The concept of Throttling ain't new. It used to be referred to as "Overclocking" but the latter was usually done manually.
Back then, whoever can overclock his processor could boast about his/her tech muscles since very few know about it.
And it isn't really done by standards back then for a purpose.
Overclocking is a process where you manually raise the limit on the processor, thus, making it perform faster. Basically, you let the electricity flow thru it faster, thus, raising its temperature faster (and most probably hotter than how it's supposed to).
Tech people back then warned people that if they wanna try overclocking, they should be very cautious since it's gonna reduce the effective lifespan of their processors.
Right now, Intel, along with other manufacturers boast of their "Throttling technology" where their processors would react to what processes you make your processor do like as if squeezing more on the throttle on a motorcycle if you needed the extra speed.
This has revolutionized things since what used to be bottlenecks on computer processing now became smoother, especially on the newer intel models.
Problem is, Throttling = automated Overclocking.
If you're the type of person who constantly runs apps which require a lotta processing power, (i.e. Online games, or most games in general, except those that are light enough) then chances are, your computer is constantly throttling.
This has happened to me while I was handling large volumes of work. I was constantly running some heavy applications necessary for my work and it was one of those times when I had to go on 48-hour shifts just to cope up with the deadlines.
My processor overheated and I thought I won't be able to revive my laptop. Luckily, I was able to do some minor adjustments that allowed me to run it for a while longer. Sadly, it only lasted for around 2 more weeks. (At least, I've finished majority of my work with that time.)
When it burned out for the second and final time, the company I was working for sent me a spare laptop, with slightly lower specs than what I was using.
Things were going smoothly for a while until I had only 4 hours of work pieces left. It went KABOOM.
2 laptops in a row, same symptoms, same work pattern, same kinda fireworks. (Don't worry, there weren't actual flames. XD)
However, I'm not sure about the new i series. I was using Core 2 Duo and Dual Core respectively but nonetheless, they were both "Throttling" Processors.
If you're using one of the new Intel processors, majority of the BIOS that supports them would have the option to disable THROTTLING. (And this was how I made a temporary fix on my first laptop. Too bad it was already damaged before I learned of this. ~_~ I would've saved that laptop before it got to that point.) I suggest that if you don't really need this technology, you should disable it. It can be re-enabled any time you want anyway.
What sort of work do you do? I sometimes edit using my ASUS K-series laptop and it gets really hot (flat iron hot at the exhaust). And I'm afraid this is really hard on the PC and it will cause it to burn out soon. Thankfully, it is still alive and the editing gigs have already paid for the cost of lap top.
ReplyDeleteBack then, I was handling large AutoCAD files along with some Photoshop. But with the Photoshop stuff, it would've been way easier on the machine if they didn't require OA specs on the output pics. They were asking to convert some XLS tables into JPG and was asking for 300 DPS. Intended to be pasted onto a file that they would print onto an A4 sized paper.
ReplyDeleteAnd since I was a fan of milti-tasking plus the need for a way to avoid boredom from repetitive processes, I almost constantly had Ragnarok and / or Galaxy Online (A Browser-based Flash MMO) Plus Windows Media Player. . . Oh, and Skype too so I could keep chatting while working.
What I was using was a Core 2 Duo MSI. I think it was an MSI en460 (or maybe ex. not really sure.) 2 GB of RAM and a decent on-board ATI Radeon Video. It lasted for around 12 months. ~_~
Then the replacement laptop from the company was a Dual Core Neo. When it first came, I had to clean the colling system since it already had dirt thick enough to be mistaken for as some kinda dark grey sponge. Then I went ahead and Upgraded it to 3 GB Ram. (The 2 GB from my MSI added to the existing 1GB.)
What's worse is that I bought that MSI on (mostly) loaned money. Thus, the really bad economic personal downfall.
============
ReplyDelete***Update***
============
I've tweaked and successfully disabled throttling on this i3 laptop.
(in case you were wondering why I still got an i series, it's simply because I got it for free. lol. Hand-me-downs FTW. ^_^)
However, I can't help but notice they've changed some really odd keywords...
Instead of the old "Throttling: Enable/Disable" or something similar so you could easily tell it's what you're looking for, (Like with the Core 2 Duo) it is now replaced with a hard to understand (nor to recall) term with the options as "(something like) Adapive/Constantly Slow".
Honestly, to the not so tech savvy, these new terms could be misleading. Who in their right mind would want their laptops to be slow especially if they purchased something brand new, shiny and top (or close to the top) priced?
However, after thorough testing, I haven't noticed any big difference in performance. It still performs at par with my needs. Reductions on performance have been barely noticeable. Most noticeable thing was the few seconds added to the boot-up time. . . But I don't mind. ^_^