Leccy costs...

mrbios · 28 Mar 2011 at 19:13

Way back when the 5870 first came out i bought it due to being cheap to run due to low idle power usage....

Now im thinking of an upgrade but i don't want to suddenly start sucking up 10x more juice than my PC currently does at idle / non graphics intensive stuffs, so what does a 580 and 6970 compare to when it comes to idle power usage?

Also i'll be gaming at 2560x1440 (come on hazro 27"

) so what would people recommend? I think i'm mainly aiming to be able to play battlefield 3 at max on that res, i can't think of any other games that would stress it quite as much that i'm looking forward to

-Aura- · 28 Mar 2011 at 19:23

Power consumption towards the bottom m8: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/305?vs=292

mrbios · 28 Mar 2011 at 19:37

Ahhhh i keep forgetting about that comparison tool!!! Cheers

Think i'll go for a 580, i've not used an nvidia card since the 8800GT days so it's about time, especially seeing as i've been swearing at the ATi drivers lately.

What do you think 110w would relate to in costs? considering that was the difference in furmark, and it'll only use that when im doing very intensive gaming, i guess it'll only work out at a couple of £ per year? Not sure why i'm worrying so much about it really

Last question: GTX580 any real point in the 3GB models over the 1.5GB ones?

-Aura- · 28 Mar 2011 at 19:39

I would love to have 3Gb of RAM on my card. If you can afford it, go for it m8, I would

the_jetsetwilly · 28 Mar 2011 at 21:05

rule of thumb

1 watt @24x7x365=£1 a year

Cleeecooo · 28 Mar 2011 at 21:07

What's wrong with the ATI drivers?

mrbios · 28 Mar 2011 at 21:12

Cleeecooo said:
What's wrong with the ATI drivers?

I'm not entirely sure, ever since they went to CCC2 i've just had no end of problems and it's just sort of put me off, i think i still prefer ATI but the 580 offered more to me than the 6970s did i think.

Cleeecooo · 28 Mar 2011 at 21:24

mrbios said:
I'm not entirely sure, ever since they went to CCC2 i've just had no end of problems and it's just sort of put me off, i think i still prefer ATI but the 580 offered more to me than the 6970s did i think.

I can't pinpoint it either but i just feel more comfortable with NV

mrbios · 28 Mar 2011 at 22:05

Cleeecooo said:
I can't pinpoint it either but i just feel more comfortable with NV

What seems to be stuck in my head lately is:
ATI - buggy drivers and the 6xxx series just doesn't feel like an upgrade
Nvidia - hot and sucks up the juice

That's the way my mind has recognised the two over the past 4 months, whether it's true or not is another matter altogether but it's hard to get myself out of that way of thinking. Fingers crossed i'm pleased with the choice i've made of a 580

mrbios · 28 Mar 2011 at 22:09

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-153-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1812

^ on the product list page it says 2 year warranty, on the individual product page it says 3 year warranty, which is it?

-Aura- · 28 Mar 2011 at 23:07

Mind, with the way certain games are ported these days (eg, Black Ops), I wish I'd kept 4870 1Gb and upgraded to i5. No matter how much I tweak, I cannot get GPU to produce more than 45% load and CPU is at 80% over all 4 cores.

Depending on the rest of your hardware, might be something to bear in mind Mr B

Stanners · 28 Mar 2011 at 23:16

the_jetsetwilly said:
rule of thumb

1 watt @24x7x365=£1 a year

Not wanting to be a pedant, but hours x week x days ?

should it not be

1watt x 24 hours x 365 / 1000

then multiply by the kWh rate i.e. 14p

= £1.24p

mrbios · 28 Mar 2011 at 23:40

auraindigo said:
Mind, with the way certain games are ported these days (eg, Black Ops), I wish I'd kept 4870 1Gb and upgraded to i5. No matter how much I tweak, I cannot get GPU to produce more than 45% load and CPU is at 80% over all 4 cores.

Depending on the rest of your hardware, might be something to bear in mind Mr B

i7 860 and 8GB ram, i don't think i'll upgrade the cpu and motherboard until at least bulldozer or ivybridge minimum, starting to think i should have snuck in a cheeky vertex 3 SSD though and hoped the missus didn't notice

Scougar · 29 Mar 2011 at 07:35

Not that it matters, but kinda on topic: I recently got a power usage plug from a supermarket (in there 'bulb' section) for the princely sum of £1. Nice LCD display telling me how many watts I'm using and KWH etc. Always wanted to know. Overclocked (but idle and running an x700pro) q6600 @ 3.4ghz was 215W from the wall.

Stanners · 29 Mar 2011 at 08:44

Scougar said:
Not that it matters, but kinda on topic: I recently got a power usage plug from a supermarket (in there 'bulb' section) for the princely sum of £1. Nice LCD display telling me how many watts I'm using and KWH etc. Always wanted to know. Overclocked (but idle and running an x700pro) q6600 @ 3.4ghz was 215W from the wall.

Still off topic, but if you use Npower you can get a free meter off them, you are supposed to clamp it to your the meter tails(the cables between your DB and meter) but there is nothing stopping you using it on the kettle lead to your PC, this will give you usage and cost.

Toastor · 29 Mar 2011 at 11:05

Stanners said:
Still off topic, but if you use Npower you can get a free meter off them, you are supposed to clamp it to your the meter tails(the cables between your DB and meter) but there is nothing stopping you using it on the kettle lead to your PC, this will give you usage and cost.

I got one of those Npower meters a couple of weeks back. Surprisingly nice unit for a freebie! I'm no electrical expert, but I don't think it will give a reading when attached to a regular power lead as you it will pick up the flow from both the live & neutral wires and they will effectively cancel each other out. Having said that, I've put mine on the main cable between the household meter & the fuse box, and it works very well there. I can check the power usage of my PC by subtracting the 'background' usage and get a pretty good idea of the actual power draw. My C2D 6600 at stock 2.4Ghz & HD5770 draw about 150 watts at idle & 270 watts at load.

Toastor

Scougar · 29 Mar 2011 at 15:12

Nice idea, I hadn't considered doing that! Although for the sake of a pound I won't be swapping to NPower! (plus I believe this one give more accurate readings - I've used an 'Owl' house meter before)

Stanners · 29 Mar 2011 at 17:46

Toastor said:
I got one of those Npower meters a couple of weeks back. Surprisingly nice unit for a freebie! I'm no electrical expert, but I don't think it will give a reading when attached to a regular power lead as you it will pick up the flow from both the live & neutral wires and they will effectively cancel each other out. Having said that, I've put mine on the main cable between the household meter & the fuse box, and it works very well there. I can check the power usage of my PC by subtracting the 'background' usage and get a pretty good idea of the actual power draw. My C2D 6600 at stock 2.4Ghz & HD5770 draw about 150 watts at idle & 270 watts at load.

Toastor

Yup you would have to split the live a neutral for it to work. It is quite interesting to watch what things are using!

TerryH · 29 Mar 2011 at 17:57

the_jetsetwilly said:
rule of thumb

1 watt @24x7x365=£1 a year

No wonder UK gaming servers cost a lot.

Paracelsus · 29 Mar 2011 at 18:38

Pretty much all new cards use hardly anything at idle, partly thanks to undervolting and underclocking which older cards didn't use.

I wouldn't really worry about it, to eek a few less watts out at idle means buying a slow card.