MacBook Pro: Loose the Hounds of Hell

Has anyone else noticed that heavy CUDA on a MacBook Pro (8600M GT) sucks more power than running both cores at 100%? The fans turn on almost instantly and go to 100% in about 8 seconds. Does anyone know the power draw (watts) of the 8600M GT?

Also, when AC is plugged in, I get

Device 0: “GeForce 8600M GT”

CUDA Capability Major revision number: 1

CUDA Capability Minor revision number: 1

Total amount of global memory: 536674304 bytes

Number of multiprocessors: 4

Number of cores: 32

Total amount of constant memory: 65536 bytes

Total amount of shared memory per block: 16384 bytes

Total number of registers available per block: 8192

Warp size: 32

Maximum number of threads per block: 512

Maximum sizes of each dimension of a block: 512 x 512 x 64

Maximum sizes of each dimension of a grid: 65535 x 65535 x 1

Maximum memory pitch: 262144 bytes

Texture alignment: 256 bytes

Clock rate: 0.93 GHz

Concurrent copy and execution: No

Run time limit on kernels: Yes

Integrated: No

Support host page-locked memory mapping: No

Compute mode: Default (multiple host threads can use this device simultaneously)

When on battery power, I get

Device 0: “GeForce 8600M GT”

CUDA Capability Major revision number: 1

CUDA Capability Minor revision number: 1

Total amount of global memory: 536674304 bytes

Number of multiprocessors: 4

Number of cores: 32

Total amount of constant memory: 65536 bytes

Total amount of shared memory per block: 16384 bytes

Total number of registers available per block: 8192

Warp size: 32

Maximum number of threads per block: 512

Maximum sizes of each dimension of a block: 512 x 512 x 64

Maximum sizes of each dimension of a grid: 65535 x 65535 x 1

Maximum memory pitch: 262144 bytes

Texture alignment: 256 bytes

Clock rate: 0.57 GHz

Concurrent copy and execution: No

Run time limit on kernels: Yes

Integrated: No

Support host page-locked memory mapping: No

Compute mode: Default (multiple host threads can use this device simultaneously)

Test PASSED

Seemingly, it runs at 50% because of the power consumption. 570 MHz instead of 930 MHz. It’s still pretty thrilling that I have 2/3rds the power of a GT120 (the base adapter for the Mac Pro) on a laptop. Just wish it were 1.3 instead of 1.1.

I’m not complaining, by the way. This is like carrying a supercomputer in a laptop bag!

I would quite like to know if running postProcessGL in another window keeps the clock rate high in dQ, even on battery. Just trying to gather info on power control. I agree with comment on 1.3 - are there any laptop GPUs yet with this level capability?

No. It stays at the slower rate no matter how much you nudge it. None of the mobile versions seem to be at 1.3.

FWIW I’d also love a mobile GPU with 1.3 capabilties. I need double-precisions processing.