Sager NP4750 cpu voltage mods and temps results Review - Page 5

A newer version just came out today. I have to install it also. Go to this link

http://crystalmark.info/download-e.html

I've been reading this thread and I'm wondering, would it be better to swap the CPU for an Athlon 64 mobile instead of lowering the voltage settings, or would the results still be pretty much the same? Reason I ask is because I will soon get a 4750 but I'm trying to decide if I should opt for the 3400+ and underclock it to a lower setting for less voltage, or get the 3000+ and replace that with a Athlon Mobile (assuming I can find one) I don't know which solution is better though. My main objective is to extend the battery life as much as possible without ripping the laptop apart and playing mad scientist.

Also, apparently the Hitachi 7200RPM that I can have installed in the 4750 seems to be quite a power sucking b*tch from what I read. Would getting a 5400RPM drive instead make any significant difference? Id prefer 7200 though because it improves live recording performance.

If you are going to underclock your 3400+, whats the point of getting it? Yes, you can lower the voltage, and so far, that has worked well for a few of us. However, I dont think that anyone has actually put the 62W and the DTR processors up against each other to see what kind of differences there actually are. I know when i lowerd the voltage on my 3200+, I still got under two hours of battery life. I would try out the mobile CPU though, then we would have something to compare to

wbeck, theres more headroom for a 3400+ in lowering the voltage. It runs at the same voltage as the 3000+ DTR, so when you underclock it to 3000+, it will use a lower voltage setting, making it less power hungry and less heat producing than a regular 3000+. Since I'm not a speed freak, this feature was what made the 3400+ appealing. I don't think there's really going to be any notable difference between the 62W processors and the DTRs, and virtually none if you reduce the voltage of your DTR to the same level, but there should be with the low powered mobiles. Regardless, 2 hours of battery life with heat being a non-issue sounds just about right to me.

In the Tom's Hardware article about the new P4, I was just looking at the power consumption of the new 90 nm process Winchesters. They look like they could be mighty tasty in a DTR. 31.4 Watts @ 100% load on the 3500+! Too bad it is socket 939. But, looks nice to me. Maybe my next laptop....

NetMav, how goes the power saving crusade?

I wonder if there is a way to ugrade the fan in the 4750 to something that moves a little more air? More air flow = faster cooling times right? Hrrmmm....

Battery life

Well,

After receiving the 4750 I wasted no time installling CrystalCPUID and adjusting the voltage settings. Thanks to Netmavrik for trailblazing this area. There's an immediate difference in the heat, so much that I can place it on my lap without any discomfort. The fans had also blasted away loudly, but now they're a soft whisper due to the reduction in heat. I'm very impressed.

Unfortunately, the battery life hasn't improved a lick, which really surprised me. When playing a DVD movie, the battery gave out after only 1 hour and 2 minutes. Considering that someone elsewhere on this forum was able to get 2 hours when watching DVDs, I'd really like to know how in the blue hell's bells he managed to pull that off. Ach!

I haven't done anything else besides adjusting the voltage. What else can I do to power save? I read that you can turn off the wireless card, but how do you do that? Is it just a simple matter of going into Device Manager and disabling it? Also, what can I do to access the hard drive's power saving features? NetMavrik, I know you were working in this area, but have you had any success lately?

My main prerogative is to coax 2 hours of battery life so I can at least view a DVD to the end without the battery giving out.

What in the sam hill, DOS? Hitachi is living ten years in the past, damned fools. :-)

I have the Power Settings set to Always On, and I noticed that sets the hard drive to turn off every 30 minutes. If I change that to every five minutes instead and so on, will it work or will the power scheme interfere with CrystalCPUID again?

I tested the battery by throttling the CPU to .8 volts (800 mhz) and got about 20-30 more minutes out of the battery. This ought to lay to rest any thought of getting low powered AMD CPUS to replace the DTR chip. Not worth a measly 20 minutes of battery life in my opinion, and you can't upclock back to your maximum CPU power when using the AC instead of battery.

My wifi card was on though, so Im going to test it again with it off. Also, I had a cardbus installed, and read that if there's any PC card in the PCMCIA slot, the card will suck the battery life even if it's not being used. Gonna take that out and see if it makes a difference too.

Finally, in order to extend the battery time to its optimal range, I need to completely discharge the battery and recharge it again. Partial recharges dilute the battery's performance. The manual states that you're supposed to completely discharge the battery upon initial use, which makes me wonder if the reseller you buy the laptop from already do this to break in the battery, or if you have to do it yourself. I know the default power scheme settings prevent you from being able to totally discharge your battery, so this may be a factor some people may have overlooked when trying to optimize their battery life.

Thanks for the advice. My hard drive doen't seem to be accessed as often, so I may luck out there. When running WinDVD, it seems to cache part of the movie because the hard drive stays idle for a great deal of the time. PowerDVD is another story though, accesses the drive like mad and doesnt stop till the movie ends. I'd use WinDVD but it keeps overriding the power scheme with its own scheme, which interferes with CrystalCPUID. Pisses me off. I can't find the setting to stop WinDVD from doing that either. :X

BTW- your CPUID settings are wonderful. I have a mobile CPU and the default settings are barely higher than the settings you chose, but anything to make this damn thing cooler on the lap, makes me a happy man.

How can I do the following with a 3200+, is it any different or can I just follow the same steps?

I'm using DVDIdle right now. It's amazing!!! You have to set it to run from ram. Once you do the dvd drive light goes off and your playing the movie from RAM.

As a result, my machine doesn't get hot while playing movies and it should save battery life significantly.

I'm am still testing, tho. Trying to work out a few quirks.

After using DVDIdle further I had to remove it. It works periodically, but has been causing more harm than good. It locked up windvd and nvdvd quite often. Plus, scrolling ahead caused numerous issues. Not recommended.

I've got a 4750 with the 3000+ processor, and the default voltages for it were:

9X 1800Mhz 1.5V
8X 1600Mhz 1.5V
4X 800Mhz 1.1V

I conservatively dropped them to:

9X 1800Mhz 1.325V
6.5X 1300Mhz 1.15V
4X 800Mhz .85V

Done some superPi calculations and ran Doom3 for 2 hours with no problems. Also noticed the drop in temp, but i didn't do specific measurments or anything. The processor seems to max out at 50c under the heaviest and longest loads. I might try to drop the voltages further but for right now it's fine. Thanks goes to Wbeck, Mayaman, and especially Netmaverick for all this great info.

Just decided to stop by an older, but informative thread. Anyone with a np4570 come up with some new power saving/heat reducing ideas?

I've tried the settings suggested earlier in this thread for CpuCRYSTALID but I am getting nasty BSODS on my NP4750 (3400). I am also getting lockups using the AMD driver and I am really lost at what to do.