Precision M6400 : Is it possible to put the GPU into a low power mode ?

Precision M6400 : Is it possible to put the GPU (2700M) into a low power mode ?
Often, when I'm on battery, I do low GPu work, like text editing and compilation, or giving presentations. Also I use XP 64 bit; all low GPU work.

Can I downclock the GPU or undervolt it or do something to conserve energy ?

 

The GPU already clocks itself down when not in use. You can search "Nvidia powermizer" in Google to learn more.

 

Or you can use riva tuner and create a user profile where the gpu is put to underclocked mode.

 

Yeah, the problem is that even if you down clock (wow, I originally typed "down block") it a bit here, you aren't really going to save too much power unless you can drop the voltage. As far as I know, there are tools to do this on desktop cards, but I've never seen them working with laptop cards, especially more specialized ones like the 2700M.

For now, I'd say no and no... though I'd love to be proven wrong

 

Yeah underclocking doesn't do much for GPUs. Undervolting is difficult. At best, you can do a soft mod, but the most efficient ones require hard mods. I don't recommend if you have warranty still and don't know what you are doing.

 

A big pity Dell don't use the capability of these chipsets to gpu-switch (between a dedicated gpu and an integrated gpu). Some Thinkpads do.

 

Amen to that...

 

That would save some serious battery juice
Any idea on how much it would prolong battery life ?

 

Weatherborg - How has your battery life been so far? Average life and what do you expect when you are working the system hard, ie playing DVD or working on large files in Photoshop or another resource demanding application.

 

It could add an hour easily to battery life. I forget if the E6500 has X4500 option, but if there are reviews about battery life, you can see how much it would save compared to the M4400 w/ FX 770M.