Thinkpads Forum

I recently got a T60, and was surprised to see the GPU temperature hovering in the upper 60s. From what I read here, apparently this is "normal" (as in, happening to everybody else). I tried to fool around with Powerplay, but no matter what the clockspeed shown by NHC remains at a steady 342/390 (or whatever the max is...).

On top of that, I watched the power usage in case NHC was misreading or something. I changed the ATI settings to "Max performance" on battery: 1.68-1.67 amps reported in the Power Manager. Then I changed it to the lowest setting (for both high and low battery): 1.68-1.67a again, no difference. Apparently the Powerplay settings aren't doing anything at all.

So what's wrong here? Is the IBM software interfering with it? Wrong drivers?

HMM... powerplay is built into Vista with the right drivers and it does make a difference for me. I didn't get the readings but the temp of the GPU does go up and down though if i plug in the AC adapter or not.

Not sure what's causing that but i guess you might just have to try some new drivers.

How much battery life are you getting also? With a newish battery on my T60 i get 3hrs 40mins on low brightness with wifi and normal usage (browsing, chatting, emails)

Powerplay is not within Windows Vista. It's a part from the ATI driver.

@ aaa:

Although not directly related to your Powerplay-issue, you might find some "lower-your-GPU-temperature" inspiration (if of interest?) in the threads Improving T60p heatsink performance and T60 12 degrees cooler and T61p arctic silver 5 mod [pics] and T43 fan noise... really that bad?.

Johan

I've changed the driver to this one, and it has started to work. The speed goes down to 123mhz. I'm sure this will make a difference battery-wise, but the temperature has only gone down a few degrees. Perhaps one of the linked hardware mods are in order...

I have never been able to get my GPU temps below 60C in the last 2 years I have had my T60, powerplay switched on or not ... no problems with the heat yet, I just live with it ...