Downgrading GPU for power consumption or energy savings

[gaidensensei]

I went ahead and tested my current system setup to observe the wattage consumption, minus 2 monitors.
Q6600 @2.4 stock, Abit IP35-E, 4gb DDR2 patriot stock 400mhz timings 5-5-5-12, and XFX G92 512mb ddr3 256-bit 65nm 650mhz core/972mhz memory, 1 optical drive, and 1 sata hard drive. Peripherals (KB, mouse) are separately powered.

Here is what I observed from the Kill-a-watt:

~130-140 Watts booting into Win7-64
~110-120 Watts Idle in Win7 with next to minimal background programs running
~130-159 Watts Firefox 3.6b5 running Newground's flash benchmarking with the 9 tabs loaded, probably my average usage surfing the net. It didn't increase to 159 until the end of the benchmark, at "Ultra mode" (whatever that was) pic below:

so what I derive from browsing around on the web for "G92 idle power consumption" is that the G92 takes up about ~100-130watt on idle (a huge error margin I'd add to that, since that is my current idle wattage).

If following this correctly, say I were to move down to a sapphire 4670, I effectively cut it down idle wattage to something significantly smaller, I expect something in double digits < 80 watt.

 

[Schmide]

so what I derive from browsing around on the web for "G92 idle power consumption" is that the G92 takes up about ~100-130watt on idle (a huge error margin I'd add to that, since that is my current idle wattage).

If following this correctly, say I were to move down to a sapphire 4670, I effectively cut it down idle wattage to something significantly smaller, I expect something in double digits < 80 watt.

From the previous page 9800gt idle/video/3d is 23w/60w/87w. The reality is getting the 4670 is going to save you 15w/35w/54w respectively.

Running 24h a day at 15c a kwh you'll save approx $20/$46/$66 over the course of a year respectively.

Edit: add 25&#37; to all costs due to inefficiency so $25/$58/$83

 

[gaidensensei]

Nice, great to have some feedback. I did some calculations yesterday before reading this, and came up with numbers similar to what you posted. I'm going to snag a 4670 and report back on it.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Nice, great to have some feedback. I did some calculations yesterday before reading this, and came up with numbers similar to what you posted. I'm going to snag a 4670 and report back on it.

Excellent choice! If those cards would exhaust out the back of the case, I would of bought one over the 5770 I just purchased, anyways, good luck!

 

[dualsmp]

Looking at this review it looks like your idle power consumption might drop realistically 35w (The HIS HD 4670 IceQ uses a bit less). If you undervolt/underclock your 4670 with a bios flash you could save a bit more than 40w. Still a good drop in watts though anyway.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_4670_IceQ_Turbo/24.html

 

[gaidensensei]

Just a minor bump/update on this for anyone searching or interested in the results. I picked up a Diamond 4670, 1gb @ DDR3, 750/800 clocks.

System now runs idle at 80~83watts. That was a considerable jump from the 110-120w from the G92.

Yeah, I do notice a hit at running something like games at G92 resolutions, but other than that 20-30&#37; deficiency, bump down a notch it'll be back to normal.

 

[dualsmp]

Excellent! Now downclock the 2D as low as it will go. You should be able to get down into the high 70 watt range with some tweaking.

Ohh BTW what did you pay for the Diamond 4670?