Adjusting GT 240 512MB DDR5 with Fan Power Consumption

[ptsome110]

I got this because my integrated Graphic Card (nvidia 6150) has a windows rating of 3; whereas this has a 7. With this card i can play some of the later games like prototype, demigod etc

The problem is that I rarely game & the fan on this is a bit loud if you don't have any other sounds in the room. Also I'm thinking since I don't use this graphic card alot my electricity bill might be higher if i just have it installed all the time.

Solution: install the card only when your going to be gaming.

but this is annoying and i was wondering if somebody knew how to turn on/off the graphic card via software or switch in and out between the PCI Express graphic card and the built in graphic card?

thanks

 

[jryan388]

If you aren't gaming, the card is under a very small load and therefore only uses a small fraction of it's full power usage while gaming (about a tenth). Don't worry about it. It would only save a dollar or two per year max. You could just turn off you computer when you aren't using it...

On a side note, some laptops do have that feature, it's called (I think) nvidia optimus. The graphics card is completely powered off when not rendering 3d. But it's really not worth it for desktops; For a laptop, saving even a little bit of power helps to extend battery life.

Also, Windows ratings (Windows Experience Index) is total crap. That gt240 way, WAY more powerful than a 6150.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

better off switching the lights off and using power saving light globes than to worry about a low power gfx card. also +1 WEI ratings is load of crap. I Also, if you want to save power with the card in, you can use msi afterburner to underclock it, and save that as a profile and adjust fan speed too. I wouldnt adjust the fan speed lower than default or you will risk the card overheating. Also if you are using windows aero, that uses a bit more gfx power than when it is off. so you can turn aero off. But yeah, if your willing to do that, you may just be too anal about power saving for 1 or 2$ per year......

 

[wa1]

+2 for WEI rating is suck.
Agree, GT240 won't draw much power, don't worry about that.

 

[ptsome110]

thanks for the response guys. power saving was a secondary issue & now i know its not an issue at all.

the main problem was with the noise the fan generates. thats why i was hoping i could switch to the onboard GPU without manually doing the switch.