Graphics card power use and TDP

[Lonyo]

I figured it might be useful in some ways to show how TDP doesn't always relate to power use, how OCCT and actual power use in a game differ, and how neither company particularly accurately represents its power use with TDP.

Also might help people work out how much power their card uses/might use, and see what the real differences are between different cards.

Data all comes from Xbitlabs (Spring power consumption roundup + individual more recent reviews). TDPs taken from Wikipedia.

Obviously AMD power is typically lower than NV, but that's not the point, it's more about how cards compare, and how inaccurate TDP is, amongst other things, as well as highlighting more typical vs worst case power use.


(http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gpu-power-consumption-2010.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce-gtx-580_5.html#sect0 <- GTX580, because I know at least some people will comment on its apparently high use vs the GTX480)

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Good chart.

TDP is useful as a rough estimation, which can then be used for sizing up what kind of power supply is needed.

 

[Arkadrel]

Awesum chart


6870 uses 124.5 watts playing crysis.
470 uses 202.3 watts playing crysis.
460 uses 141.1 watts playing crysis. (this card is actually okay performance/watt wise)

performance wise their the roughly the same, yet... almost double power draw? Man those are some big differnces.


*edit
the 580 looks like a power hog... odd that they say it uses less power than the 480, but in actual gameplay in crysis its useing 3watts more than the 480. Though I guess its probably getting better fps than the 480 as well though, so performance/watt its probably better than the 480, its still a power hog (compaired to the 5970).

 

[Silverforce11]

What i took out of those charts are that NV consistently under-report their recent cards (480, 580) TDP. Even in games, not power viruses, the cards generally draw more than official TDP.

With the exception of the gtx460, looks a bit low?? It uses a fair bit more than the 5850 in gaming.

 

[Arkadrel]

What i took out of those charts are that NV consistently under-report their recent cards (480, 580) TDP.

it does sound fishy... if you look at the blue bar (nv listed TPD), vs the green one (actual power draw), your right... the blue one is lower than the green for the most part, indicateing that nvidia are lieing about TPDs or dont use crysis(actual gameplay) as their measureing tool for it.