T500 ATI 3650 graphics question

[Hans Gruber]

For those who have the T500 with the ATI 3650. What is your GPU temp @ idle or under load in TPFanControl app? I finally got the ATI drivers on my T500 and tamed this beast. I used Smart 2 fan control which runs the fan @ 3500rpm.

[600X]

If I recall correctly, the GPU temp in idle was about 45°C and 70°C under load. I used BIOS controlled fan speeds.

[Hans Gruber]

My CPU is idling at 38C and the GPU is at 70C. It was idling @ 50C earlier. I have yet to figure out this T500. I have the ATI newest drivers loaded, manually loaded the intel iGPU drivers but switchable graphics does't really seem to work on this machine. When I tried to run the windows benchmark with the ATI graphics, it crashed half way through. The GPU temps go from the mid 50's up to 90C without going through the 60's,70's and 80's. The integrated graphics work fine.

It's like there is a ghost in this T500.

[precip9]

Maybe the working fluid in the heat pipe has escaped by a defective weld or crack. It is very volatile.

[Hans Gruber]

The ATI 3650 is brutal on battery power. On integrated graphics the T500 has lots of battery life.

[600X]

Switchable graphics only works with the official lenovo driver and power manager installed under Windows 7.

[emeraldgirl08]

Loved a T500 I once owned! The 3650 graphics by ATI was very robust at gaming (e.g. both Tomb Raider 2013 and Mirrors Edge at 1280X800) and the sound quality from the speakers trounce the ones in my x-series. I do not have a definitive answer however I do recall an observation which involved seemingly higher temps when proper display drivers were not installed. After a clean install and pre-driver installation I noticed the T500 felt much more hot to the touch and had seemingly noticeable fan noise. After installation of the switchable graphics driver and adjusting the BIOS settings for switchable graphics the fan noise seemed to lessen and the T500 felt cooler. Unfortunately I did not save any temp monitoring data so I am going by what I remember. Is there any reason you do not have the switchable graphics driver from Lenovo installed?

[Hans Gruber]

I know, had the official drivers installed with power manager and it didn't work. I have T410s models and a T410 model with switchable graphics. It's hit and miss. Some of them work and others do not work. With the integrated graphics this T500 has hours of battery life to it. This T500 is fully loaded minus the 1920x1080 panel. I do really like the 16:10 ratio over the 16:9 ratio of the T520 model.

[600X]

With the wrong drivers (newest drivers from Intel + AMD), the GPU temp was 60°C at idle.

Please only use this one here + Windows 7: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product ... s/DS018891

It will work. Do NOT install anything else, it will ruin everything.

[emeraldgirl08]

Also IIRC before installation of the switchable graphics driver you must ensure that in BIOS you have the settings for 'Graphics Device' set to 'Switchable Graphics' and 'OS Detection for Switchable Graphics' set to 'Enabled.'

[Hans Gruber]

I will give that one a shot but I installed the switchable graphics downloaded using the Lenovo update utility. It's probably the same software. I had my bios set to switchable graphics and turned on the OS detection. I had to manually install the Intel graphics drivers for the iGPU.

[emeraldgirl08]

? The intel graphics driver is already included in the switchable graphics driver. Did you right-click on the battery icon in your taskbar and see this option?

http://img34.picoodle.com/img/img34/3/1 ... 457f3f.jpg

Energy Saving= intel graphics
High Performance= ATI 3650 discrete graphics

[600X]

I had to manually install the Intel graphics drivers for the iGPU.

That was your mistake. I said don't install anything else.

[Hans Gruber]

? The intel graphics driver is already included in the switchable graphics driver. Did you right-click on the battery icon in your taskbar and see this option?

http://img34.picoodle.com/img/img34/3/1 ... 457f3f.jpg

Energy Saving= intel graphics
High Performance= ATI 3650 discrete graphics

Thanks for that image link. I will give it a shot with the drivers and let you know how it goes.

[Hans Gruber]

Thank you Emerald Girl, I have had success. I had the correct driver originally but did not know how to turn on the switchable graphics without your illustration. On my T410 and T410s, it has a toggle Nvidia feature in the lower right tray for switchable graphics. This one simple requires a switch in power manager. It now works perfectly.

Thanks for the link for the ATI drivers, 600X.