Will I Damage My New GTX 1080 by Keeping it Powered and Not in Use

camdoz86

Honorable
Aug 13, 2014
38
0
10,540
I am going to have my old GTX 780 in my first PCIe slot, and my GTX 1080 in my third PCIe slot, so that I can still boot to my Mac OS X hackintosh drive with my GTX 780. It needs to be in the first slot to do this apparently, so I was going to have my GTX 1080 in the third slot (not second to preserve thermals) and I'll disable the GTX 780 in Windows when I'm going to game. All 4 of my PCIe slots are 16x btw, I have an Asus Rampage IV extreme black edition

My question is, while I am in Mac OS and my GTX 1080 is powered but not being used, is there a risk of damaging it this way? I could also physically switch off individual PCIe slots on the MB. Would it be less risky and easier on the GTX 1080 to unplug it from power every time I boot into Mac OS with the 780? I just don't want to damage my new baby :)
 
Solution
No you shouldn't because I'm not even sure you'll boot with the power connectors unplugged, meaning you'd have to take it out and put it back in each time.

There's no "extra mile" to go, being booted into a separate OS with unused hardware powered on doesn't do anything other than waste like 25W of power.

camdoz86

Honorable
Aug 13, 2014
38
0
10,540


Yah I definitely won't unplug mid operation, only when I am powered down and the PSU is switched off, etc. I am just wondering, is that a necessary or even smart measure to take each time I swap OS's? You said it won't hurt my gtx 1080 to have it powered but not in use while another card is primary in Mac, but should I go the extra mile and unplug each time, or say screw it and keep it powered? Thanks a bunch for the response btw.
 
No you shouldn't because I'm not even sure you'll boot with the power connectors unplugged, meaning you'd have to take it out and put it back in each time.

There's no "extra mile" to go, being booted into a separate OS with unused hardware powered on doesn't do anything other than waste like 25W of power.
 
Solution

camdoz86

Honorable
Aug 13, 2014
38
0
10,540


Okay radical, thanks man.
 

camdoz86

Honorable
Aug 13, 2014
38
0
10,540


Well I can definitely do this on the Windows 10 end, and I will disable the gtx 780 that way. However, I cannot disable the gtx 1080 that way in the MacOS I don't believe, especially since the GTX 1080 is not yet supported on Macs.
 

camdoz86

Honorable
Aug 13, 2014
38
0
10,540


So yah I tried this, disabled the old card in windows, had the HDMI plugged into the new card, seemed okay, installed the newest drivers, black screen, won't work now, powered but won't work.