Testing (continued):Power Consumption:The final test was to monitor the total system power consumption with each of the graphics card configurations installed. A Seasonic Power Angel power monitoring device was plugged in between the power supply and the wall outlet, and the wattage screen was monitored. Since all other hardware remained the same, any change in this value would be the result of the video card's demands.
Idle conditions were established by letting the system sit at the Windows desktop until a stable reading was achieved, and for load testing the Devil May Cry benchmark was executed.
Here we see that the Atomic HD4870 X2 uses the most electricity at idle or under a load. While the load value isn't much higher than some of the other setups, the idle value seems quite elevated.
