Underclocking graphics card

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Does anyone underclock their graphics card gpu core and memory?? I tried it with an old x1900gt and temperatures do drop by a small amount.However does power consumption drop as I assume core voltage will remain the same?? Would I have to flash the card with a custom bios instead??

[matty-hodgson]

the power usage will drop if you underclock it.. that's fact.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I assume that there should be no long term bad effects. I have reduced core from 513mhz to 297mhz and ram from 657mhz to 495mhz.

[matty-hodgson]

the only bad effects you might suffer will be a colder room and lower FPS ..
you can't damage anything by underclocking anything (AFAIK anyway)

but if you never use it for anything other than desktop work, then underclocking it is a good idea.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I already have another system for doing slightly more challenging tasks! This will be used for web browsing and other basic tasks! I hoping to quiet it down as much as possible too. I will probably look at underclocking the CPU(E4300) too.

[matty-hodgson]

just set the FSB as low as possible for the CPU.. i have mine at 1.2 - 1.8GHz atm..

200MHz FSB with EIST = 1.2GHz at low usage - 1.8GHz at high usage
works well.. never get temperatures over 35'C

[Webby]

If you want to underclock your GPU get a copy of ATi Tray tools and sort out some stable settings this allows you to play with the voltages as well. Then flash the new settings to the BIOS and away you go

[Pob255]

I seem to remember that graphics cards do have an underclocking cutoff point, where you'll start getting corruption and stability issues.
you'd have to pla around with the settings to find the low point, treat it the same as you would if you were overclocking.

Although that opens up the question how do you stress test idle/low demand settings?

[Webby]

Hmm we need an un-stress test!

Or if you just stress it at the low speeds assuming you have controlled the voltages and GPU, RAM speeds test for stability as long as it is stable at load you would hope it will be stable at idle especially as the is not the same voltage changes you get when loading CPUs.

Anyway give it a go and see what happens