Power Saving Query

[Steves1982]

Hi,

I have a Q6600 slightly overclocked to 3.0MHz and run in balanced mode on the power options which makes it run at 2.0Mhz.

My query is how good is windows 7 at bumping the speed back up when needed? THe reason I ask is I just unzipped 4 5GB files at the same time but according to cpu-z the processor speed remained at 2.0Mhz.

Should windows not bump the speed up for that as I assume it's quite a cpu intensive task? Or is it best to just run at the high performance setting all the time?

Thanks

 

[bainbridge]

Yeah I found I get best performance with all power saving features off when overclocked.

 

[Steves1982]

Ok thanks,

Will just leave it on high performance then. Sure it's not saving me me much money on balanced anyway!

 

[ahenners]

Hi,

I have a Q6600 slightly overclocked to 3.0MHz and run in balanced mode on the power options which makes it run at 2.0Mhz.

My query is how good is windows 7 at bumping the speed back up when needed? THe reason I ask is I just unzipped 4 5GB files at the same time but according to cpu-z the processor speed remained at 2.0Mhz.

Should windows not bump the speed up for that as I assume it's quite a cpu intensive task? Or is it best to just run at the high performance setting all the time?

Thanks

3.0MHz definitely sounds like a good overclock there!!

On a more serious note, the speed bumping issue is fine and works quite well I have found. Mine drops to 2.4GHz for basic stuff and back to 3.6GHz when the power is needed with no issues.

 

[Steves1982]

3.0MHz definitely sounds like a good overclock there!!

On a more serious note, the speed bumping issue is fine and works quite well I have found. Mine drops to 2.4GHz for basic stuff and back to 3.6GHz when the power is needed with no issues.

I will have to experiment a bit more I guess and see how it pans out. I did notice when exiting LOTRO that the clock speed was up at 3.0Mhz and then dropped back down straight away. It just doesn't seem to ramp up for anything other than gaming.

 

[WingZero30]

I will have to experiment a bit more I guess and see how it pans out. I did notice when exiting LOTRO that the clock speed was up at 3.0Mhz and then dropped back down straight away. It just doesn't seem to ramp up for anything other than gaming.

Afaik unzipping files doesn't really stress the cpu. However during gaming or video encoding, the cpu will utilise the full overclock speed it has been set.

 

[WingZero30]

Yeah I found I get best performance with all power saving features off when overclocked.

True. Power saving features tend to constrain cpu from using it's full potential. When I had powersaving features on, I was getting low GFlops values in IBT. As soon as I turned off the power saving features, the GFlops values increased quite a lot.

 

[Steves1982]

Does anyone know the cost difference between running in balanced and high performance?

I can't see it being much and my idle temps are 28-29 whichever mode I run at so maybe best to just leave on high performance.

 

[bainbridge]

Does anyone know the cost difference between running in balanced and high performance?

I can't see it being much and my idle temps are 28-29 whichever mode I run at so maybe best to just leave on high performance.

My Q6600 @ stock running for 8 hrs costs 8.6p (this is just the processor, not the whole system).

Q6600 overclocked to 3.6Ghz running for 8 hrs costs 18.8p

So in my case it costs twice as much to run with my overclock, but is still pennies

Note* When I said @ stock I meant at stock with powersaving features off, never use them.

 

[Steves1982]

My Q6600 @ stock running for 8 hrs costs 8.6p (this is just the processor, not the whole system).

Q6600 overclocked to 3.6Ghz running for 8 hrs costs 18.8p

So in my case it costs twice as much to run with my overclock, but is still pennies

Note* When I said @ stock I meant at stock with powersaving features off, never use them.

If it's as little difference as that I will leave it on high performance then. I only use it about 3 hours a day anyway.

Thanks for the figures

 

[Ch3m1c4L]

high performance and balanced are just option in windows, which means things like turning off network cards and hard drives, or at least letting them go into low power modes etc.

You are talking about Intel Speedstep (C1E) that is a bios setting which changes the multiplayer on your cpu, and only affects the power draw of your cpu.

Or am I wrong?