Power In SLI/CrossFire And Watts Per Frame
One chart that was missing from the Radeon HD 6990 story, and subsequently requested, was a power consumption chart comparing the dual-Cayman board to CrossFire’d and SLI’d configurations. “Fair enough,” I thought. “We’re telling folks to skip the 6990 entirely and buy 6970s or GTX 570s—it’s reasonable to want to know how those setups size up with regards to power use.” So, here’s that graph:
In addition to the 6990, 6970s, and 570s, I’ve also added the 590 and a pair of 580s in SLI.
Clearly, two GeForce GTX 580s ratchet up power use in a way that no other setup comes close to rivaling. The other solutions are much more evenly matched, though.
| Average Power Consumption (Metro 2033, Three Runs) | |
|---|---|
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 | 437.27 W |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 SLI | 559.85 W |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 570 SLI | 420.35 W |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 402.30 W |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 CrossFire | 442.18 W |
On average, the GTX 580s impose a 559 W system power figure running Metro 2033. Two Radeon HD 6970s in CrossFire are the next most power-hungry, averaging 442 W system power. The GeForce GTX 590-based system is just five watts behind, while two GTX 570s turn in an average power figure of 420 W. AMD’s Radeon HD 6990 (running at its stock clocks) winds up being the most power-friendly option, registering 402 W average system power.
Here’s the average frame rate each configuration achieved while we logged those power numbers.
A couple of folks looking to deflect criticism of the 6990’s value asked for a chart depicting watts per frame. There you go, gentlemen. The Radeon HD 6990 uses less power per frame per second than two Radeon HD 6970s, and both AMD-based configurations consume less system power per frame than all three Nvidia-based setups. Now, flip back to the previous page, replay the 6990 video, and think about all of the conversations you can enjoy not hearing!
Related Stories :
- Radeon HD 6990M And GeForce GTX 580M: A Beautiful Lie
- GeForce GTX 580M SLI Vs. Radeon HD 6990M CrossFire
- The AMD Radeon HD 6990 Dual GPU Card is Huge
- Radeon HD 7990 And GeForce GTX 690: Bring Out The Big Guns
- AMD Updates Radeon HD 7950 to Counter GeForce GTX 660 Ti
- AMD Radeon HD 7950 Review: Up Against GeForce GTX 580
- AVADirect's W860CU: Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Vs. GeForce GTX 285M
- GeForce GTX 480 Poses Next to Radeon HD 5970
- Radeon HD 5770, Radeon HD 4890, And GeForce GTX 275 Overclocked
- GeForce GTX 275, Radeon HD 4890 Now Available
Nvidia like ATI should have gone full copper for their coolers instead of using aluminum for the fins.
The clock speeds are a bit of a disappointment as well the high power draw and the performance is not that better than a 6990. Bleh !
Very comprehensive article! Nice job!
I'm impressed, good to see Nvida has started to care about the "livable experience" of their high end products.
Great card. But low clocks.
GREAT for overclocking!
Wow @ low noise
Draw! Win some loose some. What is the fastest card? Some will say GTX590 others HD6990 and they are both right.
MMMM... HD 6990.... OR GTX 590... HMMM I'll go with a HD 5770 CF setup because im cheap.
You can't say Nvidia wins based on the sound level of the cards. That's just flat out favoritism.
I'll be buying a 6990 and water cooling it. Nothing will beat it.
Draw! Win some loose some. What is the fastest card? Some will say GTX590 others HD6990 and they are both right.
Thats more or less how I feel. They both trade blows depending on the game.
I think both cards are faster in their own niches, for example in acoustics 590 wins, but in power which is the main issue to tackle as days go by, your bill will certainly go high, but you don't pay anything for the noise, so in that case AMD STILL has the fastest single graphic card on the planet.
AMD is still the winner, whichever you look at it though
You can't say Nvidia wins based on the sound level of the cards. That's just flat out favoritism. I'll be buying a 6990 and water cooling it. Nothing will beat it.
I think 2 GTX 580 will beat it. And costs about the same too, if you look hard enough.
I think both cards are faster in their own niches, for example in acoustics 590 wins, but in power which is the main issue to tackle as days go by, your bill will certainly go high, but you don't pay anything for the noise, so in that case AMD STILL has the fastest single graphic card on the planet. AMD is still the winner, whichever you look at it though
The 590 uses less than 10W more compared to 6990 in AUSUM. Compare that to 430W, and it's small change, really.
Well, at the moment 590s are not available to buy, so it does not exist beyond benchmarks and reviews...It is not a competition till we see real world pricing. Let the battle begin! btw 5870 price is hard to beat right now.
"Nevertheless, in a comparison between GeForce GTX 590 versus Radeon HD 6990, Nvidia wins."
"Not hearing it is a requisite"
Done a survey? How many says it's a requisite?
Also at performance preset, the GTX590 leads, wondering why there's no benchmark for extreme preset?
This is no nVidia victory, I'm sure of it, but it's such a small margin it sucks. That 1.5GB per GPU hurts the card where you'll be using it most: high res. It's like a tech KO by AMD, not a flat out punch-KO though.
Cheers!
The card blew up during testing at tech power up.Power limiting system does not work reliably
i wonder how long until AMD board partners use a fan instead of blower(blowers win on air flow, but they can be louder), i have seen several such coolers on other amd and nvidia cards.
Either way, the lower noise is impressive.
Does anyone else think that the 1680 benchmarks shouldn't be used in cards like this?
Paying >$600 for a GPU almost certainly means you have multiple monitor setups and/or high res monitor(s). Otherwise why not buy a better monitor and a lower costing card to use its full potential?
Thank you for posting the audio samples of both dual GPU cards. Getting to hear each one really made the difference telling. I'll be sticking with single gpu card arrangements, thank you very much. ^ ^ b