Mobility Radeon X1900, Vista 64-bit, no ATI PowerPlay...

A_Pickle · Jun 20, 2009, 06:31 PM

Hey all.

I'm the mostly happy owner of an Alienware Area-51 m5790, one of the two notebooks in the world that carries the Mobility Radeon X1900. When I first purchased my notebook, it's specs were as follows:

Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 (2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1900 (PCIe, 256 MB, 400 MHz Core/470 MHz Mem)
2 GB (2 x 1 GB) DDR2-667 RAM
160 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD
160 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD

After owning it for awhile, I decided to give it a little upgrade, namely to:

Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 (2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2)
ATI Mobility Radeon X1900 (PCIe, 256 MB, 400 MHz Core/470 MHz Mem)
4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR2-667 RAM
320 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD
400 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD

I upgraded to Windows Vista 64-bit, obviously, to take full advantage of ALL 4 GB of my memory and ALL 256 MB or my graphics memory. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have the option for ATI PowerPlay in my Catalyst Control Center, or even in Vista's "Advanced Settings" Power Options dialog box. The drivers play games just great, unfortunately, it's when I'm NOT playing games that I'm frustrated with. I don't need my X1900 going full steam when I'm browsing the internet.

Alienware is being about as helpful as a dead goat... they offer no driver for Vista 64-bit (despite the system having been sold with a 64-bit processor and up to 4 GB of RAM, and advertised as being "64-bit ready"), and their driver for Vista 32-bit is dated January 8th, 2007 -- before the launch of Vista (which was on January 30th, 2007). I've written two forum topics over at Alienware's "Mobile Systems" technical support forum regarding this issue. Their forums are moderated, so moderators look over new topics before they're allowed to hit the forums... and my forum topics were nothing less than professionally critical of Alienware's incredibly lackluster performance in supporting their customers.

Now, I've just used the latest version of the ATI Mobility Modder to modify the Catalyst 9.3 drivers (the latest available for my card, which is now relegated to "legacy" support

)... and still, there's no PowerPlay option. A friend of mine with an Acer Aspire 5672WLMI (Core Duo T2300, 2 GB DDR2-667 RAM, 120 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD, Mobility Radeon X1600 128 MB, Vista Business 32-bit) DOES have PowerPlay in his Catalyst Control Center (and presumably, in Vista's Power Options). He uses the ATI Mobility Modder (I introduced him to it! Go me!

) as well, so...

Any ideas?

Jun 20, 2009, 06:31 PM	#1
A_Pickle DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: ...fighting the Mystery Meat... Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Mobility Radeon X1900, Vista 64-bit, no ATI PowerPlay... Hey all. I'm the mostly happy owner of an Alienware Area-51 m5790, one of the two notebooks in the world that carries the Mobility Radeon X1900. When I first purchased my notebook, it's specs were as follows: Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 (2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2) ATI Mobility Radeon X1900 (PCIe, 256 MB, 400 MHz Core/470 MHz Mem) 2 GB (2 x 1 GB) DDR2-667 RAM 160 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD 160 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD After owning it for awhile, I decided to give it a little upgrade, namely to: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 (2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2) ATI Mobility Radeon X1900 (PCIe, 256 MB, 400 MHz Core/470 MHz Mem) 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR2-667 RAM 320 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD 400 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD I upgraded to Windows Vista 64-bit, obviously, to take full advantage of ALL 4 GB of my memory and ALL 256 MB or my graphics memory. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have the option for ATI PowerPlay in my Catalyst Control Center, or even in Vista's "Advanced Settings" Power Options dialog box. The drivers play games just great, unfortunately, it's when I'm NOT playing games that I'm frustrated with. I don't need my X1900 going full steam when I'm browsing the internet. Alienware is being about as helpful as a dead goat... they offer no driver for Vista 64-bit (despite the system having been sold with a 64-bit processor and up to 4 GB of RAM, and advertised as being "64-bit ready"), and their driver for Vista 32-bit is dated January 8th, 2007 -- before the launch of Vista (which was on January 30th, 2007). I've written two forum topics over at Alienware's "Mobile Systems" technical support forum regarding this issue. Their forums are moderated, so moderators look over new topics before they're allowed to hit the forums... and my forum topics were nothing less than professionally critical of Alienware's incredibly lackluster performance in supporting their customers. Now, I've just used the latest version of the ATI Mobility Modder to modify the Catalyst 9.3 drivers (the latest available for my card, which is now relegated to "legacy" support )... and still, there's no PowerPlay option. A friend of mine with an Acer Aspire 5672WLMI (Core Duo T2300, 2 GB DDR2-667 RAM, 120 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD, Mobility Radeon X1600 128 MB, Vista Business 32-bit) DOES have PowerPlay in his Catalyst Control Center (and presumably, in Vista's Power Options). He uses the ATI Mobility Modder (I introduced him to it! Go me! ) as well, so... Any ideas? __________________ Alienware Area-51 m5790 Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 (2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2) ATI Mobility Radeon X1900 (400 MHz Core / 470 MHz Mem) 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR2-667 RAM 320 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD 400 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD