M15x on battery results in slow performance issue

We continue to have issues reproducing the low performance on battery and I continue to need more detailed information. Is the stuttering only happening when the ac adapter is disconnected? This could be due to the GPU clock state changing but should continue fine after a couple of secs. GPU changing its clock state right after the adapter is removed is normal behavior. Can someone video tape the issue for us? The tape we got so far, we noticed the stutter right after the adapter was removed but continued playing smoothly right after but again, that’s due to the GPU clock state change.

Thanks, Adriana
Alienware Quality

 

Uploading video to youtube now. The first section of the video is a long test that proves the stuttering lasts past the initial few seconds when the GPU clocks change. The latter part of the video is showing the HUGE difference when you press the steath mode button, even though it says it doesn't work on battery. As I said before, pushing the stealth mode button and getting a "Stealth mode not support on battery" error is not a fix for multiple reasons. The main one being that we don't know when it is or is not engaged unless we are watching our CPU clocks with a third party program or watching a full screen video. This stealth mode button has been a real pain in the neck.

EDIT: Here is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIezZCw4kfc

 

Check this link out,

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/506551-stealth-mode-even-battery.html

This is a screen shot of the CPU when on battery. The clocks don't go any higher than this and stealth mode actually affects the CPU speed even while on battery (Even after the computer displays the warning about stealth mode not working on battery )

 

yup confirmed. happens to me too.
it's like stealth mode coupled with the battery throttle for some uber low power mode.

honestly if there's a way to disable the stealth button or (perhaps hoping for too much here) customizing it as a shortcut for an application rather than having it do what it does. heck i'd make it load up throttlestop.

 

My M15x performance on battery is also extremely poor. I today downloaded free trail of passmark, 1118 on power, only 378 on battery - I don't use it much on battery but for the times that I do I'd love to fix this issue.

 

Got off the phone with Alienware support here in Miami and provided them the information about the battery issue.

They are forwarding the information to engineering so lets expect good results

 

Still have not heard ANYTHING about this. Starting to think they are just no longer listening and trying to let this slowly and quietly die.

 

We called a customer on Friday and obtained more information and yes, we have reproduced the issue in house. We are currently working on the fix.

Thanks, Adriana

 

sounds very good. Thanks for the update

 

Thanks for the update! I'm sorry I got frustrated. Sometimes it's hard not to.

 

i just ran vantage on battery power, hahaha i posted the results in the benchmark thread. it was and oc'ed run too,lol.

 

Wow... Huge power decrease haha.

 

yeah but still wasn't as bad as i thought. really surprised the cpu got a 19k on battery.

 

Haha yeah. Were you using throttlestop? I want to know why the video stutters. I don't get it. There are cards that score half of what you scored on battery and don't stutter.

 

yeah i was using tstop to stop the cpu from throttling and oc'ed it abit. i never get any video stuttering.

 

Hmmm. I'm playing with my computer's settings a little right now, but it seems as though as long as throttlestop is running the computer is fine.

 

Yea been using tstop for awhile now, its a great cpu tool.

 

Yeah. How do you make it start at startup?

 

There is a folder called Startup under Start->All programs. Move a shortcut to tstop there

 

+ rep thanks

 

Hi, just wanted to let everyone know that we were not able to include this fix on BIOS A08 but we continue to work on it and it will be on the next release.

Thanks, Alienware Quality

 

Just to throw my 2 cents in, it happens to my M15x as well, regardless of whether I start-up using battery power only or start-up using A/C then removing plug. No matter what, on battery I experience a very severe performance drop. I have tried both AW/Dell official video card drivers and latest from nVidia's site, same issue. I am on A07 BIOS, going to upgrade today to A08. Below are my system specs per dxdiag.

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: M15x
BIOS: Ver A07 1.00
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU M 620 @ 2.67GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTX 260M

 

Has there been an update on this?

Its weird because I can watch some anime at 720p with no stutter, but others at 720p I find the audio is lagging. Changing the powerplan didnt help either.

 

well they said it hasn't been fixed yet in bios a08 so i guess it'll have to wait a little more.

battousai, have you tried using throttlestop? at least it can be a temporary fix for you. it does stop the throttling back.