Project: Dark Hybrid

[CMetaphor]

Okay, im tired of keeping secrets and want opinions on the build anyways, so here goes:

Components:
?????, passively cooled by a CM GeminII (for now, possibly the new Scythe Shuriken later)
4Gb G.Skill Ram. - already have.
Enermax Modu82+ 525w PSU
2x Arctic cooling 12025 PWM sharing fans
Silverstone SG-03 mATX case
Video card: ???? See my WTB page

Have you guessed it yet? Yep - I'm going to try out a Hybrid power build. For those that don't know what I'm talking about (and thats possible considering Nvidia never advertised the feature and has since NERF'd the feature out of its recent graphics cards) - its the ability for an Nvidia chipset based motherboard to completely turn-off its discrete graphics card and revert to the onboard when switched in Vista (and hopefully Windows 7 - ill be trying 7 first).

The problem? 55nm Graphics cards have all been stripped of this feature, and even if it is on a supported card, it might not be implemented by the manufacturer, so I have to check each cards specification individually before trying to buy it. At best, so far, I was able to find a new XFX 9800GTX+ from newegg.ca that supports it, but its expensive for an older card $160 and not quite as powerful as I'd like.

As you can probably guess, the whole idea of the system will be to be extremely power efficient for 2D, then turn on the 3D graphics for gaming only. "Dark Hybrid" is named as such for the Hybrid power feature it will use, and the fact that at least so far, ALL the components are black aka dark.

Thoughts?

[CMetaphor]

Ha ha... cats out of the bag and no one cares Yay me! lol... /joking

[Soultribunal]

Asus VC's have some feature built like that right on the card. Their Matrix series at least.
My Card when not doing anything will power everything down including the Dual Cooling Fans.

Check out them and see if they have the VC for you CM.

And, get an X2 550 and board :P


ST

[CMetaphor]

Originally Posted by Soultribunal

get an X2 550 and board :P

LOL. I would've loved to have made this build an AMD one ST, trust me. However, the ONLY motherboard that I can find with M780G chipset is the MSI Media Live board, which doesnt support ATI's equivalent to Hybrid power (even though according to AMD, the m780G can support it - MSI just didnt want to). Trust me, i did my research .

I'll check out some Asus cards and see what i can find.

[Supergrover]

NCIX.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT 55NM 600MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ 256BIT GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card - 512-P3-N973-TR In Canada.

But it is probably not powerful enough for you, I looked into this last year but never followed through with it, I thought the hybrid feature would work well for my HTPC build and still play a few games on it.

Interested in how it does end up working for you.

[CMetaphor]

Hey supergrover, as I mentioned, Im pretty sure all the 55nm versions of nvidia graphics cards have been stripped of the hybrid power feature. I'll check to make sure, but I've yet to see anyone do this with success on a 55nm card. Thank tho!

[rjbarker]

Very cool...I have read this Hybrid Feature you're referring to...

[CMetaphor]

Originally Posted by rjbarker

Very cool...I have read this Hybrid Feature you're referring to...

Thanks. Looking like it's vista-only for the time being. I hope that changes in the near-future otherwise nvidia's going to have some angry laptop customers who's discrete graphics cards wont turn on/off at all (except via bios).

[CMetaphor]

Asus: Has pulled all their 260-series cards from their canadian website? How helpful. Im really looking at a gtx280 now, even though it'll be tough on the smallish 525w PSU, the 82+ % efficieny should make up for it .

[Supergrover]

Originally Posted by CMetaphor

Hey supergrover, as I mentioned, Im pretty sure all the 55nm versions of nvidia graphics cards have been stripped of the hybrid power feature. I'll check to make sure, but I've yet to see anyone do this with success on a 55nm card. Thank tho!

eVGA - EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT Hybrid Single Slot 512MB 600MHZ 256BIT 1.8GHZ... - 512P3N980AR - Powered by PriceCanada.com

My bad CM HC search listed a 512P3N980AR but when I linked to ncix it shows up as a 512-P3-N973-TR 55mm.