My dual 8-pin R9 295X2 1100mhz @ 100% GPU load while mining is pulling over 500W from the wall on a 1000W Platinum PSU. But wait, there is more! It's also paired with an 1150mhz 390 also running at 100% GPU load. Altogether, I am at 960W system power (CPU at 800mhz) from the wall. The board has been loaded for months at this level. I guess based on the Internet, my $118 Z170X-Gaming 5's PCIe slots should have fried multiple times over by now. But no, I didn't stop there. For fun, I took an HD 7970 and shoved it into my 3rd PCIe slot. Total system power went up to 1160W. That's 100% GPU with > 1100W of power at the same time on a sub-$120 US board. Get the fire extinguisher out /s.
I am supposed to believe that because of some PCIe spec that a 170W RX 480 will fry a good motherboard while gaming? (75W+75W = 150W). In comparison to that, my R9 295X2 is rated at only 375W but the board and my PSU have 0 issues feeding the card 500W+ 24/7 @ 100% load across both GPU.
The funny part here is that RX 480 4GB's reference PCB/VRM and MoSFETs are higher quality than they are on the $700 GTX 1080 FE card.
For those who are worried, just buy an AIB 480 as it has many other benefits (cooler, quieter, easier to dust clean, native DVI, will overclock better, 0dba fan operation).
AMD released a $199 card that has and will have no real competition from NV as 1060's 3GB of VRAM gimp makes it DOA. At the same time, AMD already mentioned they will try to fix the power loading via a driver/BIOS fix.
The bigger story this generation is NV charging $70 and $100 for nothing and PC gamers are hitting F5 without any hesitation. I hope NV prices GTX 1080Ti at $899 and GV104 2080 for $799. Just get it over with already. PC enthusiasts want to pay higher prices so let them.
The PCIe thing is a non-issue as AIB cards will fix it but NV continuing to squeeze PC gamers wallet is here to stay for good. We'll see it again with 1060 3Gb VRAM gimping and 1060 6GB priced way higher than the 480 4GB.