AMD A10-8700P w/ Radeon R6 optimization

[aceinthecrowd]

Hey guys,

I recently acquired a “new to me” Lenovo E565 at work (I had no decision in what was chosen). It has an AMD A10-8700P w/ R6 graphics chip. This laptop will only be used for work, SAP, some pretty beefy excel work, and things of that nature. No games at all, only some YouTube in the background for music or something. It comes with 4gb of ram so I already have 16gb on the way to max that out. What I want to know is if it is possible to disable the integrated card and use only the dedicated card to free up the processor since I won’t be doing any heavy GPU reliant things. I also am interested in OCing the CPU to run 2.5-3ghz instead of the lame 1.8.

Any thoughts? And if possible the correct steps?

 

[anotherdrew]

First thought when reading this was more memory ... you have that covered.
Second thought, SSD ... per the specs it seemed to come in 2 flavors, 500GB HD or 172GB SSD. Something to think about.

Dual graphics ... The A10 has chip is made up of 4 CPU cores and 6 GPU cores. Disabling the GPU cores does not allow them to be used as CPU cores, so it won't "free up" the processor (maybe I misinterpreted your statement). The CPU would run cooler though. Unfortunately, looking over the Lenovo site it seems the BIOS options are to go with integrated graphics (UMA only) or dual graphics. I would check the BIOS to see if options have been updated since the time the notice was printed. You could go into the device manager and disable the integrated graphics ... sometimes this works ... sometimes it does funny things.

Overclocking ... Always difficult in laptops because of heat. Laptops have tiny heatsinks and not much airflow making overclocking inadvisable. The other issue is that most laptop BIOS do not support overclocking and overclocking software is normally incompatible with mobile CPUs. I'm not saying do try ... just don't be discouraged if you fail.

 

[aceinthecrowd]

Thanks for the reply @anotherdrew I definitely will get the SSD to boost the laptop in that respect, but before I invest more into it I want to make sure this laptop will actually do what I need it to do.

I know you mentioned overclocking is not advised because of the over heating which I am aware of. My intention of disabling the integrated graphics was to free up the processor so if we did OC it then it wouldn’t have the GPU pushing the temps up too so we could more safely OC the chip. And what I want may not be considered OC. The chip clocks in at 1.8Ghz AMD boosts to 3.2Ghz, I am just trying to move the base up to 2.5 - 3.0 not above 3.2. (Sorry never OC’ed anything before)

 

[anotherdrew]

You may be able to achieve what you want by running the laptop in high performance mode vs battery saving. Especially if this is going to be a laptop that sits on a desktop most of the time (ie, battery life not an issue). If so and you do find more heat build up than you want, you might want to look at a laptop cooler (like a pad that goes under the laptop and has fans that blow on it). They can help.

The A10 is no powerhouse, but I hope it can do what you need and does not "accidentally" fall off your desk.