4850 vs 4870 - how much power?

[Bengaboy]

Im just worrying about the power usage for both cards...Im torn between them.

At idle - how much power do they consume and how much at load?

Also - in lamens terms, how much would it cost per hour if they were left on , at idle and load - main reason, is because I dont want a massive electricity bill mainly because of the environment (never thought Id say that!!! Yes , I am gay....) and price.

Cheers guys

 

[ethan]

Ignore. My initial rersponse misinterpreted the question.

 

[muon]

Some bios editing can reduce idle power consumption. The hd4850 actually has a bios released by some board partners which improves idle consumption (160/500 2d settings instead of 500/750).

 

[Bengaboy]

Some bios editing can reduce idle power consumption. The hd4850 actually has a bios released by some board partners which improves idle consumption (160/500 2d settings instead of 500/750).

Great post - how much would they cost per hour to run at idle and load, if anyone has any idea from this graph

 

[muon]

Great post - how much would they cost per hour to run at idle and load, if anyone has any idea from this graph

Depends on your electricity tariff. What is the cost per kwh?

 

[Bengaboy]

Depends on your electricity tariff. What is the cost per kwh?

We are on British Gas, so roughly what would it be?

 

[Colossus]

Some bios editing can reduce idle power consumption. The hd4850 actually has a bios released by some board partners which improves idle consumption (160/500 2d settings instead of 500/750).

Any links how to guides or the difference it makes? Thanks.

 

[muon]

Any links how to guides or the difference it makes? Thanks.

Heres a post http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=921589&postcount=3 which has a section regarding power consumption for the hd4870 as you vary voltages.

edit: Heres a nice sentence

Lowering the GPU clock from 500MHz to 160MHz and the MEMORY clock from 900MHz to 225MHz yielded a temperature difference of 7C to 12C, and 39W savings in power consumption.

This is for the hd4870.

 

[muon]

We are on British Gas, so roughly what would it be?

Well British Gas' best tariff is the click energy 5 tariff. If you pay by monthly direct debit and live in London it costs

Tier 1 - 20.229p per kWh Tier 2 - 7.771p per kWh

where Tier 1 is first 125kWh per quarter.

The cost per Wh at tier 2 is 7.771p/1000. Multiply this by whatever the wattage of the appliance/card is and you'll get the hourly cost.

This excluding any direct debit and dual fuel discounts you may recieve.

For any other tariffs - http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/energy/dual.html The standard dual fuel tariff is a lot worse ceteris paribus at 23.939p and 11.612p per kWh for each tier respectively.

 

[Bengaboy]

Well British Gas' best tariff is the click energy 5 tariff. If you pay by monthly direct debit and live in London it costs

Tier 1 - 20.229p per kWh Tier 2 - 7.771p per kWh

where Tier 1 is first 125kWh per quarter.

The cost per Wh at tier 2 is 7.771p/1000. Multiply this by whatever the wattage of the appliance/card is and you'll get the hourly cost.

This excluding any direct debit and dual fuel discounts you may recieve.

For any other tariffs - http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/energy/dual.html

Sorry, Its late and Im obviously failing at being smart....

SO WHY PRETEND!

So the 4870 is idle at 65.2w and 130w at load.

The 4850 is idle at 40.7 and 109.9 at load.

What would the cost be?

 

[muon]

Sorry, Its late and Im obviously failing at being smart....

SO WHY PRETEND!

So the 4870 is idle at 65.2w and 130w at load.

The 4850 is idle at 40.7 and 109.9 at load.

What would the cost be?

Depends on your British Gas tariff as mentioned in my post. IF on click energy 5 and IF currently hitting tier 2 rates, the marginal cost is:

for the 4870 0.507p per hour and 1.01p per hour

for the 4850 0.316p per hour and 0.855p per hour

I bet my Maths is horribly wrong somehow.

edit: If my Maths is correct, then a 20w saving if you run your pc 24/7 without any price changes results in an annual saving of ~£13.60. Hardly something to worry about when running £100+ cards when you can recieve utility beyond the electricity cost savings.

 

[Bengaboy]

Depends on your British Gas tariff as mentioned in my post. IF on click energy 5 and IF currently hitting tier 2 rates, the marginal cost is:

for the 4870 0.507p per hour and 1.01p per hour

for the 4850 0.316p per hour and 0.855p per hour

I bet my Maths is horribly wrong somehow.

edit: If my Maths is correct, then a 20w saving if you run your pc 24/7 without any price changes results in an annual saving of ~£13.60. Hardly something to worry about when running £100+ cards when you can recieve utility beyond the electricity cost savings.

Wow, thought it would be a lot more! Thanks a lot buddy

 

[Big.Wayne]

I bet my Maths is horribly wrong somehow.

Heh not sure about your maths or your prices for power?

Assuming a charge of £0.14 for every kWh and 20watts running 24/7 365 I make that an annual power saving of 174 kWh/£24.46

The HD4850 is the better card IMHO, it costs less, it costs less to run, it's certainly no slouch in real-world gaming and I'm suprised so many people choose to pay out extra for a HD4870 TBH!