turning off my 8600 GTS

[Lt_Dan]

Hi,
is there an option, or a program, that lets me turn off the power of my Graphics Card completely?
i have a Gigabyte 8600GTS SilentPipe 3 (no fan).
i'm running under Vista 64bit.
is there anything like this?
thanks a lot,
Dan.

 

[bfellow]

Most systems have a round circular button with an I and O etched or drawn on it. Push this button! :lol:

 

[crazywheels]

No, why do you want to turn off your video card? If there was a way to turn off your video card your monitor would go blank and there would be nothing to see.

 

[Lt_Dan]

duhh.
when i turn off the monitor, and not using the computer. the card still gets power. it heats up.
i want to cancel that so when i leave my computer on to DL, and i don't need the screen, it won't be so hot. which effects other components - and my room temp.
Thanks.

 

[rodney_ws]

Maybe he's really into saving power, but has a reason for not shutting off his system... no matter... I don't think Windows has the capability of running without a video card. If you want to test this, try snatching out the video card while Windows is running... my guess is that it'll instantly freeze up and if you push the card back in you will be staring at a blank screen.

 

[4745454b]

And a fried computer because video cards aren't hotswapable.

You can't shut it off, but you can underclock the hell out of it. Rivatuner or coolbits should allow you to downclock the core and memory. Fire up bittorrent, then load coolbits and take the clocks down to 300/300 (for example). Turn off your monitor and go to work. It will still emit some heat, and consume some energy, but they will both be lower amounts then before.

Last, if you're having some temp problems, consider buying a few fans.

 

[rodney_ws]

Underclocking... what a good idea!

 

[4745454b]

Yeah. I thought it was so obvious that even a cavem... errr, nevermind.

 

[Daredevil_8]

I'm glad you posted that..haha, wouldn't he have been surprised if he would have pulled it out while running....

 

[Lt_Dan]

yeah pulling it out would have been great.
under clocking you say... interesting.
which program is better? do they give info about the Card Temp?

 

[enforcerfx]

duhh.
when i turn off the monitor, and not using the computer. the card still gets power. it heats up.
i want to cancel that so when i leave my computer on to DL, and i don't need the screen, it won't be so hot. which effects other components - and my room temp.
Thanks.

Buy some 80 or 120mm fans and put them to good use on the video card.

 

[Lt_Dan]

Deleted.

 

[The_Abyss]

Look - posting it twice won't help.


There isn't an option, and there isn't a power button. ATI and Nvidia are now slowly working towards lower power consumption. However if you want to save money whilst you're downloading your illegal movies and pr0n, just do it on another lower power PC.

 

[No1sFanboy]

If you look at my sig. you can see the speeds I under clock my 8800 to when not gaming.
I basically never run my card at default any more. I go straight from under clock to overclock.

My card idles at between 48-51 with the fan at default speeds (60%). I have also measured the power savings at 20 watts from the cards default speeds at idle/desktop use.

Here is the thread where I went into more detail.

 

[Lt_Dan]

sorry, my bad about double posting.
i'll check the thread.
the Riva tools seem a bit complicated.

 

[doormatderek]

HILLARious!!!! =)))))

 

[4745454b]

Thanks Doormat, I was starting to wonder if anyone caught that joke...

As to which program is better, I haven't a clue. I'm an ATI guy, so I use different programs. I don't even know if Coolbits is available/working on the 8600s yet. I would start there, seeing as its built into the Nvidia drivers. If it doesn't allow changing the clock rates, then I'd look to Rivatuner, etc.

 

[The_Abyss]

Thanks Doormat, I was starting to wonder if anyone caught that joke...

As to which program is better, I haven't a clue. I'm an ATI guy, so I use different programs. I don't even know if Coolbits is available/working on the 8600s yet. I would start there, seeing as its built into the Nvidia drivers. If it doesn't allow changing the clock rates, then I'd look to Rivatuner, etc.

Coolbits is not enabled - use nTune instead.

 

[crazywheels]

just unplug the the heatsink fan on the card that will save some power also.

 

[miribus]

Underclocking is the only way to do it sanely.
Modern cards should have 2d/3d settings on them, I don't know if the Nvidias have dynamic voltage control like the ATis do, but, if they do simply experiment with the lowest possible voltage and clock settings your card will still run at for 2d.

 

[roallin]

You could always wire a toggle switch on the PCIe connector inline between the power supply and the graphics card. Drill a hole in the top of the case and mount the switch there. All you would have to do is flick the switch, and the graphics card would be disabled. When you want video agian, turn it back on. Whether or not your computer will explode, I have no idea. But if you try it, make sure you let me know, because I am dying to find out.

 

[Lt_Dan]

i decided to use the Gigabyte vTune to select the speeds and it also has a temp meter of the card.
the Riva did problems.
and the Nvidia hang up on it's stabilty test...

 

[FeareX]

just unplug the the heatsink fan on the card that will save some power also.

His card already is fanless... So he already saves ALOT of power by just having a fanless card :lol:

 

[billdcat4]

I say that if he wants his card to be cooler, add a 120mm fan onto it. He also complained about the heat from the card affecting other components, well upgrade the case fans.... get that heat out...

underclocking is good, undervolting if possible will lower the heat output even more

 

[Lt_Dan]

i bought a fanless card because i want my pc to be quiet.
i have 2 fans in my case and they work at 1000rpm.
in any case, nost of the time i work in windows so i don't need it to be so fast.