I have fixed gaming on battery... Please do not repost in other forums

[Stevenxowens792]

@MW - I appreciate the suggestions. 75 seems to be the sweet spot for me so far. If I lower the minimum I get to lowered frame rates. This setting is specifically for gameplay... I tested it with BFBC2 which uses all threads in my setup and the gpu as well. I already have a SSD and the other options are off in bios. Wireless I need for gameplay so I keep it on and at max performance for bookstore online play.

Best Wishes,

StevenX

[ninja2000]

Hey Guys, just found this forum! wondered where everyone from NBR was disappearing to

Steve, you may remember me from the M11x, M15x and BFBC2 threads. Haven't got an m14x yet but as soon as my m15x sells I am going to get one.

Couple of questions though. Whilst gaming on battery with your profile is the laptop much quieter?

Why disable turbo boost in BIOS? If you set it to max of 75% that should also disable TB.

I have a MBP 17 with the 2720qm and 6750m, I do this all the time (on battery and mains, I leave it at 90%). I find the laptop is much much quieter even with the gpu overclocked but I still get really good fps.

I think the TDP on these SB cpu's is well over 45w with full TB. I did some power draw readings at different settings (50/75/90/99/100) whilst also monitoring fps of games. I found 90% was the most efficient on the mbp. I can dig them out if it helps anyone

[mw86]

welcome to T|I ninja2000. If its not too hard post your reading they would be helpful for sure.

[Stevenxowens792]

@Ninja - One of the reason the machine shuts down is just due to power needed vs battery output. With turbo enabled my cpu is always around 44-45.8 @bclk 99.8 (stock or default) @ 8 thread, 100 percent utilization. If I disable TURBO, it goes way down. Pair this with a GPU around the same wattage (50 maybe?) I need to check more accurately and I haven't, Plus LCD, Sound, network, etc... What I may try (to see if this works) is to use Throttlestop to disable turbo only (Rather than bios) and leave everything else alone (and 75 percent cpu power). I DOUBT seriously at current battery output that you will be able to run the GPU at high performance and certainly not over 30 minutes. Just not going to happen. Balanced is probably as good as it gets.

Some may think I am trying to be rude and that's not the case. The 8 cell battery is just not going to be able to provide enough juice to game at high levels for an extended period of time.

Remember the M15x or the M17r2? The I7-920xms? Remember that Dell recommended a 9 cell battery for those and they could barely run battery for an hour let alone game and that was casual use. We have an almost equal power processor and a weaker GPU. The M14x does a great job at riding the line between performance and mobility. It's time for current owners to understand reality and accept reasonable gaming performance while on the battery.

Edited May 19, 2011 by Stevenxowens792

[mw86]

Throttle Stop has great auto-profile switching for battery and plugged in! By using Throttlestop and HWinfo32 you really start to see you don't need anything else to keep you computer running the way you like.

[ninja2000]

@mw86 - Thanks for the welcome. I will dig out the info when I get home from work.

@steven - I think you might have misunderstood my question. I know why you need to disble turbo boost. My question was rather than disabling it in BIOS, your setting of max perf of 75% should disable it. Did you try that?

It would save you a lot of hassle switching it off in BIOS to game on battery.

I totally understand that the battery cannot accept the laptops full load wattage. Although my 17" MBP will work on high performance on battery it would drain in less than an hour. I currently undervolt the GPU (I run my ati 6750 @ 600/800 .8v on battery) and run my cpu at 90% and get a good hour and a half gaming.

I also leave the cpu at 90% on mains purely as the lower wattage means much lower temps and less fan noise.

I have not noticed any loss of fps in games yet as at 90% my quad is still running at 2ghz and most games are gpu bound on my 6750

[Stevenxowens792]

@Ninja - (First thanks for posting!) I tried just setting the power lower before and it still died on battery. I may try it again tonight to see how it rolls. I can always use T-stop if needed as well instead of bios to kill turbo if the power settings don't do it properly. The default multiplier (without turbo) is 20x max I think for the I7-2630qm. So If I set the adjust power setting only to 75 percent and DONT kill turbo in bios I should not see my multiplier go above maybe 15 and change? I'll play more tonight (late tonight). Best Wishes, StevenX

[ninja2000]

Thats exactly right. Although i havent got an m14x to test it on, i use this technique on my mbp 17 as well as my old i5 540m envy 15.

