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Does application playing sound at volume to 0% or mute make any difference to the performance ? or does it depend on the program. In my scenario, I always have application/games running then I leave the computer for few hours. If I set 0% volume / mute, does it save any power? or will the actual sound file still be processed in the application but I just can't hear it.
wtsang02
Posted 2013-07-08T20:57:18.953
Reputation: 135
2
If the application itself is muted, it most likely won't generate the sound in the first place, but set to 0% it might generate silence, sending data through the audio subsystem.
On the other hand, if the system is muted but the application is not, then sound data will still be sent from the application to the audio subsystem, but it will then be dropped. Setting the system volume to 0% likely has a similar outcome.
In all cases where data flows from the application to the system there will be a marginal performance overhead, however it will be so small that nothing but the CPU scheduler itself will notice.
Xenopathic
Posted 2013-07-08T20:57:18.953
Reputation: 746
2I doubt there's any power difference between 0 volume and mute, but even if there is it's bound to be so minuscule that depending on this setting to save power is ridiculous. Look to other more substantial ways if saving power is your goal. – Karan – 2013-07-08T21:47:49.247
1I remember when playing League of Legends, shutting the sound off in the options menu vs lowering the slider or muting the system sound resulted in a rather large increase in FPS. This likely varies per application, but yes, in some instances, shutting sound off or muting can make a difference. – Tanner Faulkner – 2013-07-10T17:19:30.660