throttle a 1080? 1050ti? 1060? low heat gaming

[killster1]

found a 1060 for a good price, lowered the temps in the room alot and turned off turbo for the cpu. 1080's are getting really low in price and always can use another card. I think october/ black friday we will see lots of great gfx deals.

 

[LTC8K6]

Underclock the two 270X cards?

 

[Elfear]

I've seen a few deals for brand new 1080s in the $450-480 range. That's not a bad deal and they're power consumption is relatively low.

LTC8K6's suggestion is a good one too. He should see some decent power savings if he can undervolt and underclock the 270Xs a bit.

 

[ElFenix]

the old CFL LCDs used quite a bit of power. iirc when i switched from a 20" CFL LCD to a 27" LED LCD power consumption dropped by over half. if that's a 32" CFL it's eating power. and monitors are inexpensive and don't go obsolete as fast as graphics cards (and also aren't still well overpriced. 1050 ti for $150? jebus!)

and new nvidia cards are expected Soon™

 

[ZGR]

You can underclock all Nvidia cards since 2012 with Nvidia Inspector. Halved memory clock and core clock for a 1070 lets it be cooled passively without a heatsink (not recommended).

270X is a 2GB GPU. That is useless for Crossfire. Disable one of them and use MSI Afterburner to underclock and undervolt.

That TV is 1080p60hz, which means a 1060 and above is overkill.

Edit: turn off turbo boost for the i5 2500k in windows power settings.

 

[killster1]

You can underclock all Nvidia cards since 2012 with Nvidia Inspector. Halved memory clock and core clock for a 1070 lets it be cooled passively without a heatsink (not recommended).

270X is a 2GB GPU. That is useless for Crossfire. Disable one of them and use MSI Afterburner to underclock and undervolt.

That TV is 1080p60hz, which means a 1060 and above is overkill.

Edit: turn off turbo boost for the i5 2500k in windows power settings.

Solid advice, im not sure about if crossfire helps or not, surely depends on type of game etc. Turbo boost prob is not needed either with the bottleneck being the gfx.

Pretty sure they will be upgrading to a cheapy 4:4:4 42" led 4k lcd. The Sony x750e or something like that looked good, 300ish at times. yes 1060 would be overkill for the lcd 1080p but just barely.

 

[Accord99]

For recent Nvidia cards, just use MSI Afterburner and set the power limit to -50%.

 

[ZGR]

For recent Nvidia cards, just use MSI Afterburner and set the power limit to -50%.

That does nowhere near the amount of underclocking Nvidia inspector uses, but both programs can be used in tandem.

 

[2is]

I don't think a 1060 is overkill for 1080p at all. It actually matches up exceptionally well. Doesn't leaving you wanting for more and in any modern or even relatively modern game, won't be leaving any power on the table either.

 

[Midwayman]

Any reason he doesn't just deal with the real issue and buy a window AC or something?

 

[2is]

Any reason he doesn't just deal with the real issue and buy a window AC or something?

Pumping less heat into the room is dealing with the issue, just in a different way than you propose, and arguably better.

It seems to me that pumping less heat into the room while consuming less power and getting better overall performance is a far better plan then keeping your heat, power consumption and performance the same while incurring the added cost of an AC unit and the 5x additional power it's going to end up consuming.

 

[LTC8K6]

Pumping less heat into the room is dealing with the issue, just in a different way than you propose, and arguably better.

It seems to me that pumping less heat into the room while consuming less power and getting better overall performance is a far better plan then keeping your heat, power consumption and performance the same while incurring the added cost of an AC unit and the 5x additional power it's going to end up consuming.

A small 5.5K btu window A/C unit for a ~300sf room costs about $50 a year to run, according to the energy efficiency stickers of a few selected models.

Perhaps it's not even possible to install one, though?

 

[2is]

A small 5.5K btu window A/C unit for a ~300sf room costs about $50 a year to run, according to the energy efficiency stickers of a few selected models.

Perhaps it's not even possible to install one, though?

The costs can be debated depending on the unit purchased, size of room, average run time and cost of electricity in the area. What cannot be debated is that you are increasing your costs and maintaining the same level of gaming performance vs lowering your costs and getting better performance. The only question is, will the reduction in heat be enough to allow the end user to be comfortable in his own room? If it is, then it's a no brainer.

 

[Midwayman]

Pumping less heat into the room is dealing with the issue, just in a different way than you propose, and arguably better.

It seems to me that pumping less heat into the room while consuming less power and getting better overall performance is a far better plan then keeping your heat, power consumption and performance the same while incurring the added cost of an AC unit and the 5x additional power it's going to end up consuming.

Sure, but the amount of waste heat you're talking about is tiny compared to what a modest AC will remove. Plus you don't have to compromise on gaming performance and get to be more comfortable all around. Win-win. If you're worried about it from a cost perspective people are taking about crippling a 1080 for gods sake. I mean I hope the dude is running all LED bulbs in his room, has thermal film on windows, etc. There are a lot of physical heat management methods we could talk about before getting into trying to reduce your gpu power consumption.

