GPUs are similiar to CPUs in that they do "idle" and "full load" right?

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Like when your p00ter is just sitting there, the CPU is running a bit cooler, but when you fire up Quake 3, it starts pumpin out more heat. Does the same hold true for video cards? I would have assumed so.

Reason I'm curious is that I was reading where someone suggested that if overclocking, you should return it to normal settings when doing desktop work (like Excel or Word).

I figured that if doing something like Excel then the GPU wouldn't be doing much, so clocking back down to the default speed wouldn't really change anything, because the card is doing little work as it is.

So do GPUs "idle" like CPUs? Or are they on full blast all the time?

Did that even make sense?

 

[MoMeanMugs]

I don't know fully, but overclocking is gonna take more juice to run the puppy, so it is going to get hotter. For 2D acceleration, I doubt it would matter that much if it is overclocked or not.

 

[Baronz]

Yes they do have an idle and load temp change. Though your video card will jump higher in temperature faster than your CPU ever would.

At load, the more you OC the hotter it will get. When idle It will be almost the same temperature if its OC'ed or not. but 2d stuff still uses the GPU, so if you crazily overclock it, it will crash in 2d eventhough its not at "load".