14 DAY TRIAL // For most graphics cards and central processing units, the coolers work all the time, even if the fans are capable of slowing down somewhat when temperatures are low enough. NVIDIA wants to go further. Much further.
In a way, NVIDIA has already achieved this. Or at least its various OEMs have achieved this (Original Equipment Manufacturers).
There seems to be a growing trend of custom video boards whose coolers can keep the fans completely inactive until a certain temperature threshold is attained.
Now, according to a report on the web, NVIDIA itself plans to implement an idle fan off mode on its graphics cards. Or one graphics card, which is not the one you're probably expecting.
The GeForce GTX Titan X will have a fan off mode
You'd think that high-end graphics cards would not even bother thinking of how to save power by pacing the cooling performance, but that's not really true.
And it's not just about power efficiency and power bill savings, but also about noise. The faster a fan spins, the noisier it gets.
Some coolers have design elements that allow them to reduce the noise generated, but when things get hot enough, the noise can still be enough to justify buying a noise-canceling headset.
Since high-end coolers normally have a huge heatsink by nature, NVIDIA considers it totally rational that it should be possible for it to handle all heat when the PC is only doing basic things like doc viewing and web browsing.
Thus, the GeForce GTX Titan X could be equipped with a cooler capable of staying inactive, passive as it were, until a certain temperature threshold is passed. Much like custom-designed, OEM GeForce GTX 970, GTX 980 and (probably) some GTX 960 as well. We can't tell for sure about the last one until the release happens, on January 22.
NVIDIA's approach will be driver-based
While OEMs appear to favor a thermostat, hardware-centric method for cooler activation and deactivation (specialized fan-controller chips), NVIDIA will set up the fan idle mode at software level.
The driver will let you decide between running the fan at low speeds or a non-linear curve that keeps the fan inactive until needed. Given how strong the Titan X will be, and how tough the PCB and components, even some light games could be played without the fan kicking off.
Finally, GPU software developers (like EVGA, MSI and others) will be able to create apps for toggling this feature in their own versions of the Titan X. All because it's driver-based.
Availability and pricing
They aren't known, sadly. But when it comes to a card with 3072 CUDA cores (24 SMMs), 192 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 384 bit interface and 12 GB of GDDR5 VRAM at 6 GHz, you can be sure it'll take a fortune to get one. Possible more than the $1,200 / €1,200 required by the GeForce GTX Titan Black.