game performance drops when unplugged

[shinu]

i have a hp dv5 pavilion 1006ax with ati mobility radeon hd 3400

when i play fifa 11, it runs really smooth when plugged in
but once unplugged, it becomes slow and jerky..

i tried changing every power option available but for no use


please help ...

 

[Jacobe]

leave it pluged in ?

 

[shinu]

but it will harm my battery life

 

[johngalt]

Wait, what? Leaving the laptop will harm your battery life? Just who told you *that* little gem?

Also, you might look into the fact that your computer is probably throttling back the CPU and / or GPU when running on battery power to help conserve the battery.

 

[shinu]

i read somewhere that the life of the battery is reduced if it is plugged in while using the system... any advice

 

[sygnus21]

Also, you might look into the fact that your computer is probably throttling back the CPU and / or GPU when running on battery power to help conserve the battery.

What he said

 

[madtownidiot]

Even a new lithium ion battery will wear out prematurely because of excessive heat if it's always plugged in and fully charged. You can remove the battery if you plan to leave it plugged in for an extended time, but drain it to about 40% first. Another option is to change to the high performance setting in power management, then go into advanced power settings and set it up as shown below:
View attachment 105553
Setting it up that way will probably only give you about an hour of game playing time on a fully charged battery, a little more or less depending on your hardware.

 

[sygnus21]

Even a new lithium ion battery will wear out prematurely because of excessive heat if it's always plugged in and fully charged. You can remove the battery if you plan to leave it plugged in for an extended time, but drain it to about 40% first. Another option is to change to the high performance setting in power management, then go into advanced power settings and set it up as shown below:
View attachment 105553
Setting it up that way will probably only give you about an hour of game playing time on a fully charged battery, a little more or less depending on your hardware.

madtown,

Your answer makes a lot of sense and I agree for the most part, but I'm not exactly sure about this part....

You can remove the battery if you plan to leave it plugged in for an extended time, but drain it to about 40% first.

This sounds more precautionary than anything else. Wouldn't insuring adequate ventilation be the better option?

Anyways good answer +1

 

[madtownidiot]

This should shed some light.. How to prolong lithium batteries

 

[johngalt]

Last I checked, laptop transformers don't supply charging voltage (only trickle voltage) to the battery when it is fully charged. I am not sure how this could cause any sort of over heating....

If the laptop itself overheats, then you have a much larger problem to begin with - adequate ventilation, and mentioned by sygnus, would be the solution there, but that is always dependent upon the user - if you choose to use the laptop in a manner that restricts ventilation, then you're not only harming the battery, but shortening the life of all heat-dissipating units in the laptop (CPU, GPU(S), etc.)

 

[johngalt]

From that very same article:

Removing the battery from the laptop when running on fixed power protects the battery from heat. With the concern of the battery overheating and causing fire, a spokesperson for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission advises to eject the battery of affected laptops and to run the machines on a power cord. It should be noted that on a power outage, unsaved works will be lost.

Furthermore,

The question is often asked, should the laptop be disconnected from the main when not in use? Under normal circumstances, it should not matter with lithium-ion. Once the battery is fully charged, no further charge is applied. However, there is always the concern is malfunction of the AC adapter, the laptop or the battery.

If no further charge is applied when not in use, then no further charge should be applied when in use either.

The problem with heat, again, will be challenged more via the use of proper (and enhanced, if possible) ventilation.

 

[madtownidiot]

The laptop itself doesn't have to be overheating for the battery to get hot enough to sustain damage. When you're gaming on nearly any laptop, but especially most HPs, the battery itself will get hot enough to take damage if it's fully charged, even when the laptop itself is not overheated. It's a function of battery voltage and heat, not the just the fact that it's being charged, even at a trickle.

 

[sygnus21]

I understand what madtown is saying, and if you read that article he linked to, he has some merrit to what he's saying, though I would take some as suggestions (removing the battery) more than gospel as I still believe adequate ventilation trumps that one. But if it's an easy step, well...

BTW that's a good informative article in general. Bookmarked

 

[madtownidiot]

That's not my only source of information on lithium ion batteries... just the most convenient and easily understandable article to pass on

 

[shinu]

I tried setting the advanced settings to 100% but didnt work

 

[sygnus21]

I tried setting the advanced settings to 100% but didnt work

How do you know? Have you looked at how your CPU is running at idle?

At idle, your CPU should be running at full throttle on "Performance" setting under Power Management.

See this post for an example... http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-...included-dump-system-files-4.html#post1014795

Or this... http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/87564-wrong-clock-speed-3.html#post756696

 

[madtownidiot]

What's probably happing is your graphics card is reducing the clock speed of the gpu on battery power. If there is no setting to adjust power management in the ATI CCC, then it's been removed by HP because the battery can't produce enough power to keep it at full speed by itself.. that's not an uncommon situation, and there's nothing else you can do

 

[sygnus21]

If there is no setting to adjust power management in the ATI CCC,

Hmmm....where is that under CCC becuse I don't see it in mines either (desktop) or is it specific to notebooks only?



Thanks.

 

[Zepher]

The laptop itself doesn't have to be overheating for the battery to get hot enough to sustain damage. When you're gaming on nearly any laptop, but especially most HPs, the battery itself will get hot enough to take damage if it's fully charged, even when the laptop itself is not overheated. It's a function of battery voltage and heat, not the just the fact that it's being charged, even at a trickle.

So are you saying that the battery will get hotter while plugged in and gaming vs being on battery power and gaming?

 

[madtownidiot]

So are you saying that the battery will get hotter while plugged in and gaming vs being on battery power and gaming?

Just about every time. Laptop batteries generate their own heat when kept fully charged if it's external temperature gets high enough... and a chill mat is usually not going to make enough of a difference to stop it from happening.
If you've ever left a cell phone plugged into the charger too long and noticed the battery is warm even when it has been sitting idle for hours, that's an example of a battery breaking down due to overcharge, and is caused by current inside the battery itself. The same thing happens with laptop batteries, but usually only when left plugged into the charger after the battery reaches a full charge, while the laptop is in use.
The other reason, is because some machines are designed from the factory to run at a reduced level of performance while on battery power. A 4 or 6 cell lithium ion battery can't sustain enough wattage to run every component at full power for very long if you have a machine with a core i series, discrete graphics, and a large display.. more wattage means more heat from the laptop. More heat= less internal resistance in the battery.. The manufacturers warn against leaving a laptop plugged in all the time for a good reason.