10. PowerMizer 3.0 Enables 3D Performance And Battery Life As Needed

nVIDIA includes the power-saving technology of the GeForce FX Go 5600 GPU under the name of PowerMizer 3.0. PowerMizer 3.0 is composed of a myriad of individual functions. Common to all is the objective of letting the GPU "consume" only as much power as is necessary for the individual application.

In addition to functions over which the user has no direct influence, such as

notebook owners can also use sliders to adjust the 3D performance, and thus also the power consumption of the GPU, according to their needs.

The user interface provides three settings for this:

The idea behind the software algorithm is obvious: if the clock speed of the GPU and the video memory are lowered, they use less power. Even more power can be saved if CPU use and its power consumption are controlled as well. A hundred and more frames per second may be the honorable way to go, but the image sequence and fun begin even at considerably lower frame rates. To get them, however, the CPU does not need to run continually at the maximum speed, but can "take a break" now and then (read: save power). Since the CPU and the display are still the main power eaters in the mobile PC, the battery operating time can be noticeably extended by combining these two mechanisms. When set to "Maximum Power Savings," the core and video memory run at minimum clock speed; the maximum achievable frame rates are lowest at this setting. "Balanced" mode finds the most advantageous load distribution possible between the GPU and CPU. This makes it possible for the CPU to take "breaks" and save power. The maximum frame rates are then, accordingly, somewhat higher. If, on the other hand, the user chooses the "Maximum Performance" scheme, the driver and the GPU could care less about the CPU use. Core and video memory then run at maximum clock speed, the frame rates reach their maximum level and the battery runs out more quickly.