Silent mode on NP5796...anything except fan speed?

[naimth]

Quick question--when we activate silent mode on the NP5796 does that do anything except limit the fan speed? [such as throttling down the processor or something mysterious like that]?? Oh, and is it bad to run in silent mode all the time? What about intensive gaming or other heat-generating activities? Should we limit silent mode somehow?

I love silent mode because if there's anything I could complain about with this machine it would be the fan noise, so I would like to leave it in silent mode all the time! What does anyone think about that?

[BTW, what does it say about a computer that it even NEEDS TO HAVE a silent mode?? I'm just saying, thats all, not a hater, but it could have a little bit quieter fan]

thanks for any answers!

[PSRT]

Hey naimth,

It is my understanding that silent mode does nothing more than significantly reduce the fan speed, although it may downclock the GPU to compensate for the lack of cooling power. That said, there are certainly third-party apps you can find (for free, most of the time) that will allow you to fiddle with your CPU and GPU clocks (just be warned, they're usually not designed for beginners)...And as for the noise, the NP5796 is a powerful machine. Smaller laptops (such as the 2096, for instance) can afford to have smaller, quieter fans because their power use, and subsequent heat output, is significantly less that the 5796, especially because of the disparity in video card specs.

[naimth]

Hey thanks for info. I have been running in silent mode all the time with a Zalman 2000 cooler and everthing seems to be peachy....but what I think I'll do is run 3dmark 2006 or another benchmark in 'silent mode' vs. 'normal mode' and see if there is any difference! I might also check system temps both ways and see how horrific it gets in silent mode with gaming.