Power Consumption, Noise Levels, And Temperature Readings
Power consumption is measured in watts for the whole test platform. The 2D idle value comes from the normal Windows user interface without any load and (and with Aero turned off). The 3D value is measured when the CPU and graphics card are operating under heavy load (peak value). Measurements took place at the wall socket. PSU efficiency averaged around 82.4% (according to manufacturer measurements).
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All I can say is that Tom's recent articles have been an excellent read, and this exactly the stuff I (as well as many others) require for their research purposes. Keep up the great work!
Newegg has quite a few 4850s that retail for $100 and it appears to be getting consistently better benchmarks than the 4770. I am confused as to why you would not recommend it over the 4770. Perhaps you are confused by simple maths.
I don't understand why you still won't use the 1GB version of the Radeon 4870. It's clear to me that the card is limited by it's amount of video memory when using hi-res, AA and AF.
Searching for prices in US and Europe it retails cheaper than the GTX260(192 or 216).
The point is: the card should be included in the test just as the GTX260-216. It's clearly a better option than the 512 mb version and it's good for comparison!