Battery and Performance.

[#ApeGoD]

Hey guys,

I've a question, due to my observation that when my laptop isn't plugged in to the charger the fps drops in games and is much slower is there any way to change it? So that if i unplugg my charger the performance will be great as if it was plugged in? another question is if its a good practice to have the laptop plugged in at 100% while gaming or is it bad for the battery life? Unfortunately the only way that my battery can be removed is to open up the laptop as the battery is placed inside.

Thanks

[SiD]

Laptop batteries are terrible for gaming. I have never gotten much more than an hour/hour and a half playing medium performance games. It's generally better IMO to keep it plugged in for gaming as it is pretty resource intensive, but yes, keeping a laptop plugged in all of the time kills the battery faster.

 

Most laptops should have battery options. In there you can set performance options whether you want to save energy, dedicate more to intensive resources, or have it balanced out. Having better performance will eat battery life faster.

 

Also depending on your gfx card, there are power management options there as well that should give you a boost for unplugged play.

[#ApeGoD]

yeah i was looking for that but cant find it :/

[SiD]

Is there an icon on the task bar that shows when the laptop is plugged in or when it's on battery power? If so, click/right click on it. There should be power saving options or battery options.

 

As for power saving through your gfx card, what sort of card does your laptop use?

[#ApeGoD]

It does altough changing to the best performance doesnt help.

 

It has geforce 740m

[oOShockWaveOo]

I had the same problems, but I managed to get almost the same performance on battery as on AC,

   1 - Control Panel (Paneau de configuration)> Hardware and Sound (Matériel et Audio ) > Power Options (Options d'Alimentation)

   2 - press the small arrows in "Show Additional plans" and you'll find High Performance Plan

   3 - On the far right, click Change Plan Settings

   4 - you'll see Change advanced power settings

   5 - You can set every option concerning battery to maximum performance or minimum performance

 

To sum up here's a screen of my settings :

           http://postimg.org/image/i44lb2obb/

Good luck, Shocky

[#ApeGoD]

Yes but even thou its still the worst then on battery :/

And additionaly i have no Geforce graphic settings just Intel® Graphics settings

Edited August 17, 2014 by #ApeGoD

[oOShockWaveOo]

Yes but even thou its still the worst then on battery :/

 

And additionaly i have no Geforce graphic settings just Intel® Graphics settings

there should be one for Dynamic Graphics 

but then again mine is considered a dual graphics machine which is a bit different, they work together, if intel can't handle te task ATI starts and they work together 

[SiD]

Yes but even thou its still the worst then on battery :/

 

And additionaly i have no Geforce graphic settings just Intel® Graphics settings

 

if you have an nvidia card you should have an nvidia control options of some sort.  I have a dual card system with 420m + intel hd gfx and have both options.

 

What kind/model laptop are you using? Will help with research.

[#ApeGoD]

yeah i still cant find the options..

@SiD -> I have Lenovo z510

[SiD]

first thing, is your gfx drivers up to date?

 

if not sure go to http://www.geforce.com/drivers

 

Run the auto detect gpu option. (Say yes to everything regarding java. You may have to update java if it's not). It will check your gpu and recommend the latest drivers. Download and install drivers if needed.

 

If win 7 click start menu button and down bottom where it ays search, type nvidia and wait. it should show you any programs with nvidia in it. If nvidia control panel shows up... bingo!

 

let me know if any of this works, or if you've tried it already.

[#ApeGoD]

yes my drivers are up to date as the laptop is only 3 weeks old when I click with right mouse button on my desktop i have "Nvidia Panel" is this the thing im looking for?

[SiD]

Yeah the Nvidia Control panel is what ya want.

 

When you open it, you should have a shit ton of different options.

 

If these setting are not already set, then do this:

 

Manage 3D settings > Global Settings Tab > Preferred Gfx Processor (Choose Nvidia card)
 

In the setting box, scroll down to power management mode. Select prefer maximum performance.

 

Then click apply

 

Hopefully that should help you out while on battery mode for performance. Battery life will suck ass though, hah.

 

Edit:

 

And while you only got the laptop three weeks ago, go to geforce page I linked in post before and check anyway. Sometimes Nvidia has newer drivers than what you get out of the store. Not only that but you can also download the Geforce Experience http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience  which will help you optimize certain games, give you access to a built in screen recorder that's exclusive to Nvidia cards, and it will auto-inform you when the next driver updates are ready. /highfive

Edited August 20, 2014 by SiD

[#ApeGoD]

Yeah the Nvidia Control panel is what ya want.

 

When you open it, you should have a shit ton of different options.

 

If these setting are not already set, then do this:

 

Manage 3D settings > Global Settings Tab > Preferred Gfx Processor (Choose Nvidia card)

 

In the setting box, scroll down to power management mode. Select prefer maximum performance.

 

Then click apply

 

Hopefully that should help you out while on battery mode for performance. Battery life will suck ass though, hah.

 

Edit:

 

And while you only got the laptop three weeks ago, go to geforce page I linked in post before and check anyway. Sometimes Nvidia has newer drivers than what you get out of the store. Not only that but you can also download the Geforce Experience http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience  which will help you optimize certain games, give you access to a built in screen recorder that's exclusive to Nvidia cards, and it will auto-inform you when the next driver updates are ready. /highfive

I got the Geforce expierience as it was included with my nvidia driver which i downloaded

 

Unfortunately this doesnt help :/