Nvidia GeForce 9800 GX2 Review

Power Consumption

When it comes to global power consumption, the system doesn't seem to need more than 350 W (meaning 300 W for the configuration itself once we subtract power supply losses). Nvidia recommends a power supply with a minimum rating of 580 W, but we consider this to be overkill. Even when future games are able to make better use of quad-core processors and graphic cards, a reliable PSU that delivers a constant 450 W should be more than adequate.

AMD's Radeon HD 3870 X2 yields similar results to those we've already seen with the HD 3870 (when compared to a 9600 GT); its power consumption is low when idle (18% lower than a 9800 GX2), thanks to the use of a 55-nm process and more aggressive clock gating. However, the outrageous raw throughput of the 3870 X2, resulting from the number of stream processors when its power consumption plateaus, means that it demands more power than the newcomer, despite performance being 37% lower in this game/mode. Its performance-consumption ratio remains 40% higher in this case.

  • dwfresch
    This author continues to refer to ATI as AMD in multiple articles. Not only does this bring into question this author's competence, it also causes me to question the accuracy of all articles on Tom's Hardware since the editors have overlooked such a blatant error.
    Reply
  • ProphetMK1
    I am wondering about your competence. What does it matter if he refers to the parent company of ATI. If you aren't aware or have been MIA from the tech world in the last year. AMD owns ATI at a large 5.4 billion dollar so far debt that has yet to help my AMD shares.
    Reply
  • AvatarC
    I think you owe an apology to the site, dwfresch. When was the last time you visited www.ati.com and what did you first notice?
    Reply
  • honestly, i know amd owns ati, but the two are totally seperate entities. the product solutions for one are different and when i talk about graphics card, i refer to them as ATI or NVIDIA, rather than AMD and Intel. If I stood up in front of you trying to convince you to gain our market share and talk to you about our products, im not going to say "The new AMD Radeon HD 3800 Series" because its NOT AMD, its ATI. And if i make simple stupid errors like that, how do you know that the rest of my information is right? My facts on resolution, memory bus, core speed, may all be just as wrong as getting the ACTUAL COMPANY NAME THAT PRODUCED THE PRODUCT wrong. Attention to detail gentleman. Having 200 cars isnt the same as having 500. Having a Mayback Exelero isnt the same as a Kia Rio. The LAPD is not the NYPD. Get the drift? Thank you
    Reply
  • Its AMD NOT ATI, and I think the above comment has lost the point completely tbh.
    Reply
  • aww yer ana a 550watt power supply
    Reply
  • listen what is the best value for money graphics card that can play crysis cuz im upgrading with a 64 bit 3.06 gig hert processoer asus p5n sli and a gforce 7600GT
    so yer i dont wanna spend grands on my rig id b happy with a rig thats 80% up dere with the market cuz getting 100% up with the market is to expensive
    Reply