Laptop running on battery when gaming

MrLknowles · 4 May 2015 at 16:42

Hey all,

My laptop is about to go through the window, whenever I play games, it decides to run from the battery and switch between battery and mains, which is causing frame spikes every 5-10 seconds down to 10fps making everything unplayable.

when I'm just surfing the internet I have 0 issues and the batter stays charged, the second I load a game (no matter what battery setting i have) It starts using the battery and will say (plugged in, not charging) then it will start charging, then stop, etc etc... I end up with 50% battery left and it switches every few seconds making everything unplayable!!

Any ideas?? could it be that the charger is not putting enough power into the machine to play the game and charge it?? (I'm not sure if it's the original charger) The laptop is a samsung Rv520 (was bought in germany so is a bit more powerful than the ones that come up on google)

The charger says output - 19v 2.1a

Lee

thebennyboy · 4 May 2015 at 16:43

Sounds like a fault with the power adapter. Almost as if it isn't able to cope with high load.

Threepwood · 4 May 2015 at 16:57

Does it do it with another power adapter?

MrLknowles · 4 May 2015 at 18:19

I've not got another power supply to test, Just wanted opinions before I bought one, I don't want to buy a cheap chinese replica I'd rather buy an official which they overcharge for as expected!

Is there anything else you could think to be an issue before I buy one?
It sounded like a power issue to me so it seems logical.

AtaRo · 4 May 2015 at 19:13

Is that the original charger? Even my crappy Emachines has 19v 3.4A rating charger and I expect a gaming laptop to draw more than the Emachines.

MrLknowles · 4 May 2015 at 19:33

AtaRo said:
Is that the original charger? Even my crappy Emachines has 19v 3.4A rating charger and I expect a gaming laptop to draw more than the Emachines.

I'm not too sure to be honest, it was bought by a family member who doesn't need it anymore about 3 years ago and she can't remember if it's the original as she's bought a few laptop chargers for other laptops...
But by the sounds of it it's not!! I noticed on eBay and Amazon 19v chargers for this laptop so im not sure at all!!

Scougar · 4 May 2015 at 20:37

What happens if you unplug the charger and try to game?

BTW... 2.1A is REALLLLLLY low for amps.

MrLknowles · 4 May 2015 at 22:02

Scougar said:
What happens if you unplug the charger and try to game?

BTW... 2.1A is REALLLLLLY low for amps.

Nothing out of the ordinary, Just runs off the batter (game becomes almost unplayable though)

So 2.1 is too low? I don't understand amps tbh, the replacement chargers I've found online are all 19v, therefore does that mean the amps could be causing this issue?
am I right in thinking that The watt of a charger is the Voltage x amps?

Therefore my 19v 2.1a charger would generate 40watts? any ideas on what wattage my laptop needs? the entire model number is Samsung rv520-s06 (the german version is better than the uk version so i assume uses more power)

Nvidia gt520m
i5-2410m duel core hyperthread 2.9ghz turbo processor
8gb Ram

I've found replacement chargers on amazon such as http://www.amazon.co.uk/Charger-Sam...&qid=1430773014&sr=1-2&keywords=rv520+charger

19v 4.74a (90w)

Do you think because this laptop is not a "gaming" laptop, but being used for one of the most processor hungry games out at the moment it's causing this issue? - the Graphics card is under the minimum requirements (but still runs smooth when the game decides to run off the battery) - I use a cool mat to keep the laptop temp down.

Any thoughts?

lude1962 · 5 May 2015 at 08:05

your charger should be at least this
Input:AC 100 ~ 240V, 50 ~ 60Hz
Output Voltage:19V
Output Current:3.16A
Power:60W

Armageus · 5 May 2015 at 09:01

MrLknowles said:
So 2.1 is too low? I don't understand amps tbh, the replacement chargers I've found online are all 19v, therefore does that mean the amps could be causing this issue?
am I right in thinking that The watt of a charger is the Voltage x amps?

Therefore my 19v 2.1a charger would generate 40watts? any ideas on what wattage my laptop needs? the entire model number is Samsung rv520-s06

Yes Watts = Volts * Amps. When specifying chargers or mains adapters for anything, the important bit to get matched is Voltage. The Amps you can go as high as you like, as the device will only draw as many Amps as you like - if you go to low though, as you have found out you will get issues.

The 60Watt charger is likely to be the right one, but there is no harm in getting a 90Watt one, as the laptop will only draw what it needs.

MrLknowles · 5 May 2015 at 13:39

I appreciate your help all, I have bought the 90w charger and will let you know if it solves my issue!

MrLknowles · 6 May 2015 at 15:50

UPDATE -

New charger came today and this issue is fixed, 90w charger in the link I posted earlier,

I have ordered some quality Thermal paste so I will take the stock cheap samsung paste off and overclock the GPU slightly when It has arrived and will let you know the results,

But playing on stock settings the laptop is now running on the mains and staying 100% at all times, so that was the issue.

As I said I'll overclock when the paste comes and report back if it is still comfortable!

Also just wanted some advice,
I have some mesh from my old laptop that no longer works, I was thinking of potentially taking the bottom case off, and drilling holes into the case where the fan is, as this laptop does not have any vents under the laptop where the fan is, only the exhaust on the side, there is a tiny grill underneath above the CPU, but it's about 4 inches away from the fan so doesn't do anything, If I put some holes where the fan is, my laptop cool mat would blow cold air directly into the fan, cpu and heat sink, providing I put the mesh over the holes inside and constantly keep it blown out, would this make a significant difference?

My GPU is currently running at about 70c under load, with the terrible stock thermal paste, So if i replace the paste and potentially put holes in the bottom case for the laptop mat to be more effective I think I could potentially get it to 55-60 under load which is very safe for a laptop (the mobo on this model can take upto 110c)

It's out of warranty, and I can order a new bottom plate for £15 on ebay if I ever decided to resell it or is the holes didn't work as I hope.

Thoughts?

MrLknowles · 6 May 2015 at 22:34

CapitalOne · 6 May 2015 at 22:47

70c under load isn't something to worry about, or IMHO something to warrant major surgery. My Asus with 980 hits 75 in summer ambient temps and its got seriously engineered cooling.

MrLknowles · 8 May 2015 at 08:53

CapitalOne said:
70c under load isn't something to worry about, or IMHO something to warrant major surgery. My Asus with 980 hits 75 in summer ambient temps and its got seriously engineered cooling.

Okay, I appreciate the help, I'm hoping that the new thermal paste to replace the stock will help keep it even lower, just seems pointless me having a cool mat when the design of the laptop does not seem to warrant it, it keeps the temps down by maybe 4-5 degrees, just feel but having somewhere for the cold air to go inside the laptop could maybe bring that down another 5c

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-R...007?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3aa952b917

that is the design, the fan sits on the left of the exhaust in the top right, and the only area it draws air from is the small horizontal grid about 3-4 inches below it (it doesn't even draw enough to stick paper to it)

Teknobry · 14 May 2015 at 17:04

yep do it. my mrs had an asus laptop which although the chassis had the slots for a vent, the plastic was never actually cut out (known design flaw). i drilled and cut it myself and as expected brought the temps down nicely (it used to shut down it would run that hot)

Andr3w · 15 May 2015 at 11:20

My laptops runs 40~ idle and 80~ when gaming....for hours!