Laptop processor confusion!

thom.platt · 02-15-2007, 03:33 PM

Hi, I'm Thom and I've never posted here before, but you guys were the first hit on google so you must be good.

I have a question regarding my laptop's processor.

My laptop is a 1.5 year old Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo A1650 which according to my device manager is using a Mobile AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3700+. I believe that this is not a bad processor, supposedly running at 2.4GHz. This is what I was told when I bought it and Wikipedia just backed me up, so I'm hoping that's true. My problem is that I bought a game the other day (Knights of the Old Republic 2) whose minimum requirements I meet except for the processor speed, which KotOR believes is 800Mhz. KotOR needs at least 1GHz to run, so I was suprised when it didn't, since I thought I well exceeded that.

I didn't think that was accurate, so I started up the game and it's very, very laggy, to the point of being unplayable. I brought up Properties in My Computer and it too said I was running at 800MHz with 896Mb of RAM (down from 1024mb, but I'm less concerned about that - unless I should be?). In short, my laptop seems to be working at 1/3 of its efficiency. I've installed new drivers and no change - what's up? If someone here could help me, I'd be really grateful.

Thanks! Thom.

thom.platt · 02-15-2007, 05:07 PM

Alright, so after having committed the cardinal sin of posting a problem before reading the forum first, I discovered the answer to a similar question on the forums. I followed the advice (set the Power Settings to "Home/Office Desk") but it's not affecting the readout in My Computer and the reaction of the game hasn't changed either - it still thinks I'm at 800MHz. PC Wizard 2007 thinks I'm at 2.4GHz though. Any suggestions?

Rebellion88 · 02-15-2007, 06:11 PM

Mobile processors run at various speeds, to save battery life and keep themselves cool. You can change the settings in control panel, go into power options and set it to always on and then re-check and it should display the full speed. As for some missing memory, that would be your graphics card, because its integrated, the memory for the graphics card is shared off your ram. Try playing the game when the power options are always on.

thom.platt · 02-15-2007, 06:21 PM

Changing the power options from "Home/Office Desk" to "Always On" didn't help. The game still runs jerkily on the lowest settings and My Computer still thinks I'm on 800MHz. Any more ideas? All input is appreciated :-)

Rebellion88 · 02-15-2007, 06:55 PM

Have you entered the bios, normally either F2 or Delete at the start of the booting sequence. Check in there for CPU throttling, download 'AMD Power monitor' from their website, just type it in search or google it, and set the power options through that. Laptops aren't great for gaming, I play world of warcraft and mines a bit laggy meeting all the requirements. My processor runs at 800mhz/1.7Ghz so it varies. Are you running on battery or AC Power?

thom.platt · 02-15-2007, 07:01 PM

AC, the battery life isn't great and it slows my graphics allll the way down. Up until recently I've not had a problem though, so I'm a little mystified.

Just downloaded and installed AMD's PowerNow! dashboard, so I'm gonna restart and see if that fixes anything. Thanks :-)

thom.platt · 02-15-2007, 07:21 PM

So apparently it doesn't. Installing PowerNow! dashboard does nothing but tell me what my system is doing, and AMD Power Monitor does the same thing except it lets me change my power settings, none of which affect my speed in the first place. My BIOS doesn't seem to be limiting my speed at all, or at least if it is it isn't giving any sign of it.

Gah! This is really frustrating, I don't know what to do! Could my current processor temperature be limiting my processor speed at all?

Rebellion88 · 02-15-2007, 08:42 PM

Its called Cool 'n' Quiet in the bios that will slow your cpu down, have you also tried the latest AMD drivers as well. You could try RMClock Tool found at:
http://cpu.rightmark.org/products/rmclock.shtml

**TheMatt** · 02-15-2007, 09:06 PM

Look in the BIOS for AMD PowerNow! settings, and disable it.

thom.platt · 02-17-2007, 08:55 AM

I've tried looking in the BIOS (by pressing F2 when my startup screen is shown, although rather than entering an explicitly named BIOS mode it describes a "Setup" menu) but there were no PowerNow! options there.

Any have any other ideas? I'm not sure how to use RMClock either, could anyone lend a hand with that?

**TheMatt** · 02-17-2007, 11:19 AM

When you open it up, you will see the main general properties:

Then, go into the Management settings, and set the profile to the first one,which is no management. If that doesn't fix it, set it to maximal performance.

thom.platt · 02-18-2007, 02:01 PM

Nope, still nothing. :-( Any more ideas?

