Just swapped my 8800GTX for a GTX 470

[RooK]

Decent difference... The 8800GTX was always a beast of a card, able to handle some pretty high res, even in todays modern games like borderlands and such. Dragon Age: Origins - not so much though.

So, i've only played two games with it - don't really have an interest to try much else at the moment, but I did get some power readings.

In my rig...

650 watt Antec
E8400 @ 3.6 (stock cooling)
4GB RAM
x3 7200 HDDs
1CD ROM
Audigy 2zs?

*measured with a standard kill-a-watt.

8800GTX idle - 252 watts
8800GTX under load - 365 watts

GTX 470 idle - 215 watts
GTX 470 under load - 350 watts.

So, its interesting to see that idle, it consumes quite a bit less (especially added up over time) - yay! Power bill goes down!

Now I guess its time to upgrade to Windows 7 to get all those fancy "benefits."

 

[Webb]

Glad to see,after 2 broken RMA cards from eVga I decided to buy,I got the same card same RAM but my CPU is a Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz.

Mine will arrive in 2 days.

 

[cannondale06]

what the heck was wrong with your 8800gtx to make draw that much power? I just cant believe it used more power than a gtx470. using a gtx470 in my system uses 100 watts MORE than even the 65nm gtx260.


at idle my system with E8500 @ 3.8 and gtx470 only uses 123 watts including the monitor. under load it did easily surpass 350 watts.

 

[RooK]

what the heck was wrong with your 8800gtx to make draw that much power? I just cant believe it used more power than a gtx470. using a gtx470 in my system uses 100 watts MORE than even the 65nm gtx260.

Good question!! I never overclocked it.

at idle my system with E8500 @ 3.8 and gtx470 only uses 123 watts including the monitor. under load it did easily surpass 350 watts.

Must be nice!!! I've got a dell 24 TN monitor... That is counted in the idle and under load, but I forgot to list it...

That was only a test in borderlands with the highest settings I could choose... Might have been higher in DA:O.

3 hard drives might have something to do with it. Still, that doesn't explain why I only get a 100 watt increase when playing a game.

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

Are you running more than 1 monitor? It'll idle higher if so.

 

[RooK]

Are you running more than 1 monitor? It'll idle higher if so.

Only running the PC and one monitor.

I'm happy with 215 idle. I'm sure it could be lower - maybe I have something set wrong in the bios. Or maybe my sys board just wastes power.