Downclocking Saving Power!

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

Hi guys, in my desktop there are 2 cards

 

1. zotac geforce 510 1gb (for mainly movies, webbrowsing etc - mostly used)

2. XFX Radeon HD 6990 4GB (For gaming, true power consumer)

 

I did this to have an "eco" mode.

I use MSI afterburner to monitor my system.

Is it possible to turn off the 6990 when I don´t use it, entirely? As I see it, when using 510, the 6990 just downclocks itself 250MHz core clock, to idle. This saves a lot of power,

however as it is a big card, it still consumes some power. And I´d really like to turn it off entirely. Can this be done somehow?
What would happen if i turned its clockspeed down to 0MHz? Would it reduce the voltage to 0 then turn it off? - Can it get it on again (since turned off no contact) ? 

 

I have both cards connected to the same monitor. Geforce 510 - HDMI   Radeon HD 6990 - DVI.

 

Any suggestions here is accepted and appreciated.

 

 

[Nup]

I odnt think so... so far as i'm aware the only way to use one or the other is to plug it out, linus made a video in using both brands at the same time, but i cant seem to find it

[Sauron]

You can pull out the power cables from the 6990 before you turn on the pc. This would mean keeping the case open or at least with the panel not screwed in. I don't think reducing the clockspeed to 0 is even possible.

[Laputacake]

I odnt think so... so far as i'm aware the only way to use one or the other is to plug it out, linus made a video in using both brands at the same time, but i cant seem to find it

[Nup]

-snip-

Thank you dunno how i couldn't find it

[Uphorics]

Afterburner could have an option to underclock the gpu, not too sure about that.

But I mean, cards sitting at idle don't really use THAT much power as far as I know.

[typographie]

The GT 510 is likely irrelevant in this setup. The 6990 is likely going to sit at it's idle clocks regardless of whether you're using it or using the 510 for these desktop tasks. It should only speed up to full when you're playing a game or otherwise causing it render something demanding.

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

The GT 510 is likely irrelevant in this setup. The 6990 is likely going to sit at it's idle clocks regardless of whether you're using it or using the 510 for these desktop tasks. It should only speed up to full when you're playing a game or otherwise causing it render something demanding.

6990 has 2 GPUs.

 

GPU1 - 60'C During internet browsing.

GPU2 - 43'C (idling)

 

So it is still pulling some wattage through the wall.

 

So low demaning games and webbrowsing i measured the 510 with the 6990 idling to be more power saving, than just taking the 510 out, and using 6990 only.

[typographie]

6990 has 2 GPUs.

 

GPU1 - 60'C During internet browsing.

GPU2 - 43'C (idling)

 

So it is still pulling some wattage through the wall.

 

So low demaning games and webbrowsing i measured the 510 with the 6990 idling to be more power saving, than just taking the 510 out, and using 6990 only.

 

Even completely idle, the HD 6990 is still going to pull some amount of power from the wall. It's a question of whether power draw at absolute idle and power draw from simple web browsing are significantly different enough to justify having an extra PCIe card in there.

 

 

Source

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

Even completely idle, the HD 6990 is still going to pull some amount of power from the wall. It's a question of whether power draw at absolute idle and power draw from simple web browsing are significantly different enough to justify having an extra PCIe card in there.

 

 

Source

To my measurements (from the wall) they were significant enough 20-40W.

So the question still remains. Is there a way to turn it off completely? (Turn off from Device manager, then turn it on?)

[typographie]

So the question still remains. Is there a way to turn it off completely? (Turn off from Device manager, then turn it on?)

 

Not that I'm aware of. Even switching it off in Device Manager will probably just make Windows unaware of it, I don't think that actually stops the hardware from drawing idle power.

[FellTheSky]

this is borderline madness

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

Not that I'm aware of. Even switching it off in Device Manager will probably just make Windows unaware of it, I don't think that actually stops the hardware from drawing idle power.

We´re not talking about uninstalling it/deleting the drivers it anything, just right-click / Deactivate. Maybe this could turn off its power to the PCI-E slot?

 - I'm not at home, and on a laptop, so can't try this out.

[Megahurt]

I would think that pullin out the weaker card completely would make up for the power you would save from switching between the two, on average.

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

I would think that pullin out the weaker card completely would make up for the power you would save from switching between the two, on average.

As i mentioned, I thought this was the case aswell, however I measured wattage from wall, and it seems this was NOT the case. - could´ve done something wrong in noting down the numbers :-D

However it´s still a waste to use the 6990 for browsing and low-end games, i love this mammoth <3

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

Does disabling hardware from device manager turn off its power too ? anyone know ?