After I read that Windows 7's video architecture is so advanced that you can even use a Nvidia and an ATI card simultaneously, I would think it is a natural question to ask if you can turn off a card completely?
It would be the most amazing an quiet solution for 99% of the users, who share their time between:
- web browsing, text writing, music listening, movie watching tasks in most of their time, when a quiet system if the most preferable
- playing 3D games with headphones or 5.1 speakers, where videocard noise doesn't matter at all
For me, a natural combination would be to use a fanless GT210 for 90% of my time, but occassionally switch to a stronger card for gaming, where the noise doesn't matter at all.
It all would be possible using Windows 7, but my only problem is that I don't know if it is possible to turn off a card to a level where it doesn't need active cooling? I mean can someone measure with dual or integrated + normal cards how much power a modern performance card uses when it's for example disabled in device manager? How else could we disable a card? Isn't any possibility to make a card go sleep from software?
A hard core solution would be a PCI-E 16x raiser with a switch on it, but I haven't seen anything like this...
Turning off video cards in Windows 7 possible?
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There has been an attampt by NVIDIA to do this. But they dumped the idea (i think demand was to low).
To switch a card of while the PC is running, you need to implement a hardware switch of. It's definitely not possible to do this in software.
So either wait till ATI or NVIDIA pic this idea up again, or just stick with the very effective powersave modes...
Greettz Audiodude
To switch a card of while the PC is running, you need to implement a hardware switch of. It's definitely not possible to do this in software.
So either wait till ATI or NVIDIA pic this idea up again, or just stick with the very effective powersave modes...
Greettz Audiodude
nVidia's Optimus technology actually does completely turn off the power to the graphics card when not in use. This requires a specialized motherboard and specific hardware, however (for now, only mobile applications)...
ATI support it in laptops IIRC, but there is no desktop support.
One trick which does work is to get a low power card (or on-board video) and a paired up high end one to use in a Crossfire configuration. You can use on-board video with Hybrid Crossfire.
The low power card is your main one. Then just pop the high end one in when you need it. Because it won't be your primary card you don't have to re-configure your display or anything, it is simply detected and used by Crossfire to give you the performance you want.
Of course there are some limits to Crossfire and some games work better than others, but basically that is the simplest way to do it.
I wish the kind of power management you suggest existed for desktops.
One trick which does work is to get a low power card (or on-board video) and a paired up high end one to use in a Crossfire configuration. You can use on-board video with Hybrid Crossfire.
The low power card is your main one. Then just pop the high end one in when you need it. Because it won't be your primary card you don't have to re-configure your display or anything, it is simply detected and used by Crossfire to give you the performance you want.
Of course there are some limits to Crossfire and some games work better than others, but basically that is the simplest way to do it.
I wish the kind of power management you suggest existed for desktops.
I cant wait until optimus is released for desktop motherboards. It would be positively amazing. Have been looking for something like this for a long time.
When i got the latest motherboard, an AMD board with integrated HD3200 i though the Hybrid crossfire might do something similar, but it doesnt. While that computer is my current desktop i'm using dedicated graphics, will make it an htpc later w the IGP, (should idle at ~35w at worst), but it is a shame it is currently idling at 70w just because of the ATI 3870HD card.
Currently we have amazing intel processors in the clarkdale i3 and the i5 w integrated graphics that can get ridiculous performance at 25w idle! Imagine if we could use optimus to have this low idle power with installed discrete graphics! :shock:
Too bad that nvidia probably dont want us using the intel 3150 along with their technology, they will probably force us to use an nvidia igp :/
When i got the latest motherboard, an AMD board with integrated HD3200 i though the Hybrid crossfire might do something similar, but it doesnt. While that computer is my current desktop i'm using dedicated graphics, will make it an htpc later w the IGP, (should idle at ~35w at worst), but it is a shame it is currently idling at 70w just because of the ATI 3870HD card.
Currently we have amazing intel processors in the clarkdale i3 and the i5 w integrated graphics that can get ridiculous performance at 25w idle! Imagine if we could use optimus to have this low idle power with installed discrete graphics! :shock:
Too bad that nvidia probably dont want us using the intel 3150 along with their technology, they will probably force us to use an nvidia igp :/
The 3870 is under 20W in idle so saving 35W just by removing the discreet card is a pipe dream.Slothbear wrote:While that computer is my current desktop i'm using dedicated graphics, will make it an htpc later w the IGP, (should idle at ~35w at worst), but it is a shame it is currently idling at 70w just because of the ATI 3870HD card.
I doubt using both Intel and nVidia/ATI graphics will ever be officially supported. I wouldn't hold your breath for Hybrid Power on the desktop either.
In the mean time get a board with on-board ATI IGP. Then get a discreet card of the same generation. You can the just power down and install the card when needed, and don't need to change drivers or anything like that. It isn't ideal but the on-board 5xxx video is actually pretty strong these days so it is fine for everything other than newer games.
In the mean time get a board with on-board ATI IGP. Then get a discreet card of the same generation. You can the just power down and install the card when needed, and don't need to change drivers or anything like that. It isn't ideal but the on-board 5xxx video is actually pretty strong these days so it is fine for everything other than newer games.
