MBP C2D - Bootcamp 1.2 - Where is Powerplay?

Hi,

I just installed Win Xp on a MBP 17" C2D with Bootcamp 1.2. So far works quite well, no problems.

Of course there is no real Powermanagment, but its possible to reduce the CPUs with NHC to 1Ghz, that results in less heat. Fan is audible under OSX and XP to the same extent.

But I am confused that I can't find the PowerPlay settings in the ATI X1600 drivers that came with Bootcamp 1.2. Is that normal / am I missing something? I thought MBP was advertised to support Powerplay?

Thanks, Tobi

 

I believe that is normal with mobility drivers for ATI. Try installing the official ATI drivers or the Omega drivers.

they both aparantly work better than the bootcamp drivers.

 

I don't believe the MBP was ever advertised as supporting PowerPlay. In any case, PowerPlay is implemented automatically in Mac OS X as part of it's power management, but it just isn't called PowerPlay.

In Windows, I don't believe PowerPlay is activated and I don't have the control panel either. Certainly when I check using different utilities, the GPU doesn't appear to be downclocked in XP when not running the case, while when I check it OS X, it is downclocked. PowerPlay requires support from the Video BIOS and sometimes manufacturers disable it and I think that is what Apple did. I only get 2 hours of battery life in XP with the MBP compared to 3+hrs in OS X, and I'm pretty sure the reason it's so poor isn't because Mac OS X is that much better at power management, but simply because the GPU doesn't downclock in XP and is sucking all the power. (Now I'm not doubting that OS X doesn't have better power management than XP, just that it shouldn't be 50% better). It's possible that Apple is artificially crippling XP to make OS X look better, but it's probably just that the Video BIOS is being emulated just like the motherboard BIOS and Apple just hasn't got around to writing a version that supports PowerPlay. It'll probably be one of those features reserved for the Leopard final release of Boot Camp to convince you to upgrade.

 

That sounds very logic to me... I hope Leopard will come with Powerplay for Windows, cause thats what I mainly want to use. Personally I haven't tested battery life in Windows so far, maybe I am afraid of the bad result.

Btw. I don't think Apple actively wants to make Windows look bad by not providing power management for it. That would be too cheesy, even for Apple ;-)

 

Well, I think that NHC can force a GPU clock change to get more battery life out of your laptop, but it still won't be able to turn off certain parts of the GPU for better power saving. There's not much you can do about it.

 

Well I've tried NHC and maybe it's an incompatibility with Omega drivers, but the GPU options are greyed out for me. The CPU options are available and if I remember correctly it doesn't fully recognize the ACPI controls too, probably because of the emulated BIOS again.

 

Ok so I checked NHC again:

For windows it tells me max. battery life 1h50min, but I haven't confirmed that. Just based on the calculation of the program.

GPU controlling in NHC is grey, I cant do anything here.

The GPU seems not to be underclocked as described elsewhere.
Core 472.50 Mhz, 468,00 Mhz sounds normal for me.

The poor runtime is a pitty, I will wait for next OSX to see if they improved it there..

 

Leopard delayed until October. Thats bad news. I hope they bring another update for Bootcamp then before October.

 

The C2D version have a normal clocked x1600. This is believed to be due to increased cooling efficiency with the redesign of the exhaust system.