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    underclocking to get more out of your battery?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by crazychu, Jan 2, 2008.

  1. crazychu

    crazychu Notebook Consultant

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    i just started bringing my inspiron 1520 to my classes, and it can only last around 2-3 hours with a full battery, one power saver mode. Since I OC my gpu and cpu when i play games, would it be possible UNDERclock my cpu and gpu like crazy to get more time from my battery? if so, how low is safe? the default for my pc is 475/400.
     
    crazychu, Jan 2, 2008
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  2. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

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    You might want to look at undervolting to save power as this saves power without affecting performance. Just a thought.
     
    powerpack, Jan 2, 2008
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  3. crazychu

    crazychu Notebook Consultant

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    what's undervoling? and how do you do it?
     
    crazychu, Jan 2, 2008
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  4. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

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    I think it is RmClock, it is free, I have used it but I have AMD so can't help sooo, much. The long and short is, if you can lower power consumption (voltage) and still remain stable your batt will last longer. It does not in and of itself reduce performance. However if your goal is to truly maximize batt life for note taking cant you at least not overclock and do something like "undervolting"?

    When I overclock and undervolt I do set up so I have to engage, for safety and many other reasons. When I undervolt to check for stability I run Prime95 which is also free. Take a look around, there is much on this and I am not an expert especially on Intel's. NHC might help also on Intel, I am not sure.
     
    powerpack, Jan 3, 2008
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  5. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Undervolting the CPU won't make a significant difference when the computer is already in power saver mode and running at minimum speed / voltage. Undervolting will reduce the power consumption when the CPU is under load (I actually undervolt to reduce the heat and fan activity).

    The area you should look at underclocking / undervolting the GPU. There is no reason why you cannot do this and it will be a matter of trial-and-error to find out when the GPU becomes unstable.

    You can also look at turning off hardware which you don't need. For example, Bluetooth and wireless take power, also flash content in an open web browser can keep the CPU active (I use Firefox + FlashBlock). However, I don't expect these tweaks to give you a lot more battery time: The Intel 965 chipset + dedicated GPU tends to use power and you have a 15.4" display to be illuminated.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 3, 2008
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  6. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    Why not get the 9 cell battery? I can get 5.5-6 hours easily. 7+ with wifi off.
     
    nizzy1115, Jan 3, 2008
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