Removing the discrete Videocard - Using the integrated on T410?!

Is it practically possible to remove the discrete Graphic Card from T410 and make the system work with the integrated one(which is already there), for the sake of battery life?

Well, I'm sure it's possible for most of you, I mean for someone who is not a pro!

 

With enough skill, all is possible, but I would say for the average user, it's not possible.

 

Hmm, so it's not just taking out the discrete one and there you go!

 

even if you remove it, it is not going to switch the integrated GPU, it is slightly more complicated then that.

 

You can try this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...-have-switchable-graaphics-3.html#post6550245

 

Far beyond my grasp !

 

It's actually pretty easy, all you have to do is follow the guide.
Once you get the DIY ViDock Setup 1.0e2, it's a matter of selecting enable IGP in the menu, then a bit of resource allocation (again done with the menu).

If you don't like the DIY vidock setup, try this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...-have-switchable-graaphics-6.html#post6574276

 

So, as I understood,

I install DIY vidock software,
Some resource allocation(which has been probably explained in the link you put, )
And done!
You mean no need to additional hardware?
I've always worked with macro problems(like Pipelines and pumps! and now oil production platforms and wind wind turbines in the scale of million tons!) so just thinking about chip-sets and messing up with a notebook's hardware is enough to freak me out!

 

Yes that's right.

But it might not work, like for example when I try to enable the IGP in my notebook, it just does nothing.

 

If there is no mux to switch the LVDS signals from the discrete graphics to the IGP then there is no way you'll get output from the IGP.

Anyone want to buy the T410 schematic to get some more clues?

 

What graphics card other than the IGP do you have? It might be possible to underclock it to save battery life.

 

NVIDIA® Quadro® NVS 3100M, like other T410 notebooks with discrete graphics card

 

Try this and let us know how it goes

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...75324-e6410-owners-thread-43.html#post6268871

 

It's been a while...

I used the ntune software - NVIDIA DRIVERS 6.06- to underclock my GPU, now my settings read :

Graphics Clock : 200 MHz
Memory Clock: 240 MHz
Processor Clock: 400 MHz

I've noticed the system runs cooler now. Of course It's not as fast as before when loading images but nothing serious, as I'm not doing any serious image processing stuff, the battery life shows an improvement of about 20 - 30 mins

Thanks for the advice, now I get almost 6 hours on battery,

Still wish I'd ordered the one with integrated GPU and still looking for a way of getting rid of the discrete one! any clue?

 

Nope. Impossible (well nothing's impossible but a lot of things are horribly impractical).

I guess you could swap out the motherboard but you'd void your warranty and have to spend $500 to $1000 on the motherboard alone (not 100% known if you can even do that). If it's really really important to you just sell your current laptop and buy an integrated model.

 

I guess you mean switching to integrated is impossible. By the way what do you think about underclocking the GPU? in general...

Well you know what is annoying? things like lenovo says T410 with 9 cell can give 22 hours(thinpadstoday.com) or at least 8-10 hours (lenovo), well I mean I expected better battery life,

In forum.thinkpads.com someone claims he can get 9-10 hours out of 9 cell with discrete graphics,

I'm a bit confused in a few words, I get at most up to 6 hours(wireless on - brightness 7-10 - modified balanced power plan)

 

are you using win 7? if you use vista or win xp you may get 20 mins extra battery time. Switching off aero visual effect (by going to windows classic mode) can also boost the battery time.

 

yes I use Win 7,
Thank you, I'll try it tomorrow when I'm studying in the library!

 

I thought you meant literally removing the discrete graphics which i commented as unlikely and impractical. Most likely you won't be able to get integrated graphics working due to the chipset that your laptop came with. This makes it physically impossible or at least extremely unlikely that you could get the integrated graphics working (unless you're a microchip engineer at Intel).

You can underclock your GPU, that's probably the easiest thing you can do yet. you could replace your laptop with an integrated GPU model. Also you can try Windows' Power save mode or Lenovo's Battery stretch. Or you can buy a larger battery.

Which battery you have? You can take a look at this site's review to see what you can expect from the battery. Lenovo ThinkPad T410 Performance, Benchmarks and Conclusion