How can I undervolt the cpu in my laptop?

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Comdrpopnfresh

Comdrpopnfresh

Golden Member
Jul 25, 2006
1,202
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My laptop's fan runs almost all the time, even when on a lower-power plan on windows (8). The only thing I can think of is to lower the voltage (to reduce heat, and save battery by not running the fan).
cpu-z doesn't report a voltage reading though...
core i5 450m (32nm, arrandale) in an asus u43jc-x1.
 
Comdrpopnfresh

Comdrpopnfresh

Golden Member
Jul 25, 2006
1,202
2
81
I just don't get why the fan is always running.... the led monitor is turned down, I'm not doing anything in 3d, the nvidia gpu is presumably off, the intel graphics setting is set to max power saving, and the processor is set to ~'stock' in bios, as opposed to Turbo and Extreme Turbo, or something like that. The power plan sets cooling to passive, and I have a ssd, not a hdd. I do have 2x4gb ddr2 sodimms @ 1.5V running near 1066mhz.

Smells like a driver inefficiency in one/both of the graphics components in the laptop. I don't think nvidia or intel have released very many drivers for win8cp.
I just don't feel my laptop did this before, or should be doing it at all.
 
B

Blades

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
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You find anything that works with i7's yet? I'd love to undervolt my laptop.. more so the damn video card. If I had known the iGPU was going to adequate, I would've never gotten this 560M. Anyways.. Shutdown your laptop.. open the bottom.. feel the heatsinks.. if they are not hot.. there may be a temp sensor problem.. Then use compressed air/air compressor/strong lungs to get every bit of dust or nasty that could be hindering airflow/thermal efficiency.

Also make note of what fan is for gpu and what fan is for cpu.. Perhaps its your graphic's card? Those seem to be the main culprits of faulty power management/freq scaling.
 
L

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
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What are the temps?
It could be that the fan is running hot because the fan control isn't functioning properly, assuming that temps aren't high enough to warrant the fan running all the time.
Check that the CPU is downclocking correctly, check temps, and then maybe try downloading a fan controlling program that will let you customise the fan profile?
 
B

Blades

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
856
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My guess is that there is a beard's worth of short'n'curlies stuck in the fan exhaust.. naughty naughty.
 
Comdrpopnfresh

Comdrpopnfresh

Golden Member
Jul 25, 2006
1,202
2
81
Blades said:
You find anything that works with i7's yet? I'd love to undervolt my laptop.. more so the damn video card. If I had known the iGPU was going to adequate, I would've never gotten this 560M. Anyways.. Shutdown your laptop.. open the bottom.. feel the heatsinks.. if they are not hot.. there may be a temp sensor problem.. Then use compressed air/air compressor/strong lungs to get every bit of dust or nasty that could be hindering airflow/thermal efficiency.

Also make note of what fan is for gpu and what fan is for cpu.. Perhaps its your graphic's card? Those seem to be the main culprits of faulty power management/freq scaling.
Click to expand...

The windows desktop gadget "GPU Meter" reports my GeForce 310M, the GPU Clock (135MHz, 57 degrees C) shader clock, 270mhz, no usage on fan, no fan speed, 0 rpm, and 0% usage on GPU at whole.

GPU-Z shows stats on intel and nvidia gpus, and show intricate measures on the nvidia gpu- voltages, etc. shows 88mb use on intel gfx.
 
B

Blades

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
856
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Yeah I know all the monitoring programs.. I also know 57C for the GPU is a bit high for idle.. My 560M is 36C right now.
 
Puppies04

Puppies04

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2011
5,909
17
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Blades said:
My guess is that there is a beard's worth of short'n'curlies stuck in the fan exhaust.. naughty naughty.
Click to expand...


Well depending on the age of the laptop and how hard it has been run my guess would be the thermal pads on the GPU/CPU have degraded causing a crappy contact to the heatpipes connected to the fan. This has happened to 2 of my older gaming laptops, basically it dooesn't matter how fast the fan spins up it can never reduce the temp enough so the fan runs 100% of the time.

Good news is you can buy new thermal pads and once installed you should be back to how it used to run, bad news is you usually have to dismantle pretty mucht he entire laptop to get at the fan/thermal pipe assembly :S
 
Comdrpopnfresh

Comdrpopnfresh

Golden Member
Jul 25, 2006
1,202
2
81
i went to nvidia's website, downloaded the win8x64cp driver for the gt310m in my laptop, and battery predictions went 2+ higher. Cooler operating now, too. I think optimus was broken in the previous driver I had, and the discrete gpu wasn't being used or turned off.

still no way to change voltage?
I had a pentium m that will run at 1.93ghz on .86V.
I'm just saying, gaining control over tuning the voltage enables you to exploit the abilities of a cpu that would otherwise follow wider and mundane clock increases, voltages (hi/low), and power savings profiles.

If I can't find a program to out-and-out change the voltage, I may install the asus programs and drivers (most/all win7x64 compatible) to skirt the power and gain some influence on performance/power.

Blades said:
You find anything that works with i7's yet? I'd love to undervolt my laptop.. more so the damn video card. If I had known the iGPU was going to adequate, I would've never gotten this 560M. Anyways.. Shutdown your laptop.. open the bottom.. feel the heatsinks.. if they are not hot.. there may be a temp sensor problem.. Then use compressed air/air compressor/strong lungs to get every bit of dust or nasty that could be hindering airflow/thermal efficiency.

Also make note of what fan is for gpu and what fan is for cpu.. Perhaps its your graphic's card? Those seem to be the main culprits of faulty power management/freq scaling.
Click to expand...
 
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