On the mbp i tested 50, 75, 90 and 99%. I found 99 will give you your full 2.0ghz with no turbo. When i used my kilowatt meter i found 90 to be the best mix of power consumption clock speed.

[Stevenxowens792]

@ninja - still a bit skeptical about the 99 percent kills turbo. I tried it over the weekend and had several crashes. It may be designed that way but I still dont know for certain. I need to do more testing... The Witcher 2 has completely taken over free time...

[ninja2000]

haha fair play, I havent even looked at witcher yet.

Can you do me a favour if you get 5 minutes. Can you run a game in AC mode with TB disabled in BIOS and let me know if the fans run at a lower speed?

I want to get one, but I need to be able to keep the fans lower for sofa gaming

[Stevenxowens792]

Again folks.. let me reiterate.. Gaming On Battery Is a Non-Issue.

Here is my 3dmark06 score ..10767 on battery and no lockup. Over an hour of game play. Feel free to update to A03 or whatever but I can game on the go.

StevenX

Thanks Darkphase for the cross post

Edited May 28, 2011 by Stevenxowens792

[gladiator]

Hi all! This is my first time on this forum.. Seems like a lot is going on here :-)

@steven : hi stevenx, saw ur post regarding the battery issue u solved and i will admit, this is precisely

the reason i joined this forum :-) my m14x is due to arrive in a week or so, and this issue (non-issue, really,

as u correctly pointed out) had been a slight discomfort to me.. Glad to know there is a way around it!

That said, i have a couple of questions regarding ur solution.. It seems we r setting the cpu to run at a

constant 90% using ur solution on battery.. Does ur approach have any negative or detrimental effects on

the processor in the long run? Also, did u try the same solution on a couple of other games than BFBC2??

Dont have an depth knowledge of such topics, hence pls excuse if i sound noobish :-D

[Stevenxowens792]

Gladiator - Thanks for posting and 2 good questions! In the long run you are actually using less cpu than max and since the design of the cpu runs cool (in comparison to other cpu's) the risk of having an issue is slim. In high performance mode I leave my cpu min and max at 100 percent to give you an idea

Now, I have another setting I made called QUIET Mode where I have the Intel GPU set to performance and the Nvidia GPU set to balance and the cpu set to 30 percent max 5 percent min, cooling set to passive. This turns the m14 into a quiet machine. No loud fans and should be quiet enough to use in class, library, etc... (note if you start to get ANY fan at all you can set the Intel GPU to balanced and that will resolve it) Try it both ways and see what works best.

I have played COD BOPS and brink on battery. I have to turn the settings down a tad to either medium or high but it works fine.

Hope you get your m14x and welcome to T|I! We are an easy going group of folks here... ask any questions and have a good time!

Edited May 29, 2011 by Stevenxowens792

[Enfore]

Hey everyone, also my first time here and I'm really happy I found this forum!

@Steven: I just wanted to say thank you for your help on the battery issue and also the quiet profile setting. I haven't tried the quiet mode yet as I'm at work and my M14x is at home but I'll be sure to put in action as soon as I get home. Really excited to try it as yesterday I was just browsing the internet and such and sometimes the fan would kick in a bit which would be annoying in a lecture environment. Thanks again, can't wait to get home and try it! =)

PS: Loving this laptop! It's an amazing machine.

-- Enfore

[Stevenxowens792]

Welcome Enfore! And thanks for the feedback. Hope you like the forums. As I was saying this is an easy going place where you can hang out, make friends, contribute some good articles or ask questions. Heck you can even post some of your favorite boobs in the off topic forum and if your a gal, well... feel free to post some man boobs. I am not the creator of T|I but I can say with some certainty that the goal of the site is NOT to BAN as many people as possible so please have fun, post often, learn something, teach us something and let us know what we can do better.