02-15-2007, 03:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
thom.platt Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP	Laptop processor confusion! Hi, I'm Thom and I've never posted here before, but you guys were the first hit on google so you must be good. I have a question regarding my laptop's processor. My laptop is a 1.5 year old Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo A1650 which according to my device manager is using a Mobile AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3700+. I believe that this is not a bad processor, supposedly running at 2.4GHz. This is what I was told when I bought it and Wikipedia just backed me up, so I'm hoping that's true. My problem is that I bought a game the other day (Knights of the Old Republic 2) whose minimum requirements I meet except for the processor speed, which KotOR believes is 800Mhz. KotOR needs at least 1GHz to run, so I was suprised when it didn't, since I thought I well exceeded that. I didn't think that was accurate, so I started up the game and it's very, very laggy, to the point of being unplayable. I brought up Properties in My Computer and it too said I was running at 800MHz with 896Mb of RAM (down from 1024mb, but I'm less concerned about that - unless I should be?). In short, my laptop seems to be working at 1/3 of its efficiency. I've installed new drivers and no change - what's up? If someone here could help me, I'd be really grateful. Thanks! Thom.

02-15-2007, 06:11 PM	#3 (permalink)
Rebellion88 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 442 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit My System	Mobile processors run at various speeds, to save battery life and keep themselves cool. You can change the settings in control panel, go into power options and set it to always on and then re-check and it should display the full speed. As for some missing memory, that would be your graphics card, because its integrated, the memory for the graphics card is shared off your ram. Try playing the game when the power options are always on. __________________ - Dean National Diploma Software Development National Diploma Hardware Route

02-15-2007, 06:55 PM	#5 (permalink)
Rebellion88 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 442 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit My System	Have you entered the bios, normally either F2 or Delete at the start of the booting sequence. Check in there for CPU throttling, download 'AMD Power monitor' from their website, just type it in search or google it, and set the power options through that. Laptops aren't great for gaming, I play world of warcraft and mines a bit laggy meeting all the requirements. My processor runs at 800mhz/1.7Ghz so it varies. Are you running on battery or AC Power? __________________ - Dean National Diploma Software Development National Diploma Hardware Route

02-15-2007, 08:42 PM	#8 (permalink)
Rebellion88 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 442 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit My System	Its called Cool 'n' Quiet in the bios that will slow your cpu down, have you also tried the latest AMD drivers as well. You could try RMClock Tool found at: http://cpu.rightmark.org/products/rmclock.shtml __________________ - Dean National Diploma Software Development National Diploma Hardware Route

02-15-2007, 09:06 PM	#9 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Look in the BIOS for AMD PowerNow! settings, and disable it. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

02-15-2007, 05:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
thom.platt Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP	Alright, so after having committed the cardinal sin of posting a problem before reading the forum first, I discovered the answer to a similar question on the forums. I followed the advice (set the Power Settings to "Home/Office Desk") but it's not affecting the readout in My Computer and the reaction of the game hasn't changed either - it still thinks I'm at 800MHz. PC Wizard 2007 thinks I'm at 2.4GHz though. Any suggestions?

02-15-2007, 06:21 PM	#4 (permalink)
thom.platt Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP	Changing the power options from "Home/Office Desk" to "Always On" didn't help. The game still runs jerkily on the lowest settings and My Computer still thinks I'm on 800MHz. Any more ideas? All input is appreciated :-)

02-15-2007, 07:01 PM	#6 (permalink)
thom.platt Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP	AC, the battery life isn't great and it slows my graphics allll the way down. Up until recently I've not had a problem though, so I'm a little mystified. Just downloaded and installed AMD's PowerNow! dashboard, so I'm gonna restart and see if that fixes anything. Thanks :-)

02-15-2007, 07:21 PM	#7 (permalink)
thom.platt Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP	So apparently it doesn't. Installing PowerNow! dashboard does nothing but tell me what my system is doing, and AMD Power Monitor does the same thing except it lets me change my power settings, none of which affect my speed in the first place. My BIOS doesn't seem to be limiting my speed at all, or at least if it is it isn't giving any sign of it. Gah! This is really frustrating, I don't know what to do! Could my current processor temperature be limiting my processor speed at all?

02-17-2007, 08:55 AM	#10 (permalink)
thom.platt Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP	I've tried looking in the BIOS (by pressing F2 when my startup screen is shown, although rather than entering an explicitly named BIOS mode it describes a "Setup" menu) but there were no PowerNow! options there. Any have any other ideas? I'm not sure how to use RMClock either, could anyone lend a hand with that?

02-17-2007, 11:19 AM	#11 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	When you open it up, you will see the main general properties: Then, go into the Management settings, and set the profile to the first one,which is no management. If that doesn't fix it, set it to maximal performance. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

02-18-2007, 02:01 PM	#12 (permalink)
thom.platt Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 7 OS: Windows XP	Nope, still nothing. :-( Any more ideas?