I feel like this is a total noob question, but maybe I just never noticed before...
 
Anyway, if I actually close Precision X1 (click the "x"), the settings seem to just revert to stock. I am assuming this based on the fans dropping off as soon as I click the "x" even though I've applied an aggressive fan curve (not the "aggressive" fan curve, but a custom one).
 
Is this normal? I remember having benefits before of closing X1 before running benchmarks as it takes up a little bit of resources, but I guess I was normally just minimizing it during gaming, which is fine. The OSD basically doesn't support new games, so I've stopped using it. I'd love to have a "ron popeil"-esque "set it and forget it" approach to this where I apply settings, then close it and not have it running. I get that it has to load when Windows boots, to apply the settings, but I thought I could close it after. In other words: does it need to be running in the background for the settings to hold?

Thanks ty_ger07! That is exactly the information I was looking for. It makes loads of sense.