Don't need my GPU 90%+ of the time but when I do...

CyberianK · March 23, 2017

... I want the best available.

Hey guys I have a unique problem, I really can't find a solution for

I am gaming less and less I am just doing web and social stuff and working most of the time. But occasionally I game or do 3d stuff and when I do I want maximum GPU power for things like triple screen resolutions and such.

There is no problem finding silent PC components for pretty much anything. Currently I am looking at an i7 7700k with a beefy cooler and a Fractal Define R5 case or sth. I have only SSDs my HDs are at an external NAS that is in a different room. What I hate is GPUs cause as I said I really don't need one 90% of the time but when I do I'd like a 1080 or better. And even the best idle noise GPU is usually louder than idle CPU cooler noise. Also you sometimes have little spikes with GPU not going idle anymore cause of some hardware acceleration in UI.

The 7700 has the latest generation of integrated graphics. So I thought wouldn't it be possible to run on integrated graphics 90% of the time and only switch on the dedicated when I want to do gaming? Monitor IO might be a mess but maybe workable with hubs and displayport and such.

Unfortunately my Google-Fu fails me on that issue only leading me to some strange notebook things and apple devices. Doesn't seem this is a thing... which would be bad I thought it must be technically possible somehow.

Anyone knows more on this? Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Edited March 23, 2017 by TheRandomness
Fixed formatting

Mira Yurizaki · March 23, 2017

Most of the AIBs now, if you buy a board using their custom cooler, have a "partially zero fan mode" where the fans don't run at all until the temperatures go above some threshold.

Otherwise you can use software to adjust their fan curves.

paddy-stone · March 23, 2017

35 minutes ago, CyberianK said:

... I want the best available.

Hey guys I have a unique problem, I really can't find a solution for

I am gaming less and less I am just doing web and social stuff and working most of the time. But occasionally I game or do 3d stuff and when I do I want maximum GPU power for things like triple screen resolutions and such.

There is no problem finding silent PC components for pretty much anything. Currently I am looking at an i7 7700k with a beefy cooler and a Fractal Define R5 case or sth. I have only SSDs my HDs are at an external NAS that is in a different room. What I hate is GPUs cause as I said I really don't need one 90% of the time but when I do I'd like a 1080 or better. And even the best idle noise GPU is usually louder than idle CPU cooler noise. Also you sometimes have little spikes with GPU not going idle anymore cause of some hardware acceleration in UI.

The 7700 has the latest generation of integrated graphics. So I thought wouldn't it be possible to run on integrated graphics 90% of the time and only switch on the dedicated when I want to do gaming? Monitor IO might be a mess but maybe workable with hubs and displayport and such.

Unfortunately my Google-Fu fails me on that issue only leading me to some strange notebook things and apple devices. Doesn't seem this is a thing... which would be bad I thought it must be technically possible somehow.

Anyone knows more on this? Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

It's possible for sure to run the iGPU 90% of the time, then when you want to play a game or soemthing that demands more GPU power, just reboot, go into the BIOS and set the discrete GPU as output. If you have a monitor with multi-inputs, eg mine had 2 HDMI ports and display port, then yuo don't even need to swap cables around. For multi-monitor config you will though most likely. I haven't tested this myself (reminder to self: test this shit), but believe it should work as I said.