Is there a program in OSX that controls the intel speedstep clockspeeds,etc?

[makasin]

In windows, there is an excellent app called Notebook Hardware Control and it allows you to set the voltages of your cpu and allows you to create different profiles for when its plugged in vs on batt. power. Is there any app for OSX that lets you tweak the power management and such?

[TheStu]

Originally Posted by makasin

In windows, there is an excellent app called Notebook Hardware Control and it allows you to set the voltages of your cpu and allows you to create different profiles for when its plugged in vs on batt. power. Is there any app for OSX that lets you tweak the power management and such?

Um... Energy Saver in the System Preferences?

[giyad]

Originally Posted by makasin

In windows, there is an excellent app called Notebook Hardware Control and it allows you to set the voltages of your cpu and allows you to create different profiles for when its plugged in vs on batt. power. Is there any app for OSX that lets you tweak the power management and such?

I never used Notebook Hardware Control before, I would use the BIOS to overclock but I haven't even thought about doing that to my macbook. Good question, I'm not sure how you would do that, how do you get into a Macs BIOS, or can you even?

I just did a quick search for this and came across some interesting sites.

http://forum.insanelymac.com/lofiver...hp/t43488.html
http://lowendmac.com/macdan/02/0624ek.html

Check it out, they make some good points in that forum, overclocking means more heat and i wouldn't want that on my lap.

[Cromulent]

Originally Posted by giyad

I never used Notebook Hardware Control before, I would use the BIOS to overclock but I haven't even thought about doing that to my macbook. Good question, I'm not sure how you would do that, how do you get into a Macs BIOS, or can you even?

Macs do not have a BIOS.

[giyad]

Originally Posted by Cromulent

Macs do not have a BIOS.

Not BIOS in the PC sense but there must be an equivalent. Or how does a mac boot up?

Ok, I see its called Open Firmware

[Cromulent]

Originally Posted by giyad

Not BIOS in the PC sense but there must be an equivalent. Or how does a mac boot up?

They use EFI if I remember correctly. Which is basically BIOS version 2.

[Sun Baked]

Open Firmware was the PowerPC version, and responded sort of like Fortran (I think that was it.)

[makasin]

im not trying to overclock my macbook pro. Im trying to UNDER-volt it. In notebook hardware control you can set the actual voltages of the chip at each clock speed multiplier. So there is no program that can access those features in OSX?

[clevin]

Originally Posted by makasin

im not trying to overclock my macbook pro. Im trying to UNDER-volt it. In notebook hardware control you can set the actual voltages of the chip at each clock speed multiplier. So there is no program that can access those features in OSX?

no
, see if possible if you install windows through bootcamp

[makasin]

how will that help anything if im using OSX?

[clevin]

well, I was assuming the hardware modification will sustain through the OS change. who knows. maybe not, ...

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by makasin

im not trying to overclock my macbook pro. Im trying to UNDER-volt it. In notebook hardware control you can set the actual voltages of the chip at each clock speed multiplier. So there is no program that can access those features in OSX?

It's called the Power Manager; part of the operating system since the late 80's (it was used in the Mac Portable computer to clock it down from 16 MHz to 1 MHz when it was not in use, must have been around 1988).

When you use a MacBook or MacBook Pro, the clock speed and related voltages change all the time, depending on how much work your computer is doing. No need to find any program that controls it. Letting the user do that instead of the operating system only gives you the chance to mess it up.

[chewietobbacca]

Originally Posted by clevin

well, I was assuming the hardware modification will sustain through the OS change. who knows. maybe not, ...

Hardware changes via software only affects hardware while that software is loaded i.e. within that OS. Hence to keep permanent changes you need to Ise the BIOS or equivalent hardware control at boot up (or do physical mods but that is really really not recommended...)

[chewietobbacca]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

It's called the Power Manager; part of the operating system since the late 80's (it was used in the Mac Portable computer to clock it down from 16 MHz to 1 MHz when it was not in use, must have been around 1988).

When you use a MacBook or MacBook Pro, the clock speed and related voltages change all the time, depending on how much work your computer is doing. No need to find any program that controls it. Letting the user do that instead of the operating system only gives you the chance to mess it up.

I think he wants a permanent under volting while maintaining clock speeds which is quite doable with Core2 chips with little issue assuming you don't do something like drop volts to .8 or something

[makasin]

yeah coz on my old laptop which had around 2 hours by default of battery life. I was able to squeeze out antoher 45 min to an hour out of it just by setting the clock to 800mhz constantly (it was a 1.86mhz pentium M banias) and volted it down to 0.7V and it really improved the battery life and temps without any adverse effects. Id like to do that with my MBP.
The battery life is around 4:15 which is great, but it would be cooler if it was more like 5 or more, which this modification would probably allow me to do.
However, apple's power management scheme is very good as is. Id just like to optimize it further, but i guess there is no app that can do that.

[flopticalcube]

CoolBook, doesn't work properly for Santa Rosa MacBook Pro's yet. Worked fine on my MacBook (don't need it at the moment).

[makasin]

cool! Thats exactly what I wanted. However, it doesnt support Santa Rosa at the moment. Bummer, ill keep checking for an update that solves the issue. Thanks so much for the link.
Anyone have any programs similar to this that work with my box? (2.4 BMP SR w/ 256MB VRAM

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by chewietobbacca

I think he wants a permanent under volting while maintaining clock speeds which is quite doable with Core2 chips with little issue assuming you don't do something like drop volts to .8 or something

That's exactly what happens anyway if the MacBook isn't doing anything. The clock speed drops, and the voltage drops. And if the MacBook is working hard, then dropping the voltage would be counterproductive because it would slow it down. The battery would last longer, but you would spend the extra time waiting for the MacBook to do its work.

[chewietobbacca]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

That's exactly what happens anyway if the MacBook isn't doing anything. The clock speed drops, and the voltage drops. And if the MacBook is working hard, then dropping the voltage would be counterproductive because it would slow it down. The battery would last longer, but you would spend the extra time waiting for the MacBook to do its work.

That's not necessarily true.

Keep in mind that the Intel Core 2 lineup overclocks very well because at its stock voltage, the processor can actually have its FSB kicked way up and still be stable. For example, my current quad Q6600 is stock at 2.4GHz with a 266 fsb and 9x multiplier. Stock voltage is 1.3125 volts. I can crank the fsb to 333 and put my quad core at an even 3.0GHz without even touching the voltage. This is because stock volts is more than enough to cover the original speed - in fact, its actually excessive.

Recent AMD energy-efficient CPU's have shown dramatic ability to undervolt from stock volts and retain speeds. As in things like 1.1 V's being able to run the Athlon 64 X2 at stock speeds despite stock votlage being 1.35V for instance.

So what I think he wants to do is drop the volts permanently while keeping the speed stock, meaning you can run the computer undervolted *all* the time while maintaining the speed, which is doable easily w/ a BIOS but that's obviously not an option here.

[flopticalcube]

Originally Posted by chewietobbacca

So what I think he wants to do is drop the volts permanently while keeping the speed stock, meaning you can run the computer undervolted *all* the time while maintaining the speed, which is doable easily w/ a BIOS but that's obviously not an option here.

I had my MacBook running at the full 2GHz at 0.975volts. Dropped the temps 5 degrees C under idle and 10 degrees under full load.