Slowness when using batteries (6130)

When I benchmark my 6130h1 on AC power, I get normal scores for a p4-c SMT 3.0ghz in sandra sisoft, normal scores for memory (generally a tad faster than pc2700 cl 2.5). But as soon as I turn on battery power, cpu arithmetic drops more than 50% (one time, it was just as fast as a duron 800mhz). I can also feel some serious slowdown in vice city and gta III, but NOT with unreal tournament 2004. I have turned off the ATI powerplay stuff, well actually it is on optimal performance. One more thing, when on AC power, cpu-z reports exactly 3000.0MHz, on battery it reports 2850.0MHz (200fsb ===> 170 !!)

I don't think it's related to heat, since I've tried doing it a few times on battery power (getting low scores) and turning back on AC power, and bench it again. I got very high (normal) score. The CPU is not mobile, hence it should not get slower by a singe mhz.

The only changes I've made, I upgraded to XP pro, and I installed sp2. I've used the drivers found on averatec's website

If you have this model (6130h or 6130hs) and did not notice anything wrong with what i'm describing, could you please download (free - www.sisoftware.net) sandra sisoft and do a couple of arithmetic benchmark of you cpu on battery power, average it and report it here ?

 

Most notebooks will drop performance when switching to battery, this is to save battery life. It's controlled in the Power Management options. You can set your system to ALWAYS ON and your CPU should stay at max speed even on battery. The only down side is, battery life is cut dramatically. You may also want to check to see if Averatec has their own Power Management software or in the BIOS.

-Vb-

 

I've tried all settings in power managment, none of them seems to change that. I did not see any power options in the BIOS neither. I'm still waiting for averatec's answer on this one.

 

I dont think the performance should drop. My 3200 doesn't drop in performance unelss i set it too. I think maybe because it is the setting.

Xin

 

Same computer, the first on AC power, the second on battery power

http://pages.infinit.net/thief/acpower.jpg
http://pages.infinit.net/thief/battpower.jpg

 

i ran the 2 tests and here they are

http://gumpy.org/laptoponac.jpg
http://gumpy.org/laptoponbattery.jpg

I noticed only one thing, off ac the display gets very dim but still readable and i get about 2-3 hours a battery life off one recharge so im quite happy with my laptop. Yes i do have the 6130h1 model i just couldnt find an avatar for it closest one is the 6200 series avatar, as you can see from my images, I put the laptop through alot of hell, I have sims 2 installed, doom 3, grand theft auto vc, yahoo, msn, aim, alot of apps i run.

http://gumpy.org/sims2.jpg <-- thats me and my fiance on the game lol

this is a beautiful laptop!

 

allright thanks alot for running the program, this confirms that the laptop really gets slower when it's on battery. Be careful, if you would like to compare it, the cpu inside is a p4c 2smt, not a p4e. Did you notice any slowness in games on battery ?

You know you can increase the brightness of the screen by using fn+F7 (and F6)

I've been quite impressed by its 3d power, I often play on the lap, it's a tad faster than my desktop !

I see a lot of people playing the sims, I never tried that, one day I will When it will be found in the "abadonware" at 4.97$ section

 

i use a 6130HS, and struggle to get 1 and half hours on battery if that, are you really getting 2 to 3 hours? What differences are there between the 6130H1 and the 6130HS that may be making this difference?

 

the HS has the dvd burner plus 60go, should not make any difference with battery life


try setting the brightness to the lowest setting, turning wi-fi off helps too.

 

I do run it with contrast right down, wireless off, and i even go into color settings on the graphics tab in advanced and bring it down more. I also use max battery for power managment. My spare batteries give about the same. yet i struggle to get around 90 min of batt time. which can be a problem at times. Any other tips?