|
|
In English
SuomeksiPower consumption and temperatures
Power consumption of the whole computer, not the graphic card alone
The downside of the high end hardware is always the power consumption and the 9800GX2 isn't an exception. Even while just idling on desktop, the 9800GX2 consumes 60 watts more power than the 8800GTS. On full load the difference is yet a bit larger with the GX2-setup drawing 310 watts from the grid.
This is a good time to take a look at the modern power supplies and how much power current hardware really consumes. With the fastest graphic card out there our C2D test bench only took 310 watts from the grid. With the power supply working at about 80% efficiency (wasting 20% to heat) the actual DC-load is only about 250 watts. Now from this measured wattage everyone can wonder who really needs a power supply over 500 watts.
With limited room for a cooler, the higher power consumption usually leads to higher core temperatures. Even the 9800GX2 is one of the largest graphic cards on the market, it still only requires two card slots and this two-slot cooler has to cool two chips. With stock speeds the idle temperature is 65 degrees celcius, which is already higher than the load temperatures of our single-chip G92 cards. The load temperature of the chips rices to 82 °C, which isn't really alarming, but doesn't leave much room for rise either. GPUs are designed to withstand high temperatures so as long as you don't get any graphical errors or crashing, you're good to go.
Noise-wise the new 9800GX2 falls in the category of average. It's about as noisy as the stock cooler of the 8800GTS, not really disturbingly loud, but something that can be easily heard even when the card is idling.
Conclusion
As a conclusion of the 9800GX2 I have to say that it's a truely impressive piece of kit. I had my doubts about dual GPU systems, but in our tests the SLI worked nicely and gave a significant performance boost over single card setups. The cooler leaves a bit to be improved and the lack of support for multiple monitors in SLI mode is a set back compared to ATI's multi-GPU systems. The Gainward's take on 9800GX2 follows very closely the Nvidia's reference design and comes with a very limited bundle. The right amount of bundle is always a matter of opinions, but I'd really love to see a power adapter being involved in it. As we saw in the power consumption measurements, the 9800GX2 doesn't really draw huge amounts of power and most decent power supplies from a few years back should be able to cope with the load. The adapters can't really be bought separately so for everyone who plans on buying a 9800GX2: make sure your PSU has the right connector or you get a card that comes with an adapter! The connector issue aside, the 9800GX2 is the fastest card on the markets today and doesn't really have any set backs. It deserves our Editor's Choice award. |
|
Questions or comments? Visit MetkuMods forum.Additional Information |
Past related articles in Metku.net
|
 | Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 |  |
Content in english!
Sisältö suomeksi!