Are you OK with power-throttling on high-end GPUs?

[W1zzard]

Both AMD and NVIDIA have introduced elaborate graphics cards power consumption limitation systems with their latest high-end accelerators. While both systems are working on fundamentally different levels at this time, and it seems that nothing is set in stone yet, it looks like both companies are actively looking into ways to reduce the power consumption of their products in scenarios that do not perfectly fit their agenda.

What do you think about the introduction of these features?

 

[pantherx12]

As long as I have full control I don't care.

 

[W1zzard]

vote for it on the tpu frontpage

 

[brandonwh64]

Voted, it would be nice to have these features but as panther said, we need full control so we can turn it off if we want

 

[pantherx12]

vote for it on the tpu frontpage

Will now, it was still on the AMD gpu rename poll when I posted.

 

[arnoo1]

aslong it gives me full performance when enabled and when it does not interfere with oc'ing i don't care

 

[Black Panther]

No I wouldn't want my card to be limited to 300W or whatever they choose. I'm no expert but I've never understood why TDP needed to be limited either way - like why did AMD use the same gpu's for the 5970 as for the 5870 but underclock them to limit the TDP?

I'm guessing they want to be pro-environment or whatever but then please don't limit TDP but let us choose. After all, someone running a mega-pc on solar panels/wind turbines is doing more of a favour to the environment than those running much weaker cards on conventional power systems.

 

[Red_Machine]

I voted "No, I know what I'm doing". I don't care about the increased TDP. As long as it doesn't fry my system, I'm happy.

 

[erocker]

I don't think this applies to me since I don't use programs like Furmark or Kombustor.

 

[pantherx12]

No I wouldn't want my card to be limited to 300W or whatever they choose. I'm no expert but I've never understood why TDP needed to be limited either way - like why did AMD use the same gpu's for the 5970 as for the 5870 but underclock them to limit the TDP?

I'm guessing they want to be pro-environment or whatever but then please don't limit TDP but let us choose. After all, someone running a mega-pc on solar panels/wind turbines is doing more of a favour to the environment than those running much weaker cards on conventional power systems.

To not melt your PCI-E slot or cause PCI-E power connectors to overheat and burn.

 

[inferKNOX]

I voted, yes as long as I have the control. It'd be nice to know that if I'm concerned about the load on the PSU or general power usage, I can control it.

EDIT: ROTFL, noone thinks they know what's good for us!

 

[Bo$$]

only if i got control, if compatability issues arise, then what can i do?

 

[Swamp Monster]

As long as I can control it, it is ok.

 

[cadaveca]

I tihnk you need an explanation of why it's implemented before you can say whether this is a good thing or not. rebellion against "rules" isn't always the best option.

 

[scaminatrix]

Yep, I'm okay with it as long as they have a way of turning it off for non-noobs.

 

[jpierce55]

I started to vote as long as it stays out of my games, and realized I would not know unless I have full control..... so 1 more vote on the full control.

 

[Bundy]

I see no problem with this if it does not impact on my use of the card. I rarely bench for the sake of it and due to high ambient temperatures, rarely OC GPU either.

 

[Corrosion]

good for longevity . but i would like control so i can play some flash games at full power.

 

[pantherx12]

I tihnk you need an explanation of why it's implemented before you can say whether this is a good thing or not. rebellion against "rules" isn't always the best option.

I imagine it's simply to keep the card within powerspec, whilst still giving the end user the option to run it out of spec ( loads of 480 owners do this lol )

 

[Mussels]

i havent looked into it very much to really have an opinion yet.

 

[bear jesus]

As long as it does not effect overclocking and will never kick in while overclocked with extra voltage in game i don't see much of a problem but the fact it only kicks in during stress testing programs is kind of annoying but i must admit i always use ATI tool to find artifacts as it always catches them before things life furmark and kombustor for me.

The only possible problem i can see is if a card is put under water and pushed to the max safe voltage with a massive overclock if it could be possible to reach the power limit although i assume it would only kick in when using hard volt modding and subzero cooling methods.

 

[Wshlist]

I think it's OK in principle if there's control by the user, but feel that it will lead to them cutting corners and putting cheaper powercircuitry on the PCB and thus destroy OC'ing and I'm not OK with that.
Unless they don't act that way or the power parts are cheap enough for them to not care too much to save in that area, and don't start designing too much with that thought in mind and reducing the actual GPU and cause a slip in competition.
So it depends on the circumstances and secondary behavior and part prices.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

I hope they can read the results of this poll. and yeah.. I want full control of it. Dont care about the throttling

 

[jtleon]

I have to agree - I understand the reasons for this throttling - otherwise massive failures!

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1004378/why-nvidia-chips-defective

But without such a "band-aid" the manufacturers must engineer more robust hardware. If they can make it cheap - they will.

If we do not stand our ground - and make them learn how to cool it down on BOTH sides of the GPU - and/or even INSIDE the GPU - then they will do nothing! THERE IS NO FUTURE!!!

Just look at the crap these companies are doing with FURMARK!!!

http://www.techpowerup.com/69799/ATI-Deliberately-Retards-Catalyst-for-FurMark.html?cp=3
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/ati_radeon_hd_5970_overclocking_problems,2.html

jtleon

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

This would've done well as a multi-choice poll. I could imagine someone picking all of these.

No, I know what I'm doing
No, this is just to fudge data in reviews
I'm afraid it will interfere with overclocking

I for one am extremely annoyed by the overclocking aspect, and in general how others seems so dismissive of how large a problem this is. If you can't stress test, you can't have confidence in your overclocks... so you shouldn't even bother overclocking. And no, playing every game for hours till you get a failure is not a practical solution. This has been a long time coming too. There hasn't been a be all end all stress testing program for graphics cards in years. I had a 260 pass OCCT, hours of crysis but crash consistently on hour 5-6 of ut3 gameplay until put back on stock. Now add in power throttling nuking the few stress testing options left, cheaper vrms making cards weaker for overclocking... in a few years they might as well bios lock all clock speeds. We should be in a uproar about it as an enthusiast community, pleading to the more skillful programmers amongst us to make a modern stress testing app.