Does PowerMizer Really Help Save Energy?
Contents
- 1. Introduction: Notebooks With DirectX 9-Capable GPUs Really Do Exist
- 2. Fat Sound, Very Good Display, Eminently Connectible: The S5205-S705 At A Glance
- 3. Fat Sound, Very Good Display, Eminently Connectible: The S5205-S705 At A Glance, Continued
- 4. Fat Sound, Very Good Display, Eminently Connectible: The S5205-S705 At A Glance, Continued
- 5. Fat Sound, Very Good Display, Eminently Connectible: The S5205-S705 At A Glance, Continued
- 6. Simple But Expensive Memory Upgrade
- 7. The Test Setup, Continued
- 8. The Features Of The GeForce FX Go 5600
- 9. The Peculiarities Of The Geforce FX Go 5600 In The Satellite 5200
- 10. PowerMizer 3.0 Enables 3D Performance And Battery Life As Needed
18. Does PowerMizer Really Help Save Energy?
The question of how much battery life can be "gained" at different PowerMizer settings is an interesting one. To find out, we repeated the measurements given in the previous section, this time with the "Maximum Power Savings" setting.
A glance at the processor load during the test makes it clear that it is not the GPU that actually saves energy. Rather, the CPU contributes the lion's share to this effect.
When a DVD is played back, it hardly matters which of the settings is chosen. In both cases, the processor load averages about 25 percent.
Processor load on DVD playback under PowerMizer "Maximum Performance."
Processor load on DVD playback under PowerMizer "Maximum Power Savings."
Not so during games. Here the processor load drops almost to one-half with the "Maximum Power Savings" setting. As shown a while ago, the maximum attainable frame rates also drop.
Processor load with games under PowerMizer "Maximum Performance."
Processor load with games under PowerMizer "Maximum Power Savings."
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