[SOLVED] Using a 3090 for animation. should I build a second gaming system?

[bioshacker001]

So the 3090 is a significant money sink, and has significant power draw.
I plan on picking one up for high resolution 2d and 3d animation, physics rendering, and CUDA compute for development.
Since I'll already have the system built, I figure I could probably use it for gaming too. Obviously it will be capable.
But, I don't care to game above 1080p, and I don't care about obnoxiously high frame rates. My eyesight isn't amazing anyway, so I wouldn't get much benefit.
Do you think it would be possible to power-limit the card while gaming, so it doesn't draw too much power? I don't want to tax any part of the system for something so far beneath its abilities, and the card will likely generate a lot of heat doing work it doesn't need to do (240+ fps on a 144hz monitor, for instance).
I haven't used any desktop cards for gaming since a 1060, and I never really needed to think about this since I pushed that card pretty hard, so I don't know what flexibility nVidia gives us.

If I can't bring the power and heat down significantly, then do you think it could make enough of a difference for me to invest in a much lighter gaming system to use when I game? I'm not concerned about cost or power consumption, just longevity of the hardware.

EDIT: For reference, the system CPU is a Ryzen 9 3950X. There are really no bottlenecks in the system for the load I'm concerned about.

 

[Avro Arrow]

So the 3090 is a significant money sink, and has significant power draw.
I plan on picking one up for high resolution 2d and 3d animation, physics rendering, and CUDA compute for development.
Since I'll already have the system built, I figure I could probably use it for gaming too. Obviously it will be capable.

Oh hell yeah it will.

But, I don't care to game above 1080p, and I don't care about obnoxiously high frame rates. My eyesight isn't amazing anyway, so I wouldn't get much benefit.
Do you think it would be possible to power-limit the card while gaming, so it doesn't draw too much power? I don't want to tax any part of the system for something so far beneath its abilities, and the card will likely generate a lot of heat doing work it doesn't need to do (240+ fps on a 144hz monitor, for instance).

You just have to enable VSync in your games. It limits the frames drawn by your GPU to only what your monitor can display. It is used to save power and reduce the strain on your GPU. You don't need to build another system, you just need to use VSync.

 

[RTX 2080]

^This^

V-Sync means your GPU will only go to the trouble of rendering the number of frames your monitor can display. So if you are using a 1080p 60 Hz display, your RTX 3090 will only render at 60 frames per second, never higher, never lower.

Your 3090 won't use much power at all under these circumstances; building another system is completely unnecessary.

 

[sizzling]

Trouble with V-Sync is it introduces a horrible lag. I prefer just using a frame limiter and setting it to 58/59/60 FPS on a 60Hz screen.

 

[bioshacker001]

Oh hell yeah it will.

You just have to enable VSync in your games. It limits the frames drawn by your GPU to only what your monitor can display. It is used to save power and reduce the strain on your GPU. You don't need to build another system, you just need to use VSync.

Great!
I always thought of VSync as a way to prevent screen tearing, but it makes sense to use it at a framerate limiter. that idea never even crossed my mind.
Thanks!

 

[Avro Arrow]

Great!
I always thought of VSync as a way to prevent screen tearing, but it makes sense to use it at a framerate limiter. that idea never even crossed my mind.
Thanks!

Glad to be of service. I try to help people find ways to solve problems without throwing more money at it.

You could also check the nVidia control panel for a frame limiter. ATi puts the frame limiting option in the individual game profiles but I haven't looked that closely at the nVidia control panel in my craptop (because I don't game with it).

It's possible that nVidia does the same. It might even work better than just using VSync.

 

[RTX 2080]

Glad to be of service. I try to help people find ways to solve problems without throwing more money at it.

You could also check the nVidia control panel for a frame limiter. ATi puts the frame limiting option in the individual game profiles but I haven't looked that closely at the nVidia control panel in my craptop (because I don't game with it).

It's possible that nVidia does the same. It might even work better than just using VSync.

Yes, in the Nvidia control panel you can set maximum frame rates either globally or on a per-program basis.