Does Powerplay even work on the T60? It's hot and sucks batt

[aaa]

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?

[SHoTTa35]

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)

[Pascal_TTH]

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

[Johan]

@ 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

[aaa]

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...

[gator]

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 ...