GTX 460 Hawk red LEDs?

[HaakonXCI]

Hello there. I just installed an MSI GTX 460 Hawk and was wondering what the red lights on the back of the card meant?

There's 2 constant LEDs lit up and at times when in the nVidia system monitor 4 or more would flash rapidly. I panicked a little thinking it was about to send a message through my system speaker saying "this video card will self destruct in 10.." or something. So I closed it quickly and decided to ask the community here on what this might be.

My idle temps are 35-40c, fan on auto usually at 52% and I have a Rosewill 750w PSU.

Thanks.

 

[yakmar]

Hello,

If you have bought your card new in package, please take a look at the manual. Most of the time it's explained there what the beeps or led's means.

Regards.

 

[HaakonXCI]

I indeed bought this brand new, packaging and all but no manual. Came with brochures, cd, conversion wires and whatnot but nothing saying what these LEDs mean.

 

[17seconds]

The GTX460 Hawk has a 7+1 phase PWM design, which means that it adjusts it's power usage to match performance demands. The LED lights show which phase the card is currently in. All lights will be lit when the card is in full gaming performance mode.

"Once powered on you can see little LED lights on the card, these are Phase LEDs and show the activated power phases. When clocked down for example only 4 will lit up. Fun to see, mostly there for aesthetics."
http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-geforce-gtx-460-hawk-review/1

 

[flaminggerbil]

I'd find that really distracting, almost as bad as the old Ballistix Tracer.

Odd gimmick.

 

[HaakonXCI]

Best answer selected by HaakonXCI.

 

[HaakonXCI]

The GTX460 Hawk has a 7+1 phase PWM design, which means that it adjusts it's power usage to match performance demands. The LED lights show which phase the card is currently in. All lights will be lit when the card is in full gaming performance mode.

http://www.guru3d.com/imageview.php?image=25886

"Once powered on you can see little LED lights on the card, these are Phase LEDs and show the activated power phases. When clocked down for example only 4 will lit up. Fun to see, mostly there for aesthetics."
http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-geforce-gtx-460-hawk-review/1

Ooh thank you very much! It's been buggin me thinking they were indicators of how much stress was on the card. Kinda odd how the Aero theme uses 2 of the LED's constantly haha (hope that's normal). Guess all is well and good now so it's time to give this card a run for it's money and finally play some games

Thanks all!

 

[jyjjy]

I'd find that really distracting, almost as bad as the old Ballistix Tracer.

Odd gimmick.

Distracting from what exactly...? Staring at your fan LEDs?

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey