Almost all modern (mid-range or higher) video cards already do this – they scale fan speed to actual GPU temperatures.
True, but they never seem to switch the fan off completely. They just rev it down a little.
And IME the fans seem to spin up unreasonably quickly (and noisily), even at fairly light loads.
My (admittedly quite old now) Gigabyte Radeon X800XL copes admirably with Company of Heroes without needing any dedicated fan-cooling, but if you ran it with a fan-cooled card then I’d bet the fan would be shrieking away at full speed.
Anyone want my old Diamond Monster 3D add-on cards? Just for nostalgia’s sake?? Ha! I had two back in the day and they kicked ass for Quake2. The gamer in me is almost ashamed to say that today’s uber hi-res graphics are almost wasted?? Game action is so fast these days you can’t really enjoy all the effort put into the looks.
It’s almost getting Hollywood where the graphics just don’t impress anymore because people assume anything can be done. Motor heads can appreciate it, but I think the mystique of high end graphics cards have been lost.
Hmm… would you mind showing me what this beast does for a game like Far Cry 2 ? Which just got released a week or two ago ? I’ve been hooked on the game since it was released, but unfortunately I am actually in the market for a new card since it always complains that my ATI X1300 is too old, and granted it is archaic, but seeing your card playing FC2 would be a rush!
Hopefully we will start being able to use the graphics card for more than just games with DirectX 11 and Windows 7 and obviously for the mac users snow leopard.
Gives me another excuse to spend all that money on a new one.
Can you come up with some nice contest to use those incredible calculation power for some general purpose? I mean: having a GPU fetish is nice and all, but it would be a shame to only use it for games. We as a developer community in CH and SOF should be able to come up with some pretty neat applications other then games for the unmatched power residing in our laptops, workstations and mobile phones (yes,my cell has a GPU too!)?
The question is why do we still spend so much on a cutting edge gfx card than on a console…since almost all titles released today are for all 3 platforms, that there is no exclusivity left except for a few titles?
I too like the fact that the GTX e260/280 class of video cards have a 2D mode which makes them efficient when idling. However, note that this only works when you are using only one monitor.
I can’t duplicate this. I’m seeing 190 watts on my wattmeter at idle, whether I have one monitor enabled or three. Under load (RTHDRIBL) I see 333 watts, so the card uses 143w (!!).
How does the removal of half the back plate affect the physical stability of the card in respect to the case?
None, the top bracket / screw is perfectly sufficient. The 2nd screw can also support the single bracket, too, if you’re worried.
Hey Jeff, I never really gave it some thought, and I know that this comment’s gonna be quite off-topic, but what software do you use to run this blog? Mind sharing with us?
I think the grill is so restrictive because of the electro magnetic radiations. Different countries have different rules here and demand hardware to be manufactured in such a way, that the radiation sent out by the card is below a certain level… on the other hand, they will also require, that the card blocks radiation generated from outside by other devices up to a certain level (meaning it should operate flawlessly, even if the surrounding radiation is beyond certain levels). This is the reason why usually most vendors use metal cases. They are also good for cooling of course. However plastic cases, glass cases or similar will not block enough radiation and make it hard to meet the requirements to have the equipment sold within certain countries.
Small holes in a metal slot allow air to pass (through the whole), but not radiation. See your microwave oven. The glass in front is shielded by a metal plate. This plate has holes, so you can look inside. But the holes are chosen so small, that 2.4 GHz radiation can’t pass through it (otherwise you wouldn’t want to stand close to a working microwave oven
I still think the whole PC case design sucks horribly. If they would make the design completely different, most devices could have their heat sinks outside of the case (this will not lead to more radiation. Heat sinks are made of metal themselves, they are blockers themselves, they need no case around them). Much more could be cooled in a 100% passive manner if not everything was in a crowed case that is like a sauna once your PC runs.
and the CPU is directly pressed against the inner side of it? Of course it can get hot and you can burn yourself if you touch that. Yeah, I guess it will not pass certain consumer institute tests if the hot parts are not within a case where they are protected. But guess what, your hot plate in the kitchen gets much hotter and it may be sold.
Power adapters with external heat spreaders like this one
can be cooled passively 80% of the time. They may only require an internal fan to power up in case your computer is under 100% load for longer than 15 minutes and constantly stays at this level.
What OS are your running this card on? I’m trying to find a card like this that has x64 drivers to install into a Server 2008 machine that I’m using as a workstation…
I too like the fact that the GTX e260/280 class of video cards have a 2D mode which makes them efficient when idling.
However, note that this only works when you are using only one monitor. For some reason, the card goes into 3D mode when you start using dual monitors. Hopefully this is just a driver revision or 2 away from being fixed. For now, I just disable my other monitor when I don’t need to use it to make the card go in 2D mode.
I can’t duplicate this. I’m seeing 190 watts on my wattmeter at idle, whether I have one monitor enabled or three. Under load (RTHDRIBL) I see 333 watts, so the card uses 143w (!!).
Hi Jeff, if you check the power efficiency chart you linked to, the GTX 280 was using 159.1 Watts which I suspect is in 2D mode. Your reading of 190 watts might be in idle 3D mode. Your card for some reason my not down clocking to 2D mode. As I mentioned, I had to switch off the second monitor from Vista’s display properties for the card to kick into 2D mode… otherwise it stays in idle 3D mode.
How do I know it goes into 2D mode? By using the EVGA Precision fan control/overclocking utility that also displays, among other things, the GPU core speed, shader speed, and memory speed in real time. I noticed that in 2D mode, all these 3 down clock (especially the memory) to less than half of their default values. The temps also go down from mid 50 C to mid 40 C when in 2D mode… I have an EVGA GTX 260. I believe you can also use the EVGA utility for non EVGA cards.
I tend to upgrade my video card about once a year, also, but I tend to wait until the price/performance on a new line of video cards is at the right place. I’ll never pay $600 for a video card when I know I’ll be able to get it at half the price if I wait a few months.
I was tempted by the 280, but they have a new 55nm process series of cards that are coming out in September (Oh? It’s November? Meh.) which should help resolve one of the biggest issues I have with my 8800GTS, which is the crazy heat output. It doesn’t bother my computer any – the fans on my computer blow copious amounts of air through the case, it’s me that gets bugged by the heat, since all that hot air enters my bedroom, and turns my place into an inferno. I had to place my computer under the central air vent so I didn’t just sit there and sweat all day long when doing work. Price? About $250 a month during summer months to keep my bedroom at 80 degrees (and the rest of my house at about 65, which goes to show you how bloody hot the 8800 is).
Also, except for having great gfx, I think f3 is way more then
Oblivion with guns. It’s Oblivion with Story (notice the capital S).
Npcs that don’t talk about the mudcrabs they saw yesterday but instead
talk about things that are actually relevant. Quests that are not
just the same generic irrelevant quests all over again. More then 2
voices for ALL the characters around.
Don’t forget the game mechanics. Oblivion had one of the worst game mechanics systems of all times. I’m tempted to write a 10 page rant about how horrible it was, and how the game was easier to beat at level 1 than at 30, but I’ll just leave be, and say I was immensely surprised to find that Fallout actually has brilliant game mechanics. Nearly every skill, stat, and perk, is important and a viable option in the game, making character design interesting and challenging.
Gamespot, Eurogamer and others have comparisons. The PC version is generally regarded the best with regards to controls, graphics and loading times, though some people claim it is also the buggiest version.
