how disable gpu to use igpu

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magnus_m6

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Dec 28, 2015
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Hi, I would like to get a RX 470 for gaming. However, I wonder if it is possible to disable this gpu to use the igpu in order to:

1. Save some money (electric bill)
2. Make the gpu to last longer by turning it off when I use the pc for work (office for example)

Will it be necessary to unplug the gpu for this purpose?

thank you in advance.
 
Solution
DSzymborski
There's no actual purpose for any of this. An RX 470 is around 20W at idle and taking away that for 24/7 is like $4 at US electric prices. But you won't be really be taking away 20W 24/7 and the CPU would take some of that back as well, so you'll never even touch anywhere near $4. And you won't extend the life of the GPU one bit; running the GPU at idle isn't a cause of stress for the card.

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Legitgamer1261

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Jan 9, 2015
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you might be saving $3-4 max a month on power because it only takes what it needs for example when idle (not gaming) using the computer does not put any stress on the gpu and it uses minimum power and is always on stand by until you open up a program that requires it like video editing. And new gpu's last considerably longer im still using a 7870 (over 4 years old) and im able to play bf4 on high settings with 90-100 stable fps
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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Jan 28, 2016
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Not even that, i'd say about 5 bucks a year, the power draw is extremely low on the RX 470.
The GPU will not run at full TDP under idle, no need to worry or fiddle with anything, leave it plugged in.
I doubt the GPU will die in the time it remains relevant, I still have an AMD/ATI graphics card in my old pentium 4 PC that's still up and kicking from more than a decade ago! :)

 
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Legitgamer1261

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Jan 9, 2015
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I was thinking that he might occasionally watch a video on on high resolution that might cause slightly more consumption
 
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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Nov 19, 2010
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There's no actual purpose for any of this. An RX 470 is around 20W at idle and taking away that for 24/7 is like $4 at US electric prices. But you won't be really be taking away 20W 24/7 and the CPU would take some of that back as well, so you'll never even touch anywhere near $4. And you won't extend the life of the GPU one bit; running the GPU at idle isn't a cause of stress for the card.

 
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Solution
DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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Nov 19, 2010
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But energy isn't free - the additional processing power still comes from somewhere. Making the CPU do a task that it wasn't previously doing still uses more energy than if it wasn't doing that task.

This is a bit like going on a diet by eating pizza on a different plate.
 
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k1114

k1114

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May 2, 2010
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https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/RX_470_STRIX_OC/22.html Idle showing 11w and 1080p blu ray was only 16w. Video takes very little processing power that even a low end core 2 duo can do 1080p.

There's no way to do this anyways on a desktop besides taking it out since there's no point. Even in a country where electricity is expensive, it's hardly enough in savings, they wouldn't have been able to buy a pc in the first place.
 
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