Maximum power efficiency through low power target

They make noise, too.

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Lighty
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2016 9:34 am

Maximum power efficiency through low power target

Post by Lighty » Tue Jul 19, 2016 9:45 am

Hey guys,

assume that you want to achieve maximum FPS per Watt for 1440p (assume a average 60+ fps target) gaming with cost being irrelevant.

Cards such as the new GTX 1060 seem to be a good candidate for the power efficiency king here but...

Would I have a more power efficient card if I took a GTX 1080 and lowered the power target to 120 Watts?
Can any GTX 1080 owner in here try that? I am really curious about the results of this experiment.

If lowering the power target of a 1080 would give you a better power efficiency than a 1060 then we might have a nice way of keeping our systems cooler and thus more quiet... albeit at a higher price.

Any constructive argumenation for or against this idea is welcome.

Thanks for reading :)

CA_Steve
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Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Maximum power efficiency through low power target

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Jul 19, 2016 10:54 am

Welcome to SPCR.

Pretty damn expensive way to get to get there, if it did work. :)

The GTX 1060 is basically a cut down version of the GTX 1070/1080 silicon. With less RAM and fewer power phases. I think the only place where the GTX 1080 might be more efficient is where the GTX 1060 is way up on the voltage vs freq curve in order to provide the fps and the 1080 can operate lower to get to the same point. If the 1080 is running at 0.8V while the 1060 is at 1V, it could show some savings. So, yeah, you'd have to force the power target lower in order to force the fps lower. Or, frame limit via the game controls. Or, use the custom OC profile to set the V vs F curve. Then again, RAM clock isn't slowing down and there's 2GB more on the 1080. <shrugs>

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