Switching between 3d/2d bad for video card?

[LOUISSSSS]

i noticed i switch from cs:source (3d) to desktop (2d) to check my IMs or change song pretty frequently..

is this switching between games and desktop bad for the video card or any part of your system?

 

[BassBomb]

no, maybe ur psu if it was weak because stress ON stress OFF stress ON stress OFF stress OWNED

 

[LOUISSSSS]

i didn't say i was having any problems.. just wondering if it was bad for any componencts of a system

 

[xtknight]

Nope, not one bit. All you're doing is asking the CPU to perform a few instructions (lose display context, minimize, and switch to the desktop), and for the GPU to temporarily stop processing.

 

[Lord Evermore]

No it won't cause any particular stress on the system or any particular components.

 

[TheRyuu]

In fact, in all probablility, your cause less stress for you system due to putting the 3d app on hold.

 

[zephyrprime]

no. Like wixboz said, it probably puts less strain on the system. Besides, stuff like this doesn't strain systems. Overclocking or even too much dust on your heatsinks can strain systems but not stuff like task switching.

The real problem with alt-tabbing is with Windows. It's whole GDI+DirectX system has never really played so well together. There's always a chance of crashing when you alt-tab out of poorly written games. We'll just have to wait for vista to fix that.