Videocard Power Consumption (Total System Power Draw) Idle at Desktop Watts Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 177 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 153 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 222 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 165 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A (rev.A) 138 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 137 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 120 MSI R4830 T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 108 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 135 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 180 Asus EAH4770 FML/DI/512MD5/A 105 Asus EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 101 Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I 79 Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT CrossFire 195 Asus EAX1900XTX 2DHTV/512M/A 160 Asus EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A 150 Gigabyte GV-N285OC-2GI 113 ASUS ENGTX260 MT/HTDI/896MD3-A 135 Gigabyte GV-N26OC896H-GA 112 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 140 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 120 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 170 ASUS EN9600GT DI/512MD3/A 86 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 96 nVidia Geforce 9600GTs in SLI 166 Asus EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M 152 Palit Geforce 9600GT 512 151 ASUS EN9400GT DI/1GLP 85 MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E 196 MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE 183 MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E 165 Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH 140 3D Loaded: Watts Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 421 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 390 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 610 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 330 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A (rev.A) 244 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 225 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 202 MSI R4830 T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 177 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 186 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 279 Asus EAH4770 FML/DI/512MD5/A 158 Asus EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 153 Gigabyte GV-R435OC-512I 109 Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2900XT CrossFire 549 Asus EAX1900XTX 2DHTV/512M/A 333 Asus EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A 252 Gigabyte GV-N285OC-2GI 277 ASUS ENGTX260 MT/HTDI/896MD3-A 277 Gigabyte GV-N26OC896H-GA 215 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 262 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 214 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 316 ASUS EN9600GT DI/512MD3/A 148 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 160 nVidia Geforce 9600GTs in SLI 313 Asus EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M 220 Palit Geforce 9600GT 512 221 ASUS EN9400GT DI/1GLP 109 MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E 345 MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE 315 MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E 277 Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH 213

The Gigabyte GV-N285OC-2GI videocard does surprisingly well in both of these power draw tests. Idle system power draw is a moderate 113W, less than we witnessed from the Radeon HD 4890 at idle. Under 3D load conditions power draw increases to 277W, still quite conservative for a flagship videocard.

The majority of spikes in the above power draw chart indicate dual videocard SLI or Crossfire test situations, modern videocards have become a lot more power efficient thanks largely to die shrinks and optimization. The Gigabyte GV-N285OC-2GI videocard runs off a GPU fabricated on the 55nm process and requires two 6-pin auxiliary PCI Express power connectors.