Prevent i7 from overclocking while on battery

Question

I've been bringing my laptop to tutorials and lectures lately and I've noticed sometimes my CPU clocks up from 1GHZ to 3.2 GHZ which cuts my estimated battery life in half, and spins the fan up pretty loud. Luckily, after about 30 seconds or a minute, it goes back to 1GHZ.

Obviously, since it's a gaming laptop I want it at the correct (3.2) clockspeed while plugged in, however, when I'm at lectures or a tutorial, I don't need all that power. It drains my battery and I can't have a battery that only lasts 1.5 hours instead of 3-4.

Does anyone know how I can prevent my CPU from clocking up when a demanding task is taking place, WHILE ONLY running on battery power?

System information:

MSI GE-70 laptop

i7-3630QM processor

Windows 8

Answer 1

Since it is a Windows based machine and running Windows 7/8, you can click on the little battery icon in the bottom right corner and when the options pop up, click on "Power Options". This will show you a list of your power state options your computer can be in.

These regulate how your computer uses powers based on if it is plugged into the wall or running on the battery.

On the list of power plans, there should be one called "Power Saver". This is probably the one you want to go with to save battery life.

You can also click: "Change this plan" > "Change advanced power settings, and then scroll down to "Processor Power Management" to forcibly control the minimum and maximum power your processor can go to.

If this does not work, let me know. There are a ton of other ways to increase your laptops battery time.