X1600 and battery question

Hi,

I recently got a Packard Bell easynote MV85-120 notebook.
It has a intel core due T2050; 1.60 Ghz, 2 gig RAM, ATI mobility radeon X1600.

I played Star Wars Empire at War on it, graphics settings to pretty high, lots of details etc and I got a good framerate.
But when I played the game again, but NOT with the power plugged in (only working on battery power) I noticed that I had a decrease of performace, frames dropped and overal the game was A LOT slower.

Is that normal or is my mind playing tricks on me? haha.
Any comments? Thanks!

 

That is normal - on battery, ATI video cards automatically underclock the video card to save power; it's called PowerPlay. The video card shouldn't be run at full speed on battery because it uses a lot of power.

 

If you want to play on battery then go into the CCC control panel, go to powerplay, and select full power for Battery mode. Though as Chaz said, say goodbye to your battery very quickly.

 

Another thing aside Powerplay (which is very important too) is Intel's Speedstep. I think your CPU clocks are going down automatically which causes lag. Go to Energy Management and make sure the notebook runs at full CPU power (also on battery).

Charlie

 

Thanks a lot for the answers! It explains a lot.
How can I set the CPU to full power on battery with the energy management?
Thanks

 

Go into the Control Panel, and there's an icon for Power Options. Set it to Portable/Laptop mode.

Actually, in Portable/Laptop mode, the processor automatically underclocks to 1GHz when it is idle; it will jump up to a higher clockspeed if it needs the extra power. It is best to keep the processor in this mode because if you have it running on Home/Office Desk, then it will run at full frequency and add to heat.