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Curbing Your GPU's Power Use: Is It Worthwhile?

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In many cases, the graphics card is the most power-hungry component in a PC. The enthusiast community is no stranger to CPU tweaking, so why hasn't GPU modification caught on? We're going to see just how much you stand to gain (or lose) from tweaking.

Test System

Test System

Test System Configuration
CPUAMD Athlon II X2 250 (Regor) 3 GHz, 2 x 1 MB L2 CacheAMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (Deneb) 3.2 GHz, 4 x 512 KB L2 Cache, 6MB L3 Cache
MotherboardBiostar TA790GX A3+, AMD 790GX Chipset
RAMTeam Elite TED32048333HC9D (8 GB) at DDR3-1066 CAS 9-9-9-24
Graphics CardGigabyte Radeon HD 5770 1 GB, GV-R577UD-1GD (Juniper), 850 MHz GPU, 1200 MHz MemorySapphire Radeon HD 5870 1 GB, Vapor-X HD5870 1G OC Version (Cypress), 875 MHz GPU, 1250 MHz MemoryAsus Radeon HD 6970 2 GB, EAH6970/2DIS/2GD5 (Cayman), 890 MHz GPU, 1375 MHz Memory
Hard DriveWestern Digital Green Power 1 TB WD10EACS, 16 MB cache, SATA 3Gb/s
SoundOn-board Sound, Realtek ALC880
NetworkingOn-board gigabit Ethernet, Realtek RTC8111C, 1 Gb/s
Power SupplyPC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 watt ATX12v v.2.2, EPS 12V CrossFire Edition
 CPU CoolerThermalright Ultra Extreme 120, Noctua NF-P12 120 mm fan
Fans2 x Noctua NF-P12 120 mm fan (not including CPU fan)
Software
Operating SystemWindows Vista Home Edition 32 bit SP1
Graphics DriversAMD Catalyst 10.9 for the Radeon HD 5770 1 GB & HD 5870 1 GB, AMD Catalyst 11.1 for the Radeon HD 6970 2 GB
Benchmark Configuration
GamingCrysis: Version 1.2.1, Demo: CPU Benchmark–Island, DirectX 9, Quality Preset: HighMedal of Honor: Version 1.0.75.0, Demo: Opening Scene of 2nd Mission–Breaking Bagram, Quality Preset: High
Video EncodingCyberLink PowerDirector 8: Version 8.00.3022, Video Trailer “Nine Inch Nails: Beside You In Time” 2:20, 1080p. Profile: AVCHD 1920x1080. Video Bitrate: 15.5 Mb/s.
Video PlaybackCyberLink PowerDVD 9: Version 9.0.1530.0, Video Trailer “Nine Inch Nails: Beside You In Time” 2:20, 1080p. Hardware Acceleration: Enabled.
ProductivityAdobe Photoshop CS4: Version 11.0, GPU Acceleration: Enabled
Synthetic Benchmark and Settings
Cinebench R11Version 11, OpenGL Test.