Consumption Concerned

[rko_gmr]

Whats the power consumed by a graphics card while just downloading from torrent and keeping the MONITOR OFF
i m often downloading movies and games at night unlimited b.t.w my graphics card is radeon hd 6870
and my psu is xfx core edition pro 650W

 

[jaguarskx]

It doesn't matter if the monitor is off or not. If I am playing Crysis 2 the video card will draw the same amount of power whether the monitor is on or off.

The HD 6870 basically draws 11w of power when it is idle; assuming it is not overclocked. Under typical gaming conditions it has been measured to go up to about 125w.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd6870-hd6850_9.html#sect0

 

[rko_gmr]

It doesn't matter if the monitor is off or not. If I am playing Crysis 2 the video card will draw the same amount of power whether the monitor is on or off.

The HD 6870 basically draws 11w of power when it is idle; assuming it is not overclocked. Under typical gaming conditions it has been measured to go up to about 125w.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/radeon-hd6870-hd6850/hd6800_power.png

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd6870-hd6850_9.html#sect0

doesnt the power consumption of a card depends on some extent of the resolution of a monitor or nature of the monitor
i.e CRT , LCD , LED
I really dont have a lot of idea regarding this.......

 

[hang-the-9]

doesnt the power consumption of a card depends on some extent of the resolution of a monitor or nature of the monitor
i.e CRT , LCD , LED
I really dont have a lot of idea regarding this.......

If you close your eyes while driving, does the car use less gas?

If you are not running a graphics intensive program, the card will use just about the same wattage at any resolution. It's still putting out the signal to the monitor and doing the work, with the monitor off you just can't see it.

 

[jaguarskx]

doesnt the power consumption of a card depends on some extent of the resolution of a monitor or nature of the monitor
i.e CRT , LCD , LED
I really dont have a lot of idea regarding this.......

No.

What can improve your overall power consumption is the power supply (PSU).

Prior to the 80PLUS certification which began sometime around 2005, most power supplies were on average 65% - 70% power efficient at about 75% - 80% load, above that and the efficiency would drop, below that and the efficiency would drop. Sometime it would drop to as low as 45% - 50%.

Basically what that means is your PC needs direct current (DC) to run. Your electrical outlet provides alternating current (AC), the PSU converts AC to DC, but it is not 100% efficient. If your PSU 650w were not 80PLUS certified PSU, and all your PC components together required 300w of power, your load would only be 46% (300w/650w). That could result in your PSU being only 50% efficient. That would mean that the PSU would draw 600w from the AC outlet, it provides 300w to the PC and 300w is wasted as mostly heat.

Fortunately, you have a 80PLUS certified PSU. The basically means that at nearly any load, the minimum efficiency would be 80%. So while the PSU is providing 300w to your PC components, it would draw 375w from the AC outlet. 75w would be wasted as mostly heat. There are several levels of 80PLUS; 80PLUS Platinum I believe is the highest and it think that means at least 90% power efficient. That would drop the AC outlet power draw from 375w down to 333w.


The general rule of thumb regarding CPUs and video cards is the higher the performance, the more power it will use. It power consumption is a major concern, then you may need to adjust your future gaming habits and buy more energy efficient parts at the cost of performance.

 

[rko_gmr]

Best answer selected by rko_gmr.