AFK-ing a game on an integrated gpu

[sythee]

Hello everyone!

 

Basically, I wanted to AFK a game on my integrated GPU (vega 11) while I am asleep, but use my discrete GPU (Gigabyte RX 580 4gb) for daily use, any opinions? The only hassle will be the time to plug my monitor into the motherboard, and the other way around.

 

(I guess this is a very dumb question but I just wanna hear your guys' thoughts.)

[Levent]

Doesnt make sense to me.

[Moonzy]

why?

[Electronics Wizardy]

You can select the gpu that you want to render the game in windows, so that seems like an even easier option.

[sythee]

Just now, Levent said:

Doesnt make sense to me.

Not using my discrete gpu, therefore not reducing its lifespan

[TempestCatto]

Is it a game where if you leave it running you farm or earn more of something? Depending on the game you might be able to build or buy a cheap as chips PC to use a local server and just leave that run instead. Otherwise, if that's not the case, I see no reason to this. I'd just shut the game down and sleep your computer. 

[sythee]

Just now, Moonzy said:

why?

Just not wanting to reduce the rx's lifespan since its going to be afk-ing for a couple of months.

[Levent]

Just now, sythee said:

Not using my discrete gpu, therefore not reducing its lifespan

That also doesnt make sense to be.

Use a quality PSU, keep your GPU cooler properly, maintain it and you will not "reduce its lifespan" I have a 11 year GPU that works as good as the day it left the factory.

[sythee]

Just now, TempestCatto said:

Is it a game where if you leave it running you farm or earn more of something? Depending on the game you might be able to build or buy a cheap as chips PC to use a local server and just leave that run instead. Otherwise, if that's not the case, I see no reason to this. I'd just shut the game down and sleep your computer. 

Basically, yes, I have an old laptop I would use that but my father uses it.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, sythee said:

Not using my discrete gpu, therefore not reducing its lifespan

You should be able to use your GPU for months at full load. Look at all the mining GPUs, they didn't seem to care about the heavy load.

[WereCat]

3 minutes ago, sythee said:

Just not wanting to reduce the rx's lifespan since its going to be afk-ing for a couple of months.

it wont reduce it's lifespan

[Mark Kaine]

5 minutes ago, WereCat said:

it wont reduce it's lifespan

of course it will look at all the (half) dead mining gpus... 

 

 

heat destroys electronics,  more heat will destroy it faster, that's why we have 1-2 years warranty and not 10.

 

[Mark Kaine]

12 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Look at all the mining GPUs, they didn't seem to care about the heavy load.

well of course they didn't because they got the investment back x 100... *plus* sell the old half dead gpus with dried out paste and cracked chips to gamers for exorbitant prices on ebay, why would they care, doesn't matter if it dies... 

[Mark Kaine]

35 minutes ago, sythee said:

Hello everyone!

 

Basically, I wanted to AFK a game on my integrated GPU (vega 11) while I am asleep, but use my discrete GPU (Gigabyte RX 580 4gb) for daily use, any opinions? The only hassle will be the time to plug my monitor into the motherboard, and the other way around.

 

(I guess this is a very dumb question but I just wanna hear your guys' thoughts.)

well more likely than not you'll burn out the ipgu faster than the dedicated one, as they typically run hotter  - depends on the game too.

 

35 minutes ago, sythee said:

I guess this is a very dumb question 

I agree, but here we are...! 

 

 

[WereCat]

27 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

of course it will look at all the (half) dead mining gpus... 

 

 

heat destroys electronics,  more heat will destroy it faster, that's why we have 1-2 years warranty and not 10.

 

If you want to be technical then thermal cycling during normal use shortens the lifespan faster than having the GPU at full load constantly due to physical stress of thermal expansion and contraction of the silicon which causes actual physical wear on the silicon and the solder joints.

 

Most mining GPUs died due to VRAM being constantly stressed out and at high temperatures, the GPU die part itself barely did any work. On most cards VRAM has only very basic or minimal cooling so in scenarios where you get many cards in a single system in a hot room it ran very close to it's max temp spec or even exceeded it which drastically reduced it's life span for those components.

Generally most mining cards are just fine. The ones to avoid because of the reason I mentioned above are cards like RTX 3090 which have half of it's VRAM chips on the other side of the PCB with barely any cooling and that part of VRAM is what's typically the first thing to go bad on those cards because of that.

 

Another part to typically fail are the VRM components which vary a lot from model to model. Some basic and cheapest cards have just very basic VRM that will not last long during heavy 24/7 use. That said, on mining cards it's still likely that only the memory portion of VRM is the one to fail due to it being one of the main components in heavy use.

 

Even saying all of that. These components can still last for years during those conditions and those that failed are more of an outlier rather than a proof of mining being harmful to a card.

[Mark Kaine]

15 minutes ago, WereCat said:

Even saying all of that. These components can still last for years during those conditions and those that failed are more of an outlier rather than a proof of mining being harmful to a card.

i mean, i agree with all of that... just saying that it doesn't matter how much wear and tear you put on a component won't shorten its lifespan i don't agree with, because it certainly will.

 

so if a user can mitigate the wear then i say go for it (like with better cooling,  good maintenance,  etc) but in OPs case they basically just get to choose which component gets to endure the most stress, and neither seems too great options... 

 

[WereCat]

12 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

i mean, i agree with all of that... just saying that it doesn't matter how much wear and tear you put on a component won't shorten its lifespan i don't agree with, because it certainly will.

 

That's true but it does not matter. Having the GPU stored in a box will reduce it's lifespan as well then... because of oxidation. Unless you store it in a vacuum.

 

I'm just saying "no, it won't reduce" because in a grand scheme of things... it does not matter. It's not really a factor to take into consideration for his use case or anything to worry about at all.

[Moonzy]

5 hours ago, sythee said:

Just not wanting to reduce the rx's lifespan since its going to be afk-ing for a couple of months.

in normal use case, you'll be replacing the GPU long before it dies from some extra uses

if anything, the fan bearing would wear out sooner, but that ought to only happen when you wanna replace the GPU anyways
or u can just ziptie normal fans onto it, not something that i would be concerned about

 

but if you DO wanna go through the hassle, you can probably do it with software instead of plugging and unplugging your display cable, as that probably wears things down even more

[BrandonLatzig]

also if you are using the Integrated gpu, wouldnt that semi defeat the purpose..by putting more effort onto the cpu?

[xAcid9]

19 hours ago, sythee said:

Hello everyone!

 

Basically, I wanted to AFK a game on my integrated GPU (vega 11) while I am asleep, but use my discrete GPU (Gigabyte RX 580 4gb) for daily use, any opinions? The only hassle will be the time to plug my monitor into the motherboard, and the other way around.

 

(I guess this is a very dumb question but I just wanna hear your guys' thoughts.)

When you want to AFK, reduce all graphic settings to ultra imba low and use lowest resolution, also limit FPS to 30 or lower if possible.