Best Wishes, StevenX

[gladiator]

Gladiator - Thanks for posting and 2 good questions! In the long run you are actually using less cpu than max and since the design of the cpu runs cool (in comparison to other cpu's) the risk of having an issue is slim. In high performance mode I leave my cpu min and max at 100 percent to give you an idea

Now, I have another setting I made called QUIET Mode where I have the Intel GPU set to performance and the Nvidia GPU set to balance and the cpu set to 30 percent max 5 percent min, cooling set to passive. This turns the m14 into a quiet machine. No loud fans and should be quiet enough to use in class, library, etc... (note if you start to get ANY fan at all you can set the Intel GPU to balanced and that will resolve it) Try it both ways and see what works best.

I have played COD BOPS and brink on battery. I have to turn the settings down a tad to either medium or high but it works fine.

Hope you get your m14x and welcome to T|I! We are an easy going group of folks here... ask any questions and have a good time!

Thanx for the prompt reply steven. Feels good to know what u told me here :-) in my eyes, this laptop is a beauty, even with the sata 3 issue as of now.. And to have a dedicated and sincere forum like this just for it, is the icing on the cake! Hope someone over at dell is paying attention here.. They might get a clue as to how to approach the battery issue, though as u said before, its actually a not one really..

[Stevenxowens792]

@Gladiator - The gaming on battery should be what would be considered "almost equal" to the performance of the m11xR3. The gpu is still on balanced mode so it's not full power. I have owned the m15x, the older m17 and the m11xr1. On full GPU power (590/900) your just not going to get much time on battery. Less than 30 minutes for certain. Most likely less than 25. (with the stock battery that the m14x has).

So we have to do the best with what we have. And that is to create our own power profile that provides some gaming on the go.

Thanks for the feedback. I hope everyone likes it here and posts often.

Best wishes,

StevenX

[Staff Sargent]

I talked with a long time gaming buddy of mine who happens to work for alienware and has for at least 5 years. It had been about 7 months since we talked but when I told him I was finally buying myself an alien he got excited. I told him about the talk online about gaming and battery and his reponse "I only game while plugged in..." he also thinks that any gamer who would compete like we did wouldn't use a laptop and if they had to it would be plugged in no questions. I never had the heart to tell him my $4800 custom gaming rig was sold and turned into a music server. I don't miss that 80lbs beast on road trips to LAN tournaments but the gaming was fun and the prizes were always great.

[Stevenxowens792]

You should still get serious lan rep for bringing the m14x. It has style thats hard to duplicate with a 80 pound server.

[SlashX]

Thanks Stevens for posting this...this simple steps have seriously improved gaming on battery in my M17xR3...

And by the way,I'm also one of the guys who got banned from NBR...Charles said that I sold my spare parts too CHEAP(seriously) and he also said I'm not supposed to sell anything via Western Union..and I got banned. The dude who got my 940XM specifically requested for WU and now he is using it on his M15x and I'm the one who got banned for selling it via Western Union for supposedly too CHEAP. WHAT A CRAP!!! BOLLOCKS!!!

[Stevenxowens792]

@SlashX - Thanks for the feedback. and in response to your ban.. Im speechless.. literally. I don't even know what to say.

[Jimbo]

Charles said that I sold my spare parts too CHEAP(seriously) and he also said I'm not supposed to sell anything via Western Union..and I got banned. The dude who got my 940XM specifically requested for WU and now he is using it on his M15x and I'm the one who got banned for selling it via Western Union for supposedly too CHEAP. WHAT A CRAP!!! BOLLOCKS!!!

And here I was thinking nothing those morons could do would surprise me any more.

[mw86]

Screw that Charles guy from NBR!

[Stevenxowens792]

Here is my 3dmark11 score on battery (gaming on battery) settings. I lowered the settings to 80 percent CPU to keep the multiplier at 16x which is fine for most games.

1392 3dmark11 score is higher than ANY m11x r3 right now. 10k 3dmark06 score is also higher (benchmark is useless but might as well throw in for argument)

[mw86]

@Stevenxowens792 I have to say it's wonderful to see your very actively working on improving battery life. I have used similar tactics to accomplish that... but I don't own any CPU with an Intel GPU yet. I will be getting a M18x someday if my credit would be applied already. Been since forever that I had my M17 R2. Your advice can be applied to all laptops out there which is great. Thanks for putting so much effort in. That is a great 3DMark11 score on battery. Just wow! Keep up the amazing work.