gpu underclocking and power saving

[ryu]

hi, i have an 8800gs but will be upgrading to a gtx275 soon. i leave my pc on a lot of the time and when im not gaming or using anything 3d based, i have a profile on riva tuner to set the core/shader/memory clocks to the lowest riva allows.

i was just wondering if this is actually worthwhile and having any effect on electricity consumption whilst idling or minimum activity, compared to the same but at default stock settings.

8800gs
default: core 580, shader 1450, memory 700
riva lowest: core 290, shader 725, memory 350

what about with the gtx275?
are there any other programs that allow even lower underclocks?

 

[rounddodger]

Get a GTX470, jumps down to 50/100/135 clocks idling. 34 degrees C as well as I type.

 

[Tealc]

No idea if it will work with an Nvidia card but I use 'ATI Tray Tools' by Ray Adams to auto underclock my ATI HD4890 and it saves a whopping 40W and drops a cool 15 degrees at idle. Had to fiddle with the DDR setting to get it to dramatically underclock the GDDR5 though.

I didn't have much luck with Rivatuner personally as it kept crashing my machine when I tried pushing the clocks lower than prescribed. Afterburner was even worse and allows next to nothing on an underclock but masses of overclock potential, I suppose it's what most people want from an application like this.