The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Want the heat and power benefits of an i5 but bought an i7?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by PhAyzoN, Jan 10, 2012.

  1. PhAyzoN

    PhAyzoN Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    As I'm sure all of us know, our i7's run pretty darn hot, and are totally overkill for this machine's marketed purpose (Gaming). A lot of us, myself included, recommend disabling Turbo Boost to help with the heat (since it doesn't benefit us all that well anyway). However, I decided to take it a few steps further when I flashed an unlocked BIOS (A05, specifically). My intent was just to disable HT and go about my day... until I noticed an option to disable 1-3 cores. So, I left HT on and slashed 2 of the cores, effectively making an i5.

    Results:
    Temps reported by HWMonitor after a complete run of 3DMark Vantage on the "Entry" preset

    CPU (i7 2670 2.2GHz)
    -Core0: -4C (71C from 75C)
    -Core1: -2C (72C from 74C)
    -Core2: Disabled (-72C? :p)
    -Core3: Disabled
    Package: -3C (72C from 75C)
    Powers:
    Package Idle: 3.83W (was 8.80W)
    Package Load: 22.57W (was 31.60W)
    IA Cores Idle: 0.44W (was 5.88W)
    IA Cores Load: 14.91W (was 27.40W)
    GT Idle: Same, 0.12W
    GT Load: 7.95W (was 10.55W)

    Everything with our GT555M remained equal

    3DMark numbers:
    "i5" score (i7 score)
    Total: E15356 (E20051)
    GPU: 23550 (23870)
    CPU: 7513 (13549)

    General usage of the machine so far feels identical.

    So far I'm unable to report battery life improvements since I ran low earlier today and am not quite charged yet. If I have the time perhaps I'll experiment with different core amounts and HT on/off.

    Enjoy!
     
    PhAyzoN, Jan 10, 2012
    #1
  2. RubberCrow

    RubberCrow Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    60
    Messages:
    64
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I have an i7 2760qm and have only seen 80C once, and that was without my laptop being on a cooler and without it propped up. Propping it up on a book helped keep things around 75C. At home, on my U2 cooler, I rarely see around 70C. My machine is only a month old, I don't even know what BIOS it's running (I assume A06) and I haven't disabled HT or anything. I run all of my games native at 1600x900.

    A simple notebook cooler or at least ensuring good cooling airflow really does make a difference.
     
    RubberCrow, Jan 11, 2012
    #2
  3. PhAyzoN

    PhAyzoN Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I do have a cooler, but for testing purposes I didn't use it here. The main attraction here seems to be the power reduction which is always a good plus.
     
    PhAyzoN, Jan 11, 2012
    #3