need advice on gpu considering power waste

earnest79

Reputable
Mar 25, 2014
5
0
4,510
I am not a big pc gamer but would like the ability to play any new game at playable settings. Triple screen on occasion . i have 3 1080p 23" ips monitors.

not worried about playing triple screens on ultra.

PC Specs:
I7 4770k
GA-Z87X-UD3H
16gb ram
tx650m

Im afraid no matter what gpu i go with it will be mostly wasted. Is there a way to turn off or turn down the gpu card to save power. Onboard graphics are plenty for 95% of the things i do. Since i run my pc pretty much 24 hours a day this could add up fast. Power consumption (if it = waste) is a big factor for me.

For example i would like the ability to play Battlefield 4 on triple 1080 monitors.

i have been looking at evga 760 770 780 760x2

Is there going to be much difference in these cards considering power consumption at around idle/watching a video surfing the web. How do these cards hand a game such as minecraft,half life, or other old stuff that cant use the power, do they use jump to full power?
 
Solution
Graphics cards run on significantly lower clocks and voltages when they aren't doing anything intensive.
Eg. My GTX650 has a core clock of 1058 MHz, but when the card is idle it runs at only 324 MHz.
You could look up charts on how many watts the card uses when idle to decide.

This chart could be handy to check for the GTX780's(and some other cards') power consumption at idle and various other loads.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_780/24.html
According to this chart, the 780 uses 10W on idle, 14W on idle with multiple monitors, 222W at peak loads and 268W max power(if you're running stress tests such as FurMark). Lower end cards such as the HD6670 have similar power consumption at idle.

lfkfkfkffs

Admirable
Just get the gtx 780, it is the best price performance card out there. It is overkill for 1080p but the 3gb's that it comes with is good enough for 3 screens. A lot of people who bought the gtx 770 when it first came out are wishing they waited because the gtx 780 is so well priced right now.
 

Redheadsrule13

Honorable
Oct 25, 2013
322
0
10,960


Good point. If the 780 is close enough, go for it. It'll be longer before you need to upgrade if you get the 780 too.
 
Graphics cards run on significantly lower clocks and voltages when they aren't doing anything intensive.
Eg. My GTX650 has a core clock of 1058 MHz, but when the card is idle it runs at only 324 MHz.
You could look up charts on how many watts the card uses when idle to decide.

This chart could be handy to check for the GTX780's(and some other cards') power consumption at idle and various other loads.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_780/24.html
According to this chart, the 780 uses 10W on idle, 14W on idle with multiple monitors, 222W at peak loads and 268W max power(if you're running stress tests such as FurMark). Lower end cards such as the HD6670 have similar power consumption at idle.
 
Solution