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We use GPU-Z logging to measure each card's power consumption, temperatures and fan speeds with the Metro Exodus benchmark running at 2560x1440 using the default Ultra settings. The card is warmed up prior to testing and logging is started after settling to an idle temperature (after about 10 minutes). The benchmark is looped a total of five times, which yields around 10 minutes of testing. In the charts, you will see periodic blips in power use that are a result of the benchmark ending one loop and starting the next.
We also use FurMark to capture worst-case power readings. Although both Nvidia and AMD consider the application a 'power virus,' or a program that deliberately taxes the components beyond normal limits, the data we can gather from it offers useful information about a card's capabilities outside of typical gaming loads. For example, certain GPU compute workloads including cryptocurrency mining have power use that can track close to FurMark, sometimes even exceeding it.
Power Draw
Starting off with the gaming power charts, the EVGA RTX 2080 Super XC Hybrid averaged 238W, which puts the card between the Asus ROG Strix at 246W and the RTX 2080 Super FE at 232W. These results fall where expected. Users will be hard-pressed to notice a difference in their electric bill between them.
Looking at the Furmark results, the differences between the cards shrank dramatically with the EVGA and Asus both using 247W while the Founders Edition averaged 248W. This tells us all of these cards have a power limit around the 250W mark, as expected.
Temperatures
Temperatures during game testing reached a peak of 53 degrees Celsius on the EVGA Hybrid card which is 9 degrees Celsius less than the Asus ROG Strix (62C) while the Founders Edition peaked at the highest temperature of 72C. In this short testing, the 120mm AIO did a great job on the GPU temperatures, the lowest we’ve recorded for this test, in fact. Because of the lower temperatures, the EVGA card is able to maintain higher boost bins, as we'll see below.
Temperatures when running Furmark weren’t much different than during the gaming test. Nvidia cards tend to throttle hard when running this stress test so temperatures tend to be similar. The EVGA Hybrid peaked at 53 degrees Celsius, the Asus at 61C, and the Founders Edition at 75C. All coolers are able to keep the cards running here, but the AIO on the EVGA card is again the coolest by far.
Fan Speeds
Fan speeds for the EVGA cover the fan running on the card cooling the VRMs. In this case, it peaked around 1,700 RPM in this testing while the Asus ROG Strix and Founders Edition cards ran faster at 1,750 MHz and 2,000 RPM peaks. The loudest part on the card is the pump, as both the onboard fan and the one attached to the radiator stayed quiet throughout.
Like temperatures, not much changed with fan speeds either. All card fan speeds ramped up smoothly trying to manage thermals. The EVGA Hybrid’s VRM cooling fan reached around 1,700 RPM, the slowest of the test cards. The fan on the radiator peaked at 1,600 RPM with both operating quietly throughout testing. The pump and its distinct hum will be heard over the fans.
Clock Rates
Clock speeds for the EVGA Hybrid card averaged the highest in our game tests at 1,993 MHz. Compare this to the Asus ROG Strix at 1,988 MHz—only 5 MHz behind. While that isn’t much, the Asus card is supposed to run 30 MHz faster according to the boost clocks. But since the hybrid card kept the GPU cooler than the air-cooled Asus, it reached higher overall boost clocks.
Clock speeds during Furmark dropped tremendously on these Nvidia video cards as is normally the case. Here the EVGA hybrid averaged 1,819 MHz while the Asus ROG Strix used in the test was notably lower at 1,776 MHz. Again we see the benefits of the cooler running EVGA card able to maintain higher clocks. These workloads aren’t typical, so users can expect clocks speeds during gaming to be closer to the game test.
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