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    nVIDIA GT 540m Always ON

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by Sergin, Apr 15, 2012.

  1. Sergin

    Sergin Notebook Guru

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    Guys,

    I've noticed for a while that my GT 540m was always on full power even when just surfing the net or using MS Outlook.

    When I say full power I mean 671 GPU / 897 MEM @ 0.98V and the temps always around 60C

    I remember that when I wanted to play a game, I always had to play it with the power plug in, otherwise performance would suffer.

    I know some of you guys prefer the GPU to be full power all the time so you can play a game even on battery.

    I uninstalled the nvidia driver (I was using 296.10 WHQL), installed again and no effect.

    To make a long story short, I tried all sets (301.24 BETA, 296.10 WHQL, 295.73 WHQL, 295.51 BETA) and the latest set that worked was 290.53 BETA.

    With this set I'm now at 203 GPU / 324 MEM @ 0.83V when surfing the net, emailing and etc.. If I want to game, I just plug it in then I'm good to go.

    The GPU runs cooler now @ 50C against 61C as before and battery life has improved.

    Mind you that when I install a driver I don't change any settings on the nVIDIA Control Panel.

    My BIOS is updated and haven't changed anything as well.

    So if any of you guys are having the same issue here try using this driver to see if it helps.

    Cheers.
     
    Sergin, Apr 15, 2012
    #1