Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide

[Chai]

Originally Posted by snakefoot

Think it would be interesting/useful to add a watt-column to this article with the amount of power the different GPU's uses. Both when "idle"(2D) and when under "load"(3D).

Is it relevant for this article ? (Know it requires some digging around to find this information )

I don't think manufacturers provide power consumption information.

[mgoldb2]

acording to the article the x800 se is 128 bit but according to dell it 256 bit. who is mistaken or is there a 128 bit version and a 256 bit version?

[snakefoot]

Originally Posted by Chai

I don't think manufacturers provide power consumption information.

It seems you are right

Would be very surprised if the white papers describing the reference design doesn't include specification of the power consumption (So the manufacture will use the right components incase they dont follow the reference design). Though it certainly seems it is not something which is given to the average user:

ATI last week declined to comment about MOBILITY RADEON 9600’s power consumption in “performance mode”

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/...320154351.html

Review sites only seems to be able to measure the actual power consumption of the entire system (Though it is a little difficult as one requires a reference number, and one could imagine that CPU and RAM would draw more power when the graphics adapter isnt the bottleneck) :

http://tech-report.com/reviews/2004q.../index.x?pg=27
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/h..._grafikkarten/

One could make an estimate based on the bus along with the amount of molex's attached (Guess it only goes for high-end cards where molex-power is being used, though the power-consumption for the high-end cards GF4 and beyond is the ones I find interesting):

http://www.spodesabode.com/content/article/6800upower

The manufactures of a power supplies also wants to help, but it seems that they add a little extra on top of the actual numbers:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Guess I just have to live without knowing

[Adrian Wong]

Actually power consumption varies a lot with the card's work load and the clock speeds of its GPU and memory chips.

So, every card will have different power consumption at any point in time, even if you are comparing the same model.

[snakefoot]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Actually power consumption varies a lot with the card's work load and the clock speeds of its GPU and memory chips.

So, every card will have different power consumption at any point in time, even if you are comparing the same model.

Eventhough I have realized that getting the numbers for power consumption isnt entirely easy then I did specify in my first post the following:

the amount of power the different GPU's uses. Both when "idle"(2D) and when under "load"(3D).

But I think I have closed this suggestion myself after realizing it is not that easy to get these numbers.

[Cygni]

Awesome to see some of my info get used! You still have some more to go though! Although the companies and cards not listed yet are ancient, heh.

[Max_87]

Cygni we really appreciate all your help

[Agent_J]

nVidia GeForce 6600 was previewed today

[Max_87]

I'll add that one in Thanks

[Dashken]

Hi! The guide has just been updated!

Covering over 180 desktop graphics cards, this comprehensive comparison allows you to easily compare 14 different specifications for each and every card! If you need to find out about the specification of any card, just come over and check out our Desktop Graphics Comparison Guide!

We hope it will prove to be a useful reference. We will keep this guide updated regularly so do check back for the latest updates!

Here are the updates:-
- Added the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 and 6600GT cards.
- Added the ATI Radeon 9250 card.
- Total cards : 189



Link : The Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 6.1!