Laptop undervolting help

[Agera One]

I have a Sony VAIO VPCEB34EN laptop with i3-370M @ 2.4 GHz Processor. I replaced my worn out battery with a new one. The old and current battery both have the same battery life of 2 hours only. I mainly do browsing or movie watching (three USB ports are connected with mouse, keyboard and data card/dongle always). So, I want to underclock my CPU as much as possible without affecting performance to gain battery life. Can anybody guide me through the whole process, as I never did any overclocking/underclocking in my life? Also, list the gains/losses I'll have after underclocking.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I wouldn't bother with underclocking as it won't affect battery life enough to make a significant difference. Instead, I'd go into the BIOS and if available make sure speedstepping is enabled and that in windows control panel power options the profile is set to balanced or power saving, depending on your preference.

Performance sets the CPU profile to max while balanced allows for a range between 5% and 100% CPU power usage. I'd also set the fan profile in the advanced power saving features to passive unless you encounter thermal issues in which case active may need to be left enabled. There may also be fan settings in the BIOS that will allow for some power savings. None of the power saving features should be enabled if you're gaming or performing intensive operations though as the unit could overheat.

The chances are not good you can even do much in the way of over or underclocking as laptops have little adjustability in their BIOS settings in most cases. Plus, that i3 has a locked multiplier and the i3-370M does not use turbo boost so about the only way to overclock it is to use SetFSB if your motherboard supports that utility. For your CPU, ThrottleStop can accurately monitor it but that's about it so undervolting is probably not possible like it used to be on the old Core2 cpus.

 

[Agera One]

Great. What are Passive and active settings? (I only browse internet/watch movies)

 

[Darkbreeze]

With passive settings, the CPU voltage and multiplier are reduced before fan speed is increased to max in the event that the CPU begins to approach "hot". With active settings the fan will go full speed before the system makes reductions in CPU settings. Any time the fan is full on, the battery is quickly draining, unless connected to AC power. These settings can be set differently for when you're on battery or AC power as well since when on AC power, consumption isn't as much of a factor.

 

[Agera One]

So, for performance systems/laptops (not mine), active would be better than passive and for power concerning laptops, passive would be better than active, right?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Correct. And while connected to your AC power source, active would be better.

 

[Agera One]

Such info, much thanks 😀
I try as much as to save power because of 1st gen CPUs are not that power efficient and my discharge rates are always around 20 W..

 

[Darkbreeze]

No problem. Anytime.

 

[Agera One]

Edited my last answer

 

[Darkbreeze]

Such info, much thanks 😀
I try as much as to save power because of 1st gen CPUs are not that power efficient and my discharge rates are always around 20 W..

I understand, they definitely are known to suck a battery dry in no time especially if the fans are running full bore.

 

[Agera One]

That is why I asked about undervolting..

 

[Darkbreeze]

I understand. But you can't undervolt that system.

 

[hakimsidoo]

Hello! I have a packardbell notebook tk85, with intel's core i3 370m.
i want to under-volt it as it is running on high temperatures even when using chrome, which lead to a lot of thermal throttling and I've changed thermal paste recently.
i tried throttlestop and intel xtu, but both of them didn't even start.
is there any software works for this cpu?? i need help