speed is a bit up.

Random question R4000: Do you see a significant difference in loading speeds between your two laptops, one with 4200 and one with 7200rpm drives?

 

I was giving you a negative, ie its pointless to do it since there is so little battery life to gain since the power savings will be worthless especially without voltage control.

 

Yep, that is where I found mine.

I think it is just a mfgr thing, as I have both the dedicated and shared versions of the 200M, and they are clocked identically.

Only when loading games such as Need For Speed: Most wanted (actually the only game I currently own ). Other than that, I see no major performance difference reguarding the hard drives. I can't accurately judge bootup times because Vista loads up faster than XP anyway, but I'm sure the 7200 drive is giving the OS an extra push.

I was tempted to swap out the 4200 drive when I first got it, but I changed my mind. It is much quieter and cooler.

 

Have you managed to overclock your x200ms up and if so how far, and have they heated up? I tried 459 which was ok, but 500 was the top available.

 

Nope, I have not tried to take it up from default yet (too chicken). lol

I doubt that I could range very far from "stock" anyway, as I'm willing to bet that your Toshiba has far superior cooling than mine (which is probably why the Compaqs are downclocked).