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    Undervolting Intel Atom?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by classic77, Aug 26, 2009.

  1. classic77

    classic77 Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm posting in this forums becuase it seems to frequently discuss undervolting...Mods feel free to move if you think its in the wrong place.

    So I just bought my wife one of those MSI wind U100s (supercheap) and I was wondering if it was worth attempting a CPU undervolt to save battery? The Wind comes with a built in underclock fuction on the F10 button to increase life, but I was wondering if I could stretch it further...
     
  2. narsnail

    narsnail Notebook Prophet

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    Try it, there is an undervolting guide in the Hardware section, just search in the forums for it.

    Edit!: WOW thats handy, just typed the word and there is a link to it, haha.
     
  3. Lithus

    Lithus NBR Janitor

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    The Atom CPU uses insignificant power as compared to the rest of the system. Undervolting it will not produce a significant change in battery life.

    From Wikipedia:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_atom
     
  4. narsnail

    narsnail Notebook Prophet

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    ^ Yea it uses like no power, I just looked up the specs, it has 2gb of ram, an Intel GMA 950 and a normal HDD, there is really nothing to be done with the system that will gain you more than a 20 second battery life gain.

    A SSD would improve battery life marginally, but honestly its not getting any better.
     
  5. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Its possible the Wind's undervolting button does more than just undervolt the processor...
     
  6. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Intel Atom has a 2W TDP. Undervolting might reduce it to 1.8W, saving you maybe 5 minutes of battery, lol. It doesn't even need a heatsink for crying out loud!
     
  7. crash

    crash NBR Assassin

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    Moved to the Hardware Components forum.

    And I agree with the above - undervolting the Intel Atom won't yield you any noticeable battery life increases.