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I've been browsing potato cards to hold me over till a meaningful upgrade since my also ancient GTX 670 died. Figured I could get a used one for $30 or something. Nope, at least not yet. It seems I can get a 580 for that price. Only problem is it's a 250-watt card. Not actually a problem during the winter, but right now that's just too much heat for the performance. My tune might change when the 4060 arrives, but it'll be winter, then. Probably. Maybe.
Going from 1038 mV to 963 mV isn't a huge drop. And from one post I just read, 963mV was as low as the user in that post could go. If wattage scales linearly with voltage(and I don't remember if it does), and if my math is right(and I don't know if it is), then that's only a drop to 230W, which is still too much. I'd love to not exceed 200, but I think the card I had was 170. Although it was the Twin Frozr edition which I read somewhere was actually pushing 200+. Yikes.
Are there other 580s that can go lower? And if there are, does it make sense to use them at those lower speeds? What I mean is, is performance still smooth? If not I guess I could look at the 570.
The laptop I'm using now(1st gen i7 with 3100M(GT210-ish) has the option to limit CPU power by percentage. Right now I've got it set to 91% or something like that. In this config, with no external cooling assistance, performance in Quake Live(which should run on a calculator watch) is dramatically better(smoother frame rate and less laggy)* than the 75% setting. And, high temps are in the 60s, even with 3D rendering. Performance in Quake at 91% is also superior to the 100% setting WITH a portable fan blowing on the intake to keep temps out of the 80s. I don't get that, but whatevs.
Going from 1038 mV to 963 mV isn't a huge drop. And from one post I just read, 963mV was as low as the user in that post could go. If wattage scales linearly with voltage(and I don't remember if it does), and if my math is right(and I don't know if it is), then that's only a drop to 230W, which is still too much. I'd love to not exceed 200, but I think the card I had was 170. Although it was the Twin Frozr edition which I read somewhere was actually pushing 200+. Yikes.
Are there other 580s that can go lower? And if there are, does it make sense to use them at those lower speeds? What I mean is, is performance still smooth? If not I guess I could look at the 570.
The laptop I'm using now(1st gen i7 with 3100M(GT210-ish) has the option to limit CPU power by percentage. Right now I've got it set to 91% or something like that. In this config, with no external cooling assistance, performance in Quake Live(which should run on a calculator watch) is dramatically better(smoother frame rate and less laggy)* than the 75% setting. And, high temps are in the 60s, even with 3D rendering. Performance in Quake at 91% is also superior to the 100% setting WITH a portable fan blowing on the intake to keep temps out of the 80s. I don't get that, but whatevs.
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