So I was just wondering if you guys had suggestions for a low Watt but good video card (PCIe) I'm currently eying either the HD 3850 or 3870 I read the article here about them but I also heard that the 9600GT is a competitor for low wattage.

Basically price is part of it and i would be buying it used (to go green) but I just wasn't sure if one would be considered better than the other besides i know the 3870 takes more power but out does the 3850.

And tips places to look at would be greatly appreciated.

X-bit labs havea nice table with the latest cards power consumption at idle and load.


As you can see the HD3000 series is clearly the best in idle mode and since this is the state your card will spend most time in probably the most useful, although the power consumption of the 9600GT in gaming is very impressive considering it is as fast or faster than the HD3850. But unless you just use your PC for gaming then the "greener" option is definitely the HD3850 and 3870.

Awesome thanks a lot, it seems the answer is pretty clear, now just to find someone with a 3850 FS

If you go for a 9600GT and a GeForce 8200/8300 motherboard presumably you'd also be able to take advantage of the Hybrid Power feature, right?

just grabbed a 9600 gt for nearly the exact same reason. Very happy with it. I have a few friends that are big ati fans and they claim ati cards run hotter in general... i equate hotness to using/wasting extra power?

Anyway, I can only speak for the 9600gt but I am very happy with it and I think most current 9600gts use the newer 65nm chips which should also equate to lower power consumption?

No. Hybrid Power only works with the really high draw cards, like 9800GT and above.

How about the new ATI HD 4670 cards ?

In the following article it states ~9 watts idle .... http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/powercolor-pcshd4670-512mb_5.html#sect0




But i'm very confused by this article http://hothardware.com/Articles/ATIRadeon-HD-4670-Redefining-The-Mainstream/?page=10
Which seems to contradict the Xbits one. With the 9600GT using the same power as the 4670.



Why is it so hard to be green ?

No, it just means that the heatsink isnt as good. The 4850 got blasted for being very hot with the stock cooler but in fact it uses less power than the nvidia rivals that run cooler.

Yes part of the problem with the ATI's heat reports is the default factory fan speed profile.

My 4870 running with stock cooler and factory settings was idling at about 75-80C which I thought was rather ridiculous. The factory default idle fan speed was only 20% of full speed. Changing it to 30% did not significantly change wither the volume not tone of the fan but the idle temps dropped back into the mid 30's Celcius.

While it sounds like a small jet aircraft with the stock cooler on 100% fan speed, 2 hours of playing DOOM3 and the temp still hadn't topped 40C. The stock cooler is efficient but loud.

AndyHamp,
It seems like most other reviews are rating the 4670 very well for power consumption. From the 4670 thread in the video sub-forum:

These have it as good:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_ati_radeon_4670_performance_review/page17.asp
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=15393&page=14
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3405&p=9

This is borderline good:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4670/24.html
There are less power-hungry cards but they seem to be less graphically capable than the 4670. Additionally their idle numbers are only 4 watts better than the 4670 system.

Not very good:
http://hothardware.com/Articles/ATI-Radeon-HD-4670-Redefining-The-Mainstream/?page=10

I'm just researching this myself, so I don't really know what I'm talking about.. I don't have a feel of what good power numbers should be. Additionally these tests all use different components so you can't compare them with each other. The only thing I can really draw is that the 4670 seems to be pretty good for power consumption and performance but I don't know if there are any cards that are better.

By the way, will a discrete video card always be worse than onboard video for power consumption? Any numbers as to how much worse?

Fanerman91 ....

don't you just love reviews ! they never agree

i'm building a system at the moment, so i'll try and get some decent power numbers to share.

4850e Processor
M3A78-EM MB
WD GreenPower 500G HD
Powercolor 4670.

I'm hoping for 60 watts idle and 100ish in 3D gaming ...but we shall see.

Unfortunatly, i'm not going to be in a position to try it out for a couple of weeks but i'll post what i find.

Andy