GX640 AC to Battery CPU Performance Issue

I have a problem where if I unplug the AC and run on battery, when running in Windows, the CPU multiplier locks at x9, therefore capping the CPU at 1.2GHz, cutting CPU performance roughly in half.

I DON'T have a multiplier lock when I boot up into Windows on battery, whether it'd be a power on from shutdown, resume from hibernate, or restart.

I have tested this in a clean install of Windows 7 with the MSI CD drivers and updated drivers from the internet(intel series 5 chipset, 10.3 ati, etc. I've also messed around with multiple settings like setting the minimum processor speed to 100%, turning on/off SpeedStep and C-State in the BIOS.

Can anyone else confirm that they are - or are not - experiencing this issue?

 

Most people have this actually, it has something to do with the eco-boost software or w/e it is called. Seems that the software never really realizes you are back on AC power so it's trying to conserve power... I can't remember if people solved it by removing the eco software or fiddling with some vague settings

 

I've actually tried it with and without the Eco software(System Control Manager). The problem I've been reading has mostly been about the GPU actually locking at PCIe x1, but no mention of CPU throttling. A solution for the PCIe x1 problem was just installing the 10.3 ATI driver.

I am actually wondering if all these problems are tied to power management either the BIOS or driver, since people also had trouble waking the notebook or lcd from sleep/hibernate.

 

With PowerPlay disabled in 10.3, I no longer have any trouble at all with sleep and hibernation.

 

how do you disable powerplay?

 

I believe that it is something regarding the ATi Catalyst Control Center ...under power options or the like (been a while since I used ATi Mobility GPU).

I also always make a custom power plan, one for performance, and one for battery saving.

 

Yep just go into the CCC. You'll find it pretty easily.

 

So what's the issue exactly ? What you expect your multiplier to be ?

 

Yea... not quite sure what you're expecting it to be exactly

 

If I understand right, the guy complains, that when notebook is on battery, maximum multiplier is x9 and no more, meaning that you basically have 1,2GHz cpu, and cpu is not used to it's full potential even under load.
He wants to enable the possibility to use full cpu power when on battery.

 

Don't know why you would want to use full load whiile on battery but I guess you could put it on Gaming mode with eco and see if that does anything.

 

Thanks for making my point clear for others.

Lets say I wanted to compress/decompress a file which may typically take ~1min on AC. It would take roughly twice as long to do so on battery(after disconnecting the AC power) because the CPU gets crippled running at 1.2ghz. I'm not planning to run full load for an extended period of time; however, I should expect to get the performance I need when I need it.

And I've already tried all the options with Eco, but no matter what I do, the multiplier gets locked at x9 after pulling the AC power from it.

 

huh, I don't know if thats an MSI thing of an Intel thing

 

Sounds like some sort of Powermizer... u__u''

Isn't there a way to change it in the power settings, that when you run on battery, have the CPU running at 100%?
I know you can do this in Vista... Not sure about W7 though :\ I'm guessing yes...

 

Yes, there's a power option in Windows to set the minimum and maximum processor state. As I mentioned in my original post, I've already tried that.

Only solutions I've found so far is just to reboot when it happens, or power on from battery.

 

I just read this in another forum...

Which is incredibly strange, given that when you:
A.) Power up on battery,
B.) Reboot on battery,
You get the full power on the processor...

 

Huh so it's an intel thing, more specifically an Arrandale thing, maybe if you disable speedstep? I don't know

 

NotEnoughMin . . . you have the i7-820qm right? Is it affected the same way, or does it work at full speed even while on battery?

 

I haven't really experimented yet, been running all on AC. Don't really know what I'd use to experiment though.

 

With the envy 15, it's different. According to hp it's a design they chose to lock the multiplier on battery to x9 to minimize power consumption, because the specially designed slim battery cannot provide enough power.

I also have the envy 15 with me, but because of their "design" I am deciding to return it.

 

I just tested using prime95 and CPU-Z.

First off, I started the test just by running on AC power with Eco off, and with CPU-Z up... I ran the torture test(max power and heat option) with 4 threads. For the i5 430m, the multiplier would probably vary around x17-19 multiplier.

Then I unplugged the AC from the notebook and saw in CPU-Z that, almost immediately, the multiplier dropped to x9.

Afterwards, I'd close everything and power down, and turn it back on without plugging the AC back in. Once again, Eco off, CPU-Z and prime95 up and running, I started the same torture test configuration. From there everything looked normal with the multiplier @ x17-19

 

So is this issue fixed yet?

 

Would plugging the AC back in fix it/return it to your "maximum CPU state?" Just a suggestion from a noob, I have no idea what multipliers are, btw.

 

Sorry I've been busy over the weekend so I didn't get a chance to give up an update.

I've been playing around with unclewebb's ThrottleStop, and it seems to fix it. Although, I've been having trouble with screen brightness not changing between the battery and AC profile with ThrottleStop active. I'll have to look into that later.

Yes, plugging it back in would "fix it"; however, unplugging and going back to battery is still the same situation.

(external clock rate) * multiplier = CPU clock rate.

The external clock rate would typically be the Front Side Bus(FSB), and CPU clock rate is the CPU speed. For the core i-series, its a default base clock rather than FSB.

The base clock for the core i5-430m is 133MHz, the lowest multiplier is x9, and when the CPU is active the multiplier ranges from x17 to x19.

133x17 = 2.261GHz, and 133x19 = 2.527GHz, which the latter is the turbo boost clock rate.

More info on CPU multiplier:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_multiplier

 

So while just browsing the web, what is the CPU's multiplier at? Also, when would I need to use "turbo boost"? Would playing SC2 in ultra require turbo? Also, does turbo = overclock = heat = overheat = RMA to MSI?

 

Just browsing the web, I'd expect the CPU to vary from x9 to x17, but spend most of its time at x9.

 

It's a feature , you can't use it ... it will overclock itself when needed