Samsung Silent Mode

A question about Samsung Silent Mode.

1. Does it work?

2. Does this mean, that no matter what I always get a silent laptop if this is enabled ?

Thanks a lot

 

Silent Mode works, I find it quite handy.

If set to Auto in Easy Settings (Win7) or Settings (Win8), it basically just switches to the Power Saver profile. The key difference is that System cooling policy is set to Passive in the Power Saver profile while it is set to Active in the normal Samsung Optimized and Balanced profiles.

Active means the fan will turn on (and increase in speed) to keep the CPU cool. Passive means the CPU will be slowed down if it gets too hot; only if temps keep rising will the fan kick in.

You can adjust all the settings in these power profiles to your liking, including Minimum and Maximum processor state, and various other performance/power settings. Silent Mode (Fn-F11) is merely an easy way to toggle between the profiles.

Do note that if you ever re-install Easy Settings ( Settings in Win8) your power profiles will be overwritten with the Samsung defaults -- which include low WiFi power (slooow) and 50% Max processor state when on battery.

 

As a general rule, assume that the Silent Mode locks the CPU speed to the minimum which can cause a noticeable drop in performance in some circumstances. This side-effect of Silent mode has caught a few people out.

John

 

A question, is there a way to boot the laptop automatically with "silent mode" activated by default?

Another question. I'm using a usb keyboard, so I cann't activate "silent mode" by fn-f11. Is there a way to activate "silent mode" by command line?

Thanks in advance!

 

You can activate Silent Mode using the Samsung Settings app, but I don't think it sticks between reboots.

But you can also just choose the Power Saver profile directly in windows - and that WILL stick until you choose another profile.

 

Thanks for your reply. I tried to modify windows energy profile, but I think that activates "silent mode" make something more than switching of profile. In other words, when I press fn+f11, fan is off, but when I change to "economic profile", fan is running in the same way that before.

So, is it possible to activate "silent mode" on boot, or is there a script, shortcut without using Samsung Settings control menu, or command line to execute directly "Silent mode"?? Pressing fn+f11 is not an option for me because I'm using an external keyboard.

Thank you very much

 

I didn't mean to modify your Windows Power Profile (although that can be useful for the reasons I mentioned earlier); nor did I refer to the Economic Profile (which is a Samsung thing).

I meant just choose the Power Saver profile in Windows, period.

Samsung's fn-F11 Silent Mode may still activate some further throttling through firmware (Event Manager seems to indicate that). But I guarantee you, choosing the Power Saver profile WILL keep the fan down and reduce CPU speed.

 

Ok, thank you. Anyway, if you know a way for activating "silent mode" without pressing fn+f11 or easy setting control menu, please tell me.

 

OK, so the silent mode is just a change in the Windows power settings? I thought there was more to it than that.

I currently set my laptop to 80% maximum processor speed and that changed the fan behavior a lot, now the fans are off during idle and light work

 

It's a good question, I don't know if there is a way to determine for sure. My Event Viewer sometimes logs events to the effect that firmware caused the CPU to throttle -- which could indicate that Silent Mode triggers some other firmware-implemented features. On the other hand, I get the same behavior and HwInfo readings if I switch to Power Saver profile manually (using the Windows tray icon) and if I use Fn-F11.

That's what I do as well in my Power Saver profile (On Battery). In my Samsung Optimized profile I keep it at 99% (also on Battery). 99% allows the CPU to scale up, but keeps TurboBoost from kicking in.

The post linked here details my Power Settings. The discussion leading up to it explains some more about Silent Mode. So does the thread linked here.