facebook rss twitter

QOTW: Do you care for energy efficient PC components?

by Parm Mann on 6 July 2012, 17:00

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabjcf

Add to My Vault: x

We meet some interesting folk on our travels in this industry and in recent weeks we came across a gaming enthusiast who, to put it mildly, was rather angry about NVIDIA's fastest single-GPU graphics card, the GeForce GTX 680.

This was a consumer who clearly spent big bucks on high-end components, but the GeForce GTX 680 didn't tickle his fancy. His argument was that while the card offered top-notch performance, it had been crippled by "tree huggers" who insisted on lowering power consumption. "Just two six-pin PCIe power connectors? At this rate, the GTX 780 will be powered by flatulence," said he.

It's always interesting to hear different opinions and you could, we suppose, argue that the guy has a point - if NVIDIA had thrown caution to the wind and stuck with Fermi's power envelope, the GTX 680 could easily have been made more monstrous. His argument - or at least part of it - was that extreme desktop components are being restricted by the industry's desire to develop low-power products better suited to mobile computers.

He seemed to be a unique case (bordering on nut case, even), but he got us thinking; who else feels the same way? Do you care for energy-efficient PC components? Are you actually trying to lower your electricity bill? Or do you actively seek parts that run hot, hungry and, more importantly, blisteringly fast? Let us know in the comments below.



HEXUS Forums :: 56 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
Sounds like he needs the extra TDP to make up for something.

Personally, and i say this having owned a GTX 480, i try to go for low-power where possible.

My CPU, GPU, and RAM are all currently undervolted and I've just gone HDD-free. All my boards ‘green’ options and turned on and my fans only kick in when needed too.

Next stop will be to get an LED monitor (when they hit the 120MHz/IPS mark), a ‘Gold’ PSU and possible some extra low-voltage RAM.
Its the heat/noise that bothers me, so if its more efficient it should have less heat. I hate the hot summer days where its hotter in my room than it is outside. I keep thinking about putting a vent in the wall and ducting it to the pc, but then the monitor isn't exactly cool either.
TDP for me, though I don't consider myself a “tree hugger” at all :). More of a tight ar*e! TDP is one factor for me to be honest, as well as quiet/silent and cooler components in an understated good looking aluminium case that ages well.
The reality is unless you're an X-TREME type that uses 3D and several displays (in which case you're probably running SLI anyway) there's little need for these gaming cards to go all out and it's more practical to make them more efficient. I certainly expect my next card to use less power than my current one.
As I sit here typing on a pretty standard 5 year old system, with a large 15“ pedestal fan 2 feet away from me with a digital display still saying 31 degrees C, I'm thinking of getting the Atari STe out of the loft in the spirit of ”energy efficiency" !!!