Can I turn the display off without putting the computer to sleep? I use rMBP with the latest Mavericks 10.9.2. 

I often download something in background, so I can't just press "poweroff" button, because these downloads stop working in sleep mode. However, I have checked "disable sleep mode when display is off" in energy saving settings. 

How can I turn display off without putting system into sleep mode? I only found a way just to leave macbook and don't touch it, it turns off just as selected in energy saving settings.
You can use Hot Corners to put your display to sleep instantly. This article on OSXDaily walks through the steps, Quickly Sleep the Display in Mac OS X with a Hot Corner.


Launch System Preferences and click on “Mission Control”
Click on “Hot Corners…” in the lower left corner
Set the screen corners you want to use to “Put Display to Sleep”
Close out of System Preferences and test the Hot Corner by sliding your cursor into that screens corner