 

[Ken g6]

Edit: turn off turbo boost for the i5 2500k in windows power settings.

Maybe even see if he can get somebody to trade his 2500k for a 3770 non-K?

 

[LTC8K6]

The costs can be debated depending on the unit purchased, size of room, average run time and cost of electricity in the area. What cannot be debated is that you are increasing your costs and maintaining the same level of gaming performance vs lowering your costs and getting better performance. The only question is, will the reduction in heat be enough to allow the end user to be comfortable in his own room? If it is, then it's a no brainer.

I would leave the computer off for a day, and see if it changes the room temp.

My guess is that it will, but only by a couple of degrees. It won't affect the problem overall.

But you never know until you try.

 

[Headfoot]

Yeah I doubt changing the video card will make any noticeable difference. There are bigger issues (ventilation...). Still, the 270x crossfire probably runs pretty bad these days on modern games, even at 1080p. A 1060 would be a nice upgrade, and would use less power than the crossfire. Less multi-gpu issues too, which is the real benefit here.

 

[Guru]

He should get an AC. they actually cost about as much as he'd pay for a new card. GTX 1060 6GB go for around $300 brand new and about $250 used, so for that money he could get an AC and enjoy in the hot summer days!

 

[killster1]

Sure, but the amount of waste heat you're talking about is tiny compared to what a modest AC will remove. Plus you don't have to compromise on gaming performance and get to be more comfortable all around. Win-win. If you're worried about it from a cost perspective people are taking about crippling a 1080 for gods sake. I mean I hope the dude is running all LED bulbs in his room, has thermal film on windows, etc. There are a lot of physical heat management methods we could talk about before getting into trying to reduce your gpu power consumption.

Running the Ac lower will actually cost more than you think. I am pretty sure the power bill will be more than 500$ this month of july with thermostat set around 78.


wow more replies. yes window is thermal insulated, LED or no lights, can get a 1080 for around 400$. installing a AC into the room is a impossible scenario. Adjusting the settings as mentioned helped a lot, the games played are not taxing and seem to be running the same quality with less cpu and GPu power.

Next i will help them find a projector to replace the Old Tv with but im sure thats a whole diff thread TCL P617 or benq 2150ST projector are what peeks my interest for 600$ tv solution. Or even a pico 720p portable projector for 250 looked fun and enjoyable.

1060's look fine, 1080 well if it was me i would just spend the extra for better card and clock it lower.

 

[LTC8K6]

Wow. My central AC is set to 73 here in the mid-Atlantic area, and the power bill rarely tops $120 a month in the summer.

 

[Midwayman]

Yah, I pay less than that by a lot to AC 2400sqft and we're in the mid 80 to mid 90's most of the summer.

FWIW if you find your cost per KWHr its easy enough to figure out exactly how much it would cost to run.

 

[gradoman]

A GTX1080 would be a huge upgrade and last a long while. It's not like the card will run full tilt at all times with every game or on the desktop. Your friend can also turn down the power limit and still enjoy a ton of performance and have a less warm room. When summer is over, all that performance will be there for a great experience at 1080p and high FPS and DSR for sharp graphics.

Changing the display to a new LED display helped me a good bit on cutting down on the heat. Also, get a decent floor fan to push the air around like this Lasko model I've got:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lasko-Cyclone-20-in-Power-Circulator-Fan-3520/100523240

This thing moves a lot of air and should use less power than a small AC. ~100W vs 400W or so.

 

[Midwayman]

FWIW for a cheap and low power cooler, look up swamp coolers. Works better in a low humidity area, but maybe its an option for you.

 

[JeffMD]

As someone who can relate (central ac, room can heat up quickly and I refuse to freeze the house. Windows do not fit the usual window units) i switched to a gaming laptop with a 1060 gtx . it runs much cooler then my desktop did and msi's control panel allows me to toggle the turbo clock of the CPU and GPU. Turning turbo off is an easy way to reduce heat and fan speeds in instances where i want it too. I am currently building an 8400 with a 1080gtx and will be doing lots of testing in curbing heat production on those average days where the ac is not running much.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

The costs can be debated depending on the unit purchased, size of room, average run time and cost of electricity in the area. What cannot be debated is that you are increasing your costs and maintaining the same level of gaming performance vs lowering your costs and getting better performance. The only question is, will the reduction in heat be enough to allow the end user to be comfortable in his own room? If it is, then it's a no brainer.

You will lower power by under 100w, that is a very small amount of heat when looking at your average room. You are wasting your time I hate to say, even if you lower the power by 100w, thats 1/7th of your average space heater which doesnt put much out. You better bet would be to cool the room by a bit or be happy with what you have now. No use in spending cash for a new card and then gimping it.