Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan X gets semi-passive cooling – even in games

The latest graphics processors contain many features so as not to consume more energy than necessary. Partner manufacturers such as Asus, EVGA and MSI take advantage of this to create so-called semi-passive coolers, where the fan is switched off when the temperature drops below a certain limit value. In this way, even a powerful graphics card can become completely silent during, for example, lighter desk work.

Now Techpowerup reports that Nvidia plans to “standardize” semi-passive cooling in the next generation of the worsting model Geforce GTX Titan. Unlike at present, the partner manufacturers will not have to develop their own solutions but can control the fan’s behavior in a common interface provided by the drivers.

For this, Nvidia is said to offer a number of options. It is still possible to set a traditional linear fan curve that gradually lowers the fan speed when the heat generation decreases, or switch to a non-linear curve where the fan is finally switched off. At the same time, third-party programs can provide greater opportunities to adjust exact curves and limits.

The new graphics card should be so good at adapting energy consumption to the load that the fan should not only be able to be switched off for simpler desk work but also in less demanding games, such as League of Legends. In the usual order, however, a number of factors will affect the exact behavior, such as the temperature inside the computer case.

The Geforce GTX Titan X is based on the upcoming GM200 graphics processor with the Maxwell architecture and is expected to arrive later this year.