Quiet mode

[shrimply]

Just a quick question, I have 5 quick launch buttons on my laptop, one of which I have never known what it does, so I did a bit of searching, apparently it is a "quite mode" button which "throttles CPU speed and reduces fan noise" now I don't really understand this, I can't find anything really online and it remains a mystery to me why its any use. Anyone able to explain in simpler terms.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

What make and model of laptop is it Shrimply?

[shrimply]

Sorry, meant to put that is the original post, its a cheap ( well not cheap but you know what I mean) advent 7203, this is really the only source of information I could find for it here

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Did you have a look in the User manual (PDF) here mate.

[shrimply]

Thanks Wolfey, I think this a case of me being thick more than anything else, but I don't understand what it does. All I get from the Manual is that it is quite or silent mode, and that it "throttles CPU speed and reduces fan noise". Which is fine, but not being that technical I don't understand

 

a) Why you would want to be able to do this

b) What effect it will have on the laptop and its performance

c) If its beneficial and doesn't do damage why is it not on permanently

d)How the button works, nothing comes up to say whether I'm in quite mode or not, or is it like a booster button.

 

So yeah,lol no idea at all, thanks again for all the help

 

It does however make the laptop almost silent and pushes the CPU up to 100%

Edited May 26, 2008 by shrimply

[Seth]

a) Why you would want to be able to do this

 

Because the cpu and fan should not be running at full speed unless required to do so...and by default they do so.

b) What effect it will have on the laptop and its performance

 

Throttling will provide much less "wear and tear" on the fan and cpu, but will produce a lag when gaming. If you're not a high end gamer, then the throttle should be on. In other words, it takes time to throttle the cpu which is noticeable in high end gaming, but beneficial for all other computer tasks.

c) If its beneficial and doesn't do damage why is it not on permanently

d)How the button works, nothing comes up to say whether I'm in quite mode or not, or is it like a booster button.

 

Some sort of indication should appear. Does the manual not elaborate?

[shrimply]

Thanks, Seth. Exactly what I needed to know. Being an Advent laptop, the manual is less than brilliant ( although for some reason does go into quite a lot of detail about adding RAM).

 

There is absolutely no indication although it definitely slows the fan down. I have feeling that when I first got the laptop I pressed the button and a symbol appeared on screen but there is nothing now. I'm wondering if there is a driver missing, but surly that wouldn't let it work at all. Either way I have no idea where I'd find what I need to get it working.

[Dalo Harkin]

Its mostly called an ECO button - its just to reduce battery usage whist doing simple tasks like surfing the net, writing word docs etc.

''Throttling'' is when the CPU cannot do the amount of work that you are asking it to (100% load) (and will cause the PC to be very sluggish and hang)

[shrimply]

Thanks, thats pretty much all I use the laptop for, i'm no gamer.

 

Is there anyway of finding out if there is something missing that is stopping the laptop displaying whether or not its in "eco/quite/silent" mode?

 

Or is it best just to push the button every now and again and hope its working lol.

 

Thanks again for all the help, I think i'd be lost a lot of the time without this forum.

[Dalo Harkin]

There will be an option under the 'power options' you can manually set it to the eco mode - just power it all right down and save it as the main profile.

There will be 3 or 4 profiles on there - so you can edit one or just choose the lowest performance one