Limiting Power in MSI Afterburner possible?

[NinoDonDino]

I was wondering if i could limited the Power with MSI Afterburner, to safe some power when i don't do anything except watching videos or streams?

Because i'am not sure if it works that way (lower the Power Limit (%) to safe some power) and/or if it could cause problems like damaging the gpu because it's maybe not meant to be done?

If it's important, I have a 3070.

[Coolmaster]

You can't really damage your card by increasing the power limit. It just lets the card draw more power for extended boosts, so it will get hotter but it also is faster.

[NinoDonDino]

Nah i don't mean to increase the power limit, i mean to decrease the power limit to safe power.

That i go from 100 down to 40-60 for example.

[OC-Destroyer]

Your Card will down-clock itself at idle you will not see any benefit from doing that

[Coolmaster]

5 minutes ago, NinoDonDino said:

safe power.

What do you mean by safe? Is your PSU not powerful enough? When you aren't doing anything intensive like watching video, it automatically draws less power.

[NinoDonDino]

My PSU is no problem, and i know that my gpu isn't running at full power when i'am not doing anything really. But i would like to save some more power. 

In MSI Afterbruner it says that it currently draws 10% power while doing nothing really except watching a stream. I would like to get it down abit more if it doesn't cause problems. 

 

 

[Coolmaster]

Your GPU will automatically use as little power as it can when doing stuff. And there is really no reason to decrease it more.

[NinoDonDino]

Alright, thanks^^

[Mark Kaine]

6 hours ago, OC-Destroyer said:

Your Card will down-clock itself at idle you will not see any benefit from doing that

 

6 hours ago, Coolmaster said:

Your GPU will automatically use as little power as it can when doing stuff. And there is really no reason to decrease it more.

I'm sorry, both of these answers are incorrect, you can very much lower power consumption by lowering the power limit / or down volting, with *minimal* loss of performance, sometimes this procedure can even *gain* performance. 

 

And since OP asked if it is possible to save energy this way the correct answer would be "yes". 

[abc_123]

11 hours ago, OC-Destroyer said:

Your Card will down-clock itself at idle you will not see any benefit from doing that

 

10 hours ago, Coolmaster said:

Your GPU will automatically use as little power as it can when doing stuff. And there is really no reason to decrease it more.

 

I have a founders edition Titan XP with a reference cooler. If I set the power limit to 50% I can still get 60 fps in most games on max settings but it runs about 20C cooler.

[NinoDonDino]

On 12/11/2020 at 10:47 PM, Mark Kaine said:

 

I'm sorry, both of these answers are incorrect, you can very much lower power consumption by lowering the power limit / or down volting, with *minimal* loss of performance, sometimes this procedure can even *gain* performance. 

 

And since OP asked if it is possible to save energy this way the correct answer would be "yes". 

mhm ok. Well afterward i just tried turning down the Power Limit to 40 (which is the lowest i could go) and it still was running at 9% while completely idle, like before.

Do i maybe have to restart the PC, so that it's actually working? or is maybe MSI Afterburner not the right tool for that?

And like i ask, can i damage the gpu or is it safe to turn down the power limit?

[OC-Destroyer]

11 hours ago, NinoDonDino said:

mhm ok. Well afterward i just tried turning down the Power Limit to 40 (which is the lowest i could go) and it still was running at 9% while completely idle, like before.

Do i maybe have to restart the PC, so that it's actually working? or is maybe MSI Afterburner not the right tool for that?

And like i ask, can i damage the gpu or is it safe to turn down the power limit?

that is because it is not measuring GPU usage the way you think it is that is talking about the 2d part of chip not the part that consumes a lot of power

[NinoDonDino]

On 12/14/2020 at 4:15 AM, OC-Destroyer said:

that is because it is not measuring GPU usage the way you think it is that is talking about the 2d part of chip not the part that consumes a lot of power

The 9% are not usage i'am talking about, but the "Power, %" in Afterbruner 

idle my "usage" would be at like 0-3%