Photon, that was a LOT of writing for something that didn't even pertain to the question asked.
I don't have a 144Hz monitor to test with, but I'm of the opinion it doesn't matter much. We are talking about a <10W difference. It won't downclock as much as it should, but it won't run 3D clocks either.
Did a quick check online before I hit post, looks like I'm wrong.
http://www.pcgamer.com/144hz-monitors-and-nvidia-gpus-draw-surprising-amounts-of